The Gospel gives us freedom to hate our sin and creates in us a desire to expose and confess our sin, rather than hide it or pamper it or excuse it or lash out against those who confront us. Because the Gospel reconciles us to God, we no longer have to shrink back and hide or defend ourselves. Our life is now in Christ and not in our own works or failures. We no longer have to fix ourselves first and then come to God. The Gospel bids us to come as we are. It is as we walk into the light that his Word washes us clean. It is as we see the beauty of God that our idols become abhorrent and are cast off.

The natural consequence of coming near to God is that as we come into the light, we are seen. The Gospel is honest about who we are. It is not flattery or a false love. It is not fake. It sees us as we are, even at our worst. The Gospel lets us know we are seen and loved. And it is in His love that we find rest and healing. And even when we don’t get the Gospel, the Gospel still bids us to come near. Because it is only in coming near to God, the only source of life, beauty, goodness, and truth, that we are made whole. The Gospel is a powerful force that sets us free. Or better said, the Gospel brings us to a powerful God who sets us free.

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:9–16, ESV)

God does not lose any who would come have to him

While some of the specifics about our judgment day remain a mystery, there are some things we can be assured of. One of those things is that God will not lose any who would come to Jesus. God’s judgment is not arbitrary but instead is based on wisdom and certainty. And so we can be certain that there is no scenario where God knows given a certain circumstance, a person would have believed, but he condemns them anyway. Paul affirms this when he writes,

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:28–30, ESV)

God knows every scenario we might encounter and how we would respond

The scripture assures us that as we stand before God’s throne, we will be “naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13, ESV). This should bring us comfort, knowing that if there is a circumstance where we would believe, he knows it. The scripture is clear God prefers mercy to judgment and seeks to provide a way for us to come to him. He who knows all things is able to sustain anyone who would come to him given another circumstance other than the one they lived. Because of God’s love, we need not fear missing his grace due to a fleeting moment or dying right before we would have believed or even the circumstances of our life. We can have confidence that no one who would have come to God under different circumstances will be cast out. God knows the heart of all of us, understands all our circumstances, and will judge faithfully in righteousness and equity. No one will be able to bring charges against God and accuse him of being unloving or unfair. But because God takes all circumstances and scenarios into account when he judges, his judgment once rendered, is final. The door is shut.

Steadfast love and faithfulness go before the throne of judgment

The scripture tells us of God that “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you” (Psalm 89:14, ESV). God’s judgments are neither malicious nor arbitrary; they are rooted in righteousness and justice and on this strong foundation steadfast love and faithfulness go before him as he judges. Pause on this: in ALL God’s judgments even condemnation, steadfast love and faithfulness go before his verdict. This means that before any judgment is made, one must encounter and get through the flood of His steadfast love and faithfulness. On the day of judgment, those who are condemned will know that their condemnation was preceded by God’s steadfast and exhaustive pursuit. Their mouths will be shut knowing that their fate is all their own. They have rejected the love that has gone before them. The Gospel which comes first offered them reconciliation, but instead “They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:10b, NIV).

This is why their condemnation is so sure: They have been given every opportunity to leave the kingdom of darkness and come into the light, but because they love the darkness more than the light they have chosen darkness.

Who are those who are condemned

God does not condemn the innocent. But of course, none of us are innocent. So let us rephrase this. God does not condemn those who come to him in repentance and faith. I am not aware of anywhere in scripture that says this is only a temporal truth that stops. However, the scripture does warn that our hearts can become so hardened that we will choose to never repent regardless of how much God pursues us. Gehenna is described as a place of “gnashing of teeth”, a term symbolizing hostility and anger. And this hostility is directed at God. Those who reject Jesus do so because they love their deeds more than the desire to come to God. God opposes the kingdoms they have made (more here). Those who are condemned are described as those who chose to persist in their wickedness, despite being offered hope through repentance and faith in the work and worth of Jesus. Here are some scriptures that describe this:

and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:10, ESV)

In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.” (Psalm 10:4, ESV)

If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the LORD. (Isaiah 26:10, ESV)

She listens to no voice; she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the LORD; she does not draw near to her God. (Zephaniah 3:2, ESV)

But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts. (Zechariah 7:11-12, ESV)

But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. (Jeremiah 7:24, ESV)

O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent. (Jeremiah 5:3, ESV)

For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD; (Isaiah 30:9, ESV)

The pride of Israel testifies to his face; yet they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him, for all this. (Hosea 7:10, ESV)

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8, ESV)

And those who are in Gehenna remain there because they continue to love darkness and continue to refuse to turn to the light.

Daniel is told, “Many will be purified, made spotless, and refined, but the wicked will continue to act wickedly. None of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand” (Daniel 12:10, BSB)

Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” (Revelation 22:11, ESV)

No one who is condemned desires to repent and come to God. If you continue to reject God, the only source of love, beauty, and goodness, what do you have left? Many of us have suffered the agony of lost or unrequited love. How much more is the agony of those who have rejected the very source of love and are hostile to it. The weight of their own rejection of goodness, beauty, and love is unimaginable. It is hell.

In Jesus’s discussion with Nicodemus, he confirms these things, when he states, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18, ESV). But this in of itself does not tell us the full story, for we already know that belief in Jesus is what distinguishes those who are saved from those who are condemned. But who is preventing those who are condemned from believing? Is it life events, circumstances, or others? None of these external factors keep the condemned from God. Instead, as our hearts stand naked before God, it is our hearts that condemn us. Jesus goes on to say that it is our own stubbornness that keeps us from the love of God.

Jesus describes those who are found guilty before the throne of God, “And this is the verdict: Light has come into the world but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” (John 3:19, NIV). Why are people condemned? It is because they love the darkness so much that they refuse to come to the light. There are no circumstances under which those who are in Gehenna would have or will turn to God. For them to do so would be to go against everything they love and treasure as good. They do not want God to be near because he is a threat to all they hold dear (more here).

Though they are at enmity with and reject God, those who are condemned will long for the goodness that those in the light have and so there will be “weeping” at this loss alongside their “gnashing of teeth” as there was with Esau. But this weeping is not accompanied by repentance or turning to God. Paul warns us, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death” (2 Corinthians 7:10, NIV). They will long for the light, but not at the price of relinquishing the darkness they cherish so dearly. They are so ensnared and enslaved by their own desires that their love for the “drug” surpasses their desire to be healed.

And so the scriptures teach that it is those who both continue to walk in unrighteousness and refuse to come to God that are condemned. Those who repent and come to God are freely welcomed into the love of God. God does not keep those in Gehenna from repenting and coming to him, they are stuck there by the chains they have forged for themselves. We can have confidence that those in Gehenna would not have repented under any circumstances. Part of what makes Gehena so devastating is this: those who go there do not abandon their wickedness, but continually choose to separate themselves from God. They continue to choose to walk in wickedness continuing to incur further wrath. Gehena is not for the hypothetical person in Alex O’Conner’s imaginary scenario who if only given a few more moments would have believed, but died just before that. Gehena is for those who stubbornly and eternally continue in disbelief.

This is why the scripture urges us not to harden our hearts, for it is not death that will seal our condemnation, but rather a hardened and unrepentant heart. And this state can come long before we die, leaving us without hope both in this age and the age to come. This is why the scripture says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (Psalm 95:7-8, Hebrews 3:7-8,15; 4:7). The scripture warns that we should not assume that we will one day in the future change and have a repentant heart. Today is our opportunity. Again it is not death that finalizes our state, but a hard and unrepentant heart of unbelief. This can happen now at this moment, before death, so do not linger to come to God when you hear the call of the Gospel.

God exhausts his pursuit

Earlier, I mentioned that Alex O’Conner did not ask an appropriate question. The reason is that there will never be anyone in Gehenna who would have repented under other circumstances. However one might ask if the steadfast love and faithfulness that go before God’s throne is exhaustive. Has God done everything possible to bring this person to repentance? The scripture would support an affirmative answer. God’s readiness to forgive is an inherent part of God’s nature. When God’s glory came near to Moses, “The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6). God was declaring this is who he is. Peter writes, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” Other verses support this as well.

Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. (Isaiah 30:18, ESV)

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luke 15:7, ESV)

Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10, ESV)

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:18-19, ESV)

the LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. (Jeremiah 31:3, ESV)

The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. (Psalm 103:8, ESV)

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! (Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34, ESV)

“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, (Proverbs 1:22-25, ESV)

God is eager to embrace the rebel

Not only is God slow to anger and patient, but he is also ready and eager to forgive the rebellious.

“But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? (Ezekiel 18:21-23, ESV)

“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. (Joel 2:12-13, ESV)

“Son of man, give the people of Israel this message: You are saying, ‘Our sins are heavy upon us; we are wasting away! How can we survive?’ Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 33:10-11, ESV)

“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. (Isaiah 55:6-8,ESV)

“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. (Isaiah 1:18, ESV)

To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him. (Daniel 9:9, ESV)

who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4, ESV)

They refused to obey and did not remember the miracles you had done for them. Instead, they became stubborn and appointed a leader to take them back to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to become angry, and rich in unfailing love. You did not abandon them, (Nehemiah 9:17, ESV)

Our death does not change God’s character

It is foolish for us to think that something like our death would change the nature of God. Death does not separate us from God. Not even our sin and rebellion alone separate us from God. It is a hard, unrepentant heart who refuses to come to God under any circumstances that ultimately seals the fate of those in Gehenna.

Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. (2 Kings 17:13-14, ESV)

Yet the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against His people, until there was no remedy. (1 Chronicles 36:15-16,ESV)

O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent. (Jeremiah 5:3, ESV)

You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the LORD persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, saying, ‘Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds, and dwell upon the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever. Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’ Yet you have not listened to me, declares the LORD, that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm. (Jeremiah 25:4-7, ESV)

But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” (Romans 10:21, ESV)

He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’” (Luke 16:31, ESV)

What about Sodom?

In Matthew 11:24, Jesus states, “And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day” (ESV). Does this mean that people who are in hell would have repented if they were given a different circumstance? No, this verse is not about the individual, but about a city and a temporal situation not about the age to come. Even though this Sodom would have responded to the works of Jesus, this does not mean that individual hearts would have changed or that it would be more than an outward change. In the Gospels many times scripture refers to those who believed outwardly in Jesus but did not have saving faith. We see this with Ahab who is described in these words, “(There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited. He acted very abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the LORD cast out before the people of Israel.)” 1 Kings 21:25-26, ESV). But after Elijah spoke and warned Ahab of God’s wrath, “when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly. And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son’s days I will bring the disaster upon his house” (1 Kings 21:27–29, ESV). Despite Ahab’s superficial repentance, God readily relented putting Ahab to death, demonstrating his eagerness to show grace even to one of the worst kings of Israel. Sadly, it does not appear that Ahab responded to this act of grace. Jesus words about Sodom shows the eagerness God has to show kindness despite our hardened hearts. God extends love even to his enemies who reject him. To this kind of heart Paul aptly writes, “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:4-5, ESV).

But not everyone has the same knowledge of who God is

But you might say, “But not everyone has the same revelation”. And I would agree this is the case. However, this does not mean that God does not exhaustively pursue us or take all this into account as he judges us. Those with less knowledge will not be held to the same accountability of someone who has extensive knowledge of God. They will be judged based on their obedience to the knowledge of God they have been given. Paul states, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30, ESV). God knows our hearts and he will judge us by what we do know, not by what we do not know. But he has made himself known to us all, and so we are without excuse if we are not obedient to the revelation we do have. It is also clear that God is found by all who seek him with sincerity and that God is quick to bring us to himself. Paul in his address, “standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said:

“Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for

“ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:22–31, ESV)

Also consider this: God is loving even toward his enemies. He will not vindictively pile on judgment. For those who have already hardened their heart, more revelation would only bring more judgment. In the Gospels, there are occasions when it is clear that the hearts of those around Jesus were hard and he simply walks away, refusing to give himself to them. In some cases, this is the most loving thing for God to do. God in his wisdom knows how to give enough revelation so that those who are condemned are left without excuse, but then backing away when that revelation would only cause more condemnation. No one will stand before God and be judged by what they do not know. And no one who is condemned will accuse God of not pursuing them exhaustively. Their mouths will be shut and no accusation will be brought before God because they will acknowledge that his judgments are just and fair.

before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity. (Psalm 98:9)

before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness. (Psalm 96:13, ESV)

then a throne will be established in steadfast love, and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness.” (Isaiah 16:5, ESV)

God is patient and slow to anger, never quick to condemn. Those who face condemnation have first had to come through the flood of the unwavering steadfast love and faithfulness of God that go before his throne and precede his judgment. The only ones in Gehenna are those who have rejected God’s love.

A word of warning about bad questions

In the case above, Alex O’Conner posed a poorly framed question. Sadly, this is common among “atheist apologists”. It is easy to be skeptical and to phrase questions in a way that gives the appearance of wisdom on the surface, but upon closer examination only reveals our foolishness. I wrote more on this here. But my word of caution is this: If you find yourself asking these kinds of questions, take a moment to examine your heart. Persisting on asking foolish questions, even though there are good answers out there, suggests a deeper issue. Contrary to what some atheists will try to make you believe, there are good answers out there for these questions.

As Christians when dealing with these kinds of foolish questions, we must be aware we cannot know the hearts of those asking them. Those asking these questions may be sincere and we should to be patient with them. But we also should encourage them to examine their motives behind the questions as well, while addressing any genuine inquiries with gentleness and respect.

FURTHER SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 14:12-35 & 15

God pursues those who hate him

Though we are in rebellion and our God’s enemies, hate him, and would cast him away (see more here), God actively and shamelessly pursues us. And though God seems far away to us in our rebellion, God is, in fact, near.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for

“ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

(Acts 17:26–28, ESV)

As we shrink back from him in hatred and fear, he pursues us and comes gently in the “sound” and the “wind”. Though, as we discussed earlier, this implies hiddenness (see more here), they also indicate a depth of intimacy beyond mere knowledge that puffs up. If God “showed up” or did “miraculous works” or showed some definitive sign or proof of his existence, yes, we would believe he exists and have knowledge of him. But the wicked ask for signs such as these as a prerequisite for faith (Matthew 16:4, Luke 11:29, John 6:22-66). Mere knowledge brings pride, and pride is our foundational problem. We cannot expect God to reveal himself in a way that only compounds our problem. And so he comes instead in the intimacy of the “sound” and the “wind”, which brings so much more than all the grand miracles and signs combined. In this article, we will focus on “the sound”.

The sound 

“The sound of the Lord” or the “Word of the Lord” is pregnant with meaning throughout the scripture and is the means by which God has communicated with humanity. It is more than sound; it has the power to create. And as we will see, it has the power to turn a heart of stone into flesh and the power to bring life from death. It is the word of the Lord that spoke creation into existence.  

   By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,  
     and by the breath of his mouth
      all their host.  
   He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;  
     he puts the deeps in storehouses. 
   Let all the earth fear the Lord;  
     let all the inhabitants of the world
      stand in awe of him!  
   For he spoke, and it came to be;  
     he commanded, and it stood firm. 
                  (Psalm 33:6–9)

The Psalmist rightly broke out in song, “The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty” (29:4). We come to know God by his word as it works and invades our lives. The Word of the Lord is the scripture and is more than merely words on the page. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12). But more importantly, the word of the Lord is the “Logos” of the Gospel of John. . . Jesus is the Word of the Lord made flesh.  

Moses taught the Israelites that “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” Moses speaks of a man who would come, and gives a warning from God, “whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him” (Deuteronomy 18:19).  The writer of Hebrews warns as well, “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned the on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven” (Hebrews 12:25). Peter emphasizes this, “Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people’” (Acts 3:22-23). Notice that the writer of Hebrews uses the phrase, “who is speaking”. Paul in Romans 10 alludes to the fact that when the Gospel is proclaimed, Jesus’s voice is heard.  

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.  

   But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for  

   “Their voice has gone out to all the earth,  
     and their words to the ends of the world.” 
                     (Romans 10:14–18)

Though God does mighty works and great miracles, these are not the primary means by which he brings us to himself. Nor can these things have any power without the preaching of the Gospel. It is not in awe, mighty works, or great signs and miracles that we have come to be reconciled to God, but it is through humility. God has destroyed pride through humility.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

(Philippians 2:5–8, ESV)

Pride and seeking greatness caused the fall. We ought not think God would use these methods to win us back to himself. No, instead, he comes with humility and uses something much more powerful: his word. 

And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, the sound of a low whisper. (1 Kings 19:11–12, ESV) 

With a whisper, God has turned the world upside down and has broken our pride and our hard hearts. 

The Hiddenness of God is the Story of Love 

Yes, a perfectly-loving and all-powerful God hid his face from us so that we might not see instant death (see more on this here), but in the tenderness of his love, through his wisdom, he has found a way to reveal himself to us. And though his face is hidden, his love for us is not. What amazing love is this that conquers and breaks the pride of our hard hearts? And so we come to know God through the preaching of the Gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit. As we hear the words of Jesus, our hearts are changed. And because of the power of the Gospel, we will come to see God face to face and not be ashamed on that Day. Instead of shrinking back, we boldly come near God’s throne, look into our Father’s face, and know that we are beloved children of God. For us, the throne and being before God’s face is no longer a throne of judgment and certain death, but one of grace where we are declared to be his children. And so, the blessing of Israel will remove God’s hiddenness for those who are in Christ, 

   The LORD bless you and keep you; 
     the LORD make his face to shine upon
       you and be gracious to you; 
     the LORD lift up his countenance upon
       you and give you peace.  
                     (Numbers 6:24-26)

And so, God will not remain hidden from us forever. All will see him face to face. Some for judgment, others for grace. For those who are known by Jesus, God fully revealing himself will be a glorious day. We will see God face to face. And we will know him as he knows us. 

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12) 

Notice that this passage speaks of seeing God as partly hidden, as in a mirror dimly. This description of God’s hiddenness is a part of the famous passage that talks about love, known as the Love Chapter. Yes, God’s purpose in his hiddenness is love. And because of love, he is still waiting for that day to make himself fully known to the world. He postpones that day, not for the sake of those who are in Christ, but for those who are still lost and at enmity with him, so that they too might hear the sound of his voice as he calls to us, “Come!” 

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) 

He holds back and remains hidden, for he is still calling out for the lost to come to him. And while God remains hidden, there is still hope for those who are at enmity with God. As God beckons us through the Gospel to come, will we allow his word to break down the walls of our pride and enmity toward him? He pleads with us, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

Being hidden and tabernacled in human flesh 

So, even veiled and hidden, he has not failed to lavish his love upon us. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7). God came veiled or tabernacled and walked amongst us as a human. John says, “our hands have touched” him. God became approachable. And he hid himself in this way that by becoming human, he might take upon himself the punishment we so deserved, “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (2:8). Jesus stood before the Lord on that day in our place. And on that Day two thousand years ago, Jesus bore our final judgment proclaiming the debt had been paid in full. Three days later, Jesus conquered death for us by rising from the dead. And if we put our faith in Jesus, we stand before God and see his face, not based on our works, but based on the fact that Jesus bore our punishment of death on that day. The writer of Hebrews beckons us not to shrink back, run away, or hide, but instead calls to us with these words, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Jesus calls us gently to “Come.” Will we hear the sound of his voice and come near when he calls?

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

(1 Corinthians 1:18–19, ESV)

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. (Hebrews 6:4-6, ESV)

The passages of Hebrews 6:4-6 and Hebrews 10:26-30 have filled many with trepidation and angst over the fear of having lost any hope of salvation. This is a fear that has no comparative horror. Yet, sadly, many who go through this have nowhere to turn and are given unsatisfying explanations. It is uncomfortable, and the verses are difficult, therefore, very few are willing to sit with a person in this struggle. Many have struggled alone for years without any real answers. I hope to give some comfort to those who have experienced this. These verses are not meant to be comfortable. They are meant to make you tremble, but they are there to give you hope in the one that holds you as you tremble.

When we are reading the Bible, it is important to understand the context. The New Testament is saturated in Old Testament imagery and references that are often missed with a casual reading. As you read these passages, it is important to understand that there is a story and a rich context from which these statements are being made, which cannot be seen if you are just trying to define each word. Though important, we are not going to understand it by trying to have the definition of “enlightenment” or “taste” pat down in a lexicon. These things become more evident as we are entrenched in the same story as the author.

Jewish Background

This letter was written to Jewish Christians. Though we don’t know the full context of the situation, it is clear that the audience of this letter were struggling with whether or not to leave the covenant of Jesus and go back to being under the covenant of Moses and perhaps whether they still needed the sacrificial system along with Jesus, just as in Galatians, Paul addresses the teaching that gentiles needed circumcision in addition to Jesus. Some of the context of Hebrews gives us a picture of persecution under the Jews and pressure to go back to the Mosaic sacrificial system. Historically, we do know this persecution happened. The writer of Hebrews is dealing with whether a return to the covenant under Moses is possible.

Put yourself in their shoes. For centuries, you have had a valid means of coming to God and being reconciled through repentance by presenting a sacrifice, washings, and rituals. You and your father and your father’s fathers have in obedience and in reverence for God have been faithful in this. The practices of the Mosaic covenant were deeply ingrained in the very core of who they were. To give this up is to ask them to give up all that they have known. But also, the Mosaic covenant had been proven true and trustworthy for centuries. It would make sense for them to fall back onto the well-known and well-established Mosaic covenant, something they felt confident in as a means of repentance and acceptance with God, if they were unsure of their Gospel confession or buckled under persecution or faltered in the sufficiency of the work of Jesus. And maybe they were trying to hold on to both, perform the sacrifices to appease the Jewish leaders, while still holding to their faith in Jesus. In all these, there was a temptation to go back to the law. The writer of Hebrews is just as clear as Paul in his letter to the Galatians, when they were tempted to go back to the law, “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse” (3:10a, ESV). And just as Paul pleads with the Galatians, “Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness?” (3:4-6, ESV), so too, the author of Hebrews exhorts his readers to not grow weary, even in suffering, and to hold fast to their confession (Hebrews 4:14).

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23, ESV).

The Mosaic Covenant is obsolete

Hebrews follows the argument Paul made to the Gentiles, that they could not be placed under the law, and can be summarized in this statement, “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13a). In other words, now that the Gospel has come there was no Mosaic covenant to return to. We must keep in mind that this was a radical and uncomfortable statement for the Jews. They are being told that what they were called to be faithful to for generations upon generations is now obsolete. Not only obsolete, but what was once beautiful and holy, and a blessing is now destructive and a curse. The Gospel shook the very foundations of all that they had known. And with this in mind, the writer of Hebrews argues that the Mosaic sacrificial system is no longer a viable means of repentance, and those who go back to it have fallen away from the only hope and means of repentance, which is through Jesus.

Moving on from the basics

Keeping this background in mind, let’s look at these verses,

And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 5:

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. (Hebrews 5:9-6:3, ESV)

The writer of Hebrews wants to say more about Jesus “being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek”, but he is not sure if they fully understand the basics of how Jesus fulfills the Mosaic law and how Jesus fulfills all that the Old Testament taught about “repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment”. Later in this letter, he writes of how Jesus fulfilled the law, using similar language,

These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:6-14, ESV)

They ought to know that “[t]hese [Mosaic covenant practices] are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:17, ESV), for this is the very milk by which they enter the Gospel. The author of this letter wants to move on from this and wants them to understand that Christ has done more than just fulfill the Mosaic covenant and law with its ritual washings, laying on of hands, and sacrifices. He wants to take them ever deeper into the wonders of the Gospel. Christ has fulfilled something much more profound and encompasses something that predates Moses, and of whom their ancestor Abraham, himself, was subservient to. Jesus has come as our high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

The Sword

Wanting to move on, the author of Hebrews demonstrates that if one does not understand that Jesus has fulfilled the Mosaic law with its rituals, and if they are not relying on the blood of Christ to “purify our conscience from dead works [the law] to serve the living God”, the very milk of the Gospel, but instead after hearing the Gospel, because of a hard heart, fall back to the Mosaic covenant as a means of repentance, then they fallen away from the only hope they have. In other words, if you do not have faith that Jesus has not fully satisfied the Mosaic covenant, you will not find salvation anywhere else, not even in the place that was once secure for your father and their fathers for generations, for the Mosaic covenant could not stand up under the majesty of Jesus. “This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:27). Those who rely on these things will be destroyed alongside them. This is why the author of Hebrews makes this statement,

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

Remember, this passage is written to the Jews who once had a valid and God given means of repentance through the Mosaic covenant. Before the Gospel came, their sacrifices, washings, and laying on of hands were acceptable to God. But now that the Gospel has come, it brings a “sword” that pieces our heart, thoughts, and soul. It not only calls the Gentiles to leave their idolatry and immorality, but it also calls the Jews to leave their dead works under the law. When Simeon held Jesus, he told Mary, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34b-35). Or as the Hebrews author puts it, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:12–13, ESV). When presented with Jesus, will you come to him?

The Power of the Gospel

When the Gospel is preached, it is not just mere speech. When the Gospel is preached the Holy spirit is present and at work and there is a tangible presence of the Word of Christ, as the hearers are hearing the very words of Jesus himself (Romans 10:17). When the Gospel is preached there is a real encounter with the Kingdom of God for both those who believe and those who remain in unbelief that can be described as “having once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come”. In a very authentic way, when the Gospel is preached, we are experiencing the Kingdom of God breaking through, just as the Israelites experienced this at Mount Sinai, despite their unbelief. Be assured, the preaching of the Gospel is more powerful than God delivering Israel from Egypt. Paul echoes this Hebrews passage in his first letter to the Corinthians,

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness (10:1-5, ESV).

In this passage, Paul is warning the Gentiles, you have experienced the power of God and His Kingdom through proclamation of the Gospel. And just as the Hebrews passage warns the Jews, Paul warns them not to have a hard heart that turns way and holds on to things that are dead and bring no life. In John 6, you have group of people who are described as believing in Jesus and disciples who were recently ready to make him king, but when Jesus’ message of the Gospel gets hard and brings the “sword”, “his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66, ESV). We also see this kind of “belief” not accompanied by faith in the parable of the seeds. This theme is stitched throughout the scripture into a tapestry warning us to place our faith in Jesus alone.

And why did God reject the Israelites in the desert? It was despite having experienced the power of God and believing God exists, they continued to walk in unbelief. Just as the disciples in John 6 followed Jesus and were even ready to make him king, so to were the Israelites ready to follow Moses out of Egypt and ready to make a covenant on Mount Sinai, but when tested, they rebelled and walked in unbelief, revealing the true nature of their belief.

For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:16–19, ESV)

Jude comes to the same conclusion,

Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe (Jude 5, ESV).

Like rain, the Gospel rains on both the righteous and the wicked. Both encounter the power of God through the Gospel, but they do not have the same response to this encounter.

For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. (Hebrews 6:7–8, ESV)

Now that the Gospel has been preached and the Kingdom of God has broken through, the message to us all is, “a sword will pierce through your own soul, also”. We are warned, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12, ESV). “For the good news came to us just as to them [the Israelites in the wilderness], but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened (Hebrews 4:2, ESV).

It is impossible for the law to restore one to repentance

Hebrews 6 is a continuation of this message. The author of Hebrews goes on to tell them that if they fall away from Christ, thinking that Mosaic covenant sacrifices will be a legitimate means of repentance, it will have no such power. Though the Mosaic law previously generation after generation, could restore them to repentance through the sacrifices and once a year as the high priest made atonement, this is no longer the case. The Mosaic covenant has no power to restore them again to repentance as it once did. They are asking the impossible. On the contrary, if they rely on sacrifices, whether in an attempt at repentance or in order to appease the Jews and avoid persecution, they are saying Jesus’ death on the cross is not sufficient and that a continual sacrifice is needed. When they continue in these sacrifices, they are symbolically saying Christ needs to die once again and putting the work of Christ to open shame. Just as Paul writes to the Galatians, warning them if they try to hold onto anything other than Jesus,

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6–9, ESV)

Hebrews 10 gives the same warning,

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:26–30, ESV)

Psalms 95, quoted in Hebrews, also gives us the same warning,

   do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
   as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put me to the test
   and put me to the proof, 
   though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
   and said, “They are a people 
     who go astray in their heart,
   and they have not known my ways.”
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
   “They shall not enter my rest.”

(Psalm 95:8–11, ESV)

And so, the thrust of the passage is that if we keep on willfully sinning against the covenant under Jesus and reject the Gospel, there is no other sacrifice. work, or effort that will be able to restore us to repentance, not even if we sought it with tears. There is nothing left to rescue us from the wrath of God. Yes, “The Lord will judge his people”; being a Jew and a descendent of Abraham will not save them. Nor will being amongst the body of Jesus in the Church.

The root of bitterness

In Hebrews, we are given the example of Esau,

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears (Hebrews 12:15–17, ESV).

When Moses was giving his final words to the Israelites, he, too, warned them against a bitter heart,

“You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law (Deuteronomy 29:16–21, ESV).

In Sinai, those who walked in unbelief longed to go back to Egypt. Despite being in the desert where God’s presence was, they did not press into the Promised Land. Those with a bitter heart are those like Esau that long for the things of this world, who like the Israelites despite hearing the message of the Gospel want to go back, whether it is to the law or to the world.

Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

I want to touch on the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit as described in Matthew 12:31-32 and Mark 3:28-30.

Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matthew 12:31–32, ESV)

“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” (Mark 3:28–30, ESV)

As with Adam, we have rejected God the Father to go our own way. And as with Israel and the gentile Romans, we in our rebellion have crucified Jesus, for it is our sins that held him there. Our blasphemies against the Father and the Son have been outrageous, but even then, Jesus says that this blasphemy can be forgiven. The Holy Spirit moves to reveal the Gospel and calls us to come and experience the forgiveness that was accomplished in Jesus. If we reject that call, if we reject the Holy Spirit, there is nowhere else to go in this age or the one to come for forgiveness. We will be left without hope.

For the Jewish leaders, this was both a message of warning and hope. The Holy Spirit was at work revealing who Jesus was with magnificent signs. Would they persist in unbelief as Israel in the wilderness? What more proof could they be given? What they spoke at this moment revealed their hearts, claiming about Jesus, “‘He is possessed by Beelzebul,’ and ‘by the prince of demons he casts out the demons’” (Mark 3:22, ESV). God himself was standing before them, performing miracles, and providing evidence for them to believe, and yet in the bitterness and hardness of their heart, they chose what Jesus showed to be a feeble argument in order to lead people away from Jesus. They were resisting the Holy Spirit, but not only that, they were attributing the work of the Holy Spirit, which was there to bring conviction as an unholy thing and even Satan. More evidence could not have been provided. And more evidence would not have convinced them, for their hearts were hard? To give an example with another subject, for some, because of the gymnastics they have allowed their brain to go through, no amount of evidence would convince them that the world is not flat. In John 9:41, Jesus tells the Pharisees, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains” (NIV). None of the passages that address this issue speak of a casual occurrence. It is described as high-handed, willful, deliberate, ongoing.

The Warning

So, there is a warning in these scriptures, both in Hebrews and elsewhere. And this is a warning to those who have heard the Gospel, yet neglect to come to Jesus. In Deuteronomy 29, Moses says the root of bitterness is rejecting God and his covenant in Jesus. If you reject the Gospel, the root of bitterness, if allowed to grow, will choke out the hope of the Gospel and create a heart that is willfully and deliberately resistant to the Holy Spirit. It is a warning just as urgent as the angels who warned Lot to get out of Sodom. It is a warning for “Today”, not tomorrow. If we continue to reject the Gospel, our hearts will eventually get so hard and our hearts so bitter toward God that we may come to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, the only one who can change our hearts. The “sword of the word of God” will test our hearts.

Interestingly in the Matthew account you get parables and events surrounding this passage like the discourse about persecution, John’s messengers, unrepentant cities, yoke, the soils (Sower), weeds, treasure, net, the tree and its fruit, and Jesus being rejected at Nazareth that fall within theme of these things. All these give you the picture of the “sword” that divides belief from unbelief. As said earlier, there is a tapestry of scripture that warns us to not neglect the Gospel while it is called “Today”.

Our sure and solid hope

One note here: the scripture is clear that this hardness of heart is not a casual thing. It is a willful and high-handed continual and ongoing rejection of the Gospel. The scripture says, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth.” If at some point, we cease to “go on sinning”, and turn to Christ, we will be met with the open arms of the Gospel. The promises of God do not change. They do not grow weary. They are not weaker than our most severe sins. Though the warning of a hardened heart is real, the offer of the Gospel is never ever ever ever taken away from those who repent and come to God. In Hebrews 6, the same passage that says it is impossible to restore them to repentance it also encourages us to hold on to our confession because God is faithful,

And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:11–20, ESV)

When Jesus spoke of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, though his exchange with the Pharisees and scribes was a warning to those around him to be careful that their hearts did not become hard and reject the Holy Spirit. Perhaps for some who had not fully hardened their heart, this might have been a message of hope in the darkest place. Soon, the Jews, with the help of the Gentiles, and likely some present at this exchange, would blaspheme and crucify Jesus. If they came to understand the Gospel, they could look back at Jesus’ words spoken on this occasion and understand and know they could be forgiven, even of this, if they did not also speak against and reject the call of the Holy Spirit in the gospel. What a message of grand hope for us all who have committed such atrocities against God!

David, knowing all of this, in the midst of his sin, says in Psalm 32:9-11,

Be not like a horse or a mule, 
     without understanding,
   which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
   or it will not stay near you.
Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
   but steadfast love surrounds 
     the one who trusts in the Lord.
Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, 
     O righteous,
   and shout for joy, 
     all you upright in heart! 
       (Psalm 32:9–11, ESV)

In Hebrews 11, we find that many have found that God’s promises are sure and faithful. The writer goes on and says,

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1–2, ESV)

In light of this and the surety of the work of Jesus and the promises of God,

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14–16, ESV)

“Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.

(Deuteronomy 9:6–7, ESV)

We understand that we cannot have friendship and relationship without vulnerability. But we are all stubborn and tend to put up walls to protect ourselves, not letting others come near. And with these walls we not only keep others away, but the LORD as well.

The LORD’s presence was amongst the Israelites as they encamped and wandered through the wilderness, and yet in their pride they did not understand their need for him, that he was more than the bread they ate or the water they drank, and so that generation could not enter his rest.

As with the Israelites pride keeps us from the LORD though he is not far off. The very thing we do to protect ourselves limits our ability to feel loved, because we are rejecting the very thing that would bring healing and restoration – the exposing our sin and the downfall of our pride. In our pride, we want to present ourselves to the world as something, concerned with the opinions of men. We become trapped in our own pride, trapped in the walls of our own making, instead of trusting and coming to the God who is near, because we are afraid of being exposed and naked. It was the pride of the religious leaders that kept them from seeing Jesus, though he was near and walking in their midst. Pride makes us blind guides, keeping us from seeing the truth. Instead of embracing love, we grumble, and hide from or attack those who would expose our nakedness.

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:19–2, ESV)

We are “like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. [And so,] Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD” (Psalm 32:9,10 ESV, brackets added text). In our madness, to protect ourselves, we chose the darkness and the sorrows of the wicked, rather than the light of the LORD, that exposes and heals our sin.

When the Israelites are standing at the border and are on the precipice of entering the Promised Land, the LORD is clear it is not because of their righteousness that they are able to enter the land. They are still a rebellious people. “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land, . . . Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going to be able to possess their land, but . . .that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob’” (Deuteronomy 9:4). There is no place for boasting are pride as we enter the Kingdom of God. No reason to hide that we are rebellious, sinful, and unworthy. God rescues us and drives out our pride because he swore an oath to Jesus. “Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.” When we seek our own worth, or seek to be seen well by others, we are in rebellion against the Gospel. We miss the point of the Gospel. We are foolish, stubborn, blind, rebellious, mad and we must die to ourselves, we must die to our own efforts. The LORD, alone has conquered the promised land. Instead of pride, we are called to allow others to speak the Gospel into our lives, to expose our sin, and to break down our walls of pride. “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” (James 5:16a, ESV). It is as our sin is exposed that we find healing, not in building walls. And as we cease striving, the wonder that we are more than conquerors as we walk in the light shall be evident, not because of anything we have done, for we are a rebellious and foolish people, but because God through Jesus has sworn to give us the land. It is in vulnerability and nakedness that we can experience friendship, intimacy, and love and are clothed in Christ. God is near, not far away. Let us not shrink back in pride, but instead come to him and be held in his embrace.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:11–16, ESV)

and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. (James 2:23, ESV)

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

nor be weary when reproved by him.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

and chastises every son whom he receives.”

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.

(Hebrews 12:5–13, ESV)

God uses his word to expose us, but then washes us with his word and brings healing. Though God’s exposing our sin brings healing, we are “like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you” (Psalm32:9). We want to conquer our sin in our own way. In a way that makes us feel safe. We want to hold on to our pride. We have forgotten the promise of the Gospel,

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,

and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away

through my groaning all day long.

For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;

my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

I acknowledged my sin to you,

and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

(Psalm 32:1–5, ESV)

Healing never comes from protecting our pride. But the love of God for us is immense even in this for it is in this state that God calls to us. “Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, ‘He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us’? But he gives us more grace. Therefore, it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and morn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to morning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you” (James4:5-10). When we see ourselves as we are, we ought to morn and weep, for our sin is great. But when we understand this, we also understand God’s grace for us, and we no longer have to perform before God or man. We can lay down our performance. Jesus calls to us, “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

One of the reasons we hold on to our pride is because the Gospel does not call us to live alone but calls us to walk this out in community. James is clear that healing comes from hearing the word of God. God’s word comes alive as we experience the body of Christ. We are not meant to hear God’s word alone. The scripture says, “Better is open rebuke, then hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:5,6a). James ends his letter with this, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” As Paul admonishes us to put sin to death, he also encourages us to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16). And in this truth, we are not only surrounded by the love of God but the love of the body of Christ.

Peter could remember that during his ministry, Jesus spoke of and warned Jerusalem with tears of the coming judgment that awaited them, for they had rejected the coming of God in their midst. Jesus had told him and the other disciples, “Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” As Peter stood there before the crowd on Pentecost, he knew the world would never be the same, Jesus was on his throne and a new age had come.

After the darkness had fallen over Jerusalem, Jesus resurrected, conquered death, and ascended to glory to sit at the right hand of God. And now forty days later, during Pentecost, the disciples had been gathered together in prayer, when tongues of fire fell upon them, and they began to proclaim the mighty works of God. Now, as those who were around them were astonished and sought to understand the things happening, Peter, in this first sermon, describes the coming storm and the coming of this new age,

      “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, 
      that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,  
                     . . .
       in those days I will pour out my Spirit, 
       and they shall prophesy. 
      And I will show wonders in the heavens above 
          and signs on the earth below, 
          blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 
      the sun shall be turned to darkness 
      and the moon to blood, 
      before the day of the Lord comes, 
      the great and magnificent day. 
               (Acts 2:17a,18b–20, ESV)

Peter declares to the men of Israel, now, what they are seeing before them, is this time Joel spoke of. Now are the last days of the old age. And though Jesus had been delivered over to death by lawless men, death could not hold him. Jesus not only conquered death but was now sitting on his throne. Jesus had begun his rule and had begun the work of putting his enemies under his feet. Peter quotes Psalm 110:1, “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool”, admonishing them “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:34-35, ESV). Those in the crowd were aware of the darkness that had fallen over Jerusalem and the rumors surrounding Jesus’ life and death. As Peter spoke of Jesus’ resurrection, and his ascension to the throne at the right hand of God, those who heard his words understood the implications of Peter’s words. A war was coming, and Jesus was going to conquer his enemies. Their judgment was near. Peter confirmed these fears, warning to the crowd, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation” (Acts 2:40). On hearing these things, “They were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).

Acts begins with these words, “In my first book, O Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach . . ..” Luke is clear that Acts is a continuation of the works of Jesus. As Jesus sat on his throne, because of what he did at the cross, the Holy spirit was being unleashed on the world. Jesus, told his disciples, “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged” (John 16:7–11, ESV). So as Acts opens, Jesus is on his throne, active in this world and has begun to put his enemies under his feet through the power of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the Gospel. The war had begun. Judgement was coming for Jerusalem and the old age. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice and his perfect priesthood, the Temple was no longer needed. The old age was dying as the new age was taking over.

In these early chapters of Acts we see this war taking place as the rulers of Jerusalem try to hold on to their kingdoms in midst of the conquering power of the Gospel. They try to prevent the preaching of the Gospel and the speaking of the name of Jesus. Later in Acts as the Gospel spreads to the Gentiles it is said that preaching of the Gospel has turned the world upside down. The Gospel had not come to play nice, but instead it had come to make war and to conquer and that war had begun in Jerusalem.

Before we meet Annanias and Sapphira, we are told that many who had come to faith had sold their land and laid the proceeds at the apostles’ feet to be distributed to any who had need. Jerusalem is the only place we see amongst the church where this was practiced. Though it does not explicitly give the reason for this, we do see in these early passages of Acts hints to that they were aware that Jerusalem was a ticking time bomb. Jesus had warned that judgement would come within their generation, and as Peter had said, they had witnessed the prophesied signs of that judgement. Jesus had warned that when that time comes, and they see the armies surrounding Jerusalem, they were to flee and not pause to take anything with them, just as Lot was rushed out and warned not look back as he fled Sodom. What they owned in Jerusalem would not last, especially the land. Israel throughout the wilderness narrative, though they were called out of Egypt for the Promised Land, longed to go back to Egypt. This looking back, this holding on to the old kingdom, was to their destruction and kept them from entering the Promised Land. For the early church, the physical Jerusalem was no longer their hope, but as with Abraham they were looking to a kingdom not built by human hands. The epistle of Hebrews speaks of this when warning those who wished to “look back” to Jerusalem and to the Law with its sacrificial system. Hebrews urges them to follow the example of those who have walked in faith before us, by “admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. And we are not to “return” or “hold on” to our former country, but as Abraham we are to leave it behind. And though there may be opportunity to return, instead we are looking for a better country – a heavenly one (Hebrews 11:13-16, paraphrased). So, their selling of their lands though truly an act of charity, for the Christian faith certainly invokes such profound acts of love, was more than an act of charity, it was also an act of faith, rejecting the kingdom of this world that was fading away, and whose judgement was sure and declaring the surety of the promises of God in the Gospel to bring us into a Kingdom whose foundation is sure and everlasting.

So throughout Acts we see the Kingdom of God coming to conquer the world. Let’s look back at another time when Israel had come to conquer the Promised Land. When Joshua took Israel into the Promised Land, they were to completely destroy the pagan culture in the land, as they trampled under their feet the old kingdoms and brought the new kingdom under the rule of the God of Israel.

In their first battle with Jericho, this city, as Jerusalem would be in 70 A.D., had been given over to destruction. All that was within Jericho had been declared devoted to the Lord. Just as the church fleeing Jerusalem were not to stop to take things with them, so too Israel was not to take any of the spoils from the fallen Jericho with them. And yet after this first battle with Jericho, a man named Achan, in love with the things of this old world held on to a beautiful cloak and money, objects that had been devoted to destruction. Symbolically, when he held on to these things he was holding on to the old pagan kingdom. As in the story of Ananias and Sapphira, the LORD says of Achan that he had transgressed the covenant and kept for himself things that were devoted to the LORD, declaring that Achan lied and hid his actions and his possessions from the congregation. And based on the context, most likely with the full knowledge and consent of his family. Before Ananias and Sapphira sold the land it was theirs to do with as they pleased, when they sold it, the proceeds were still theirs to dispose of it as they wished. But when they came before the congregation and set it aside declaring it as fully devoted to the Lord, it was no longer theirs to do with it as they wished, it was the Lord’s. And as with Achan, they transgressed the covenant, stole from the Lord, and lied and hid their actions from the congregation. They lied to the Holy Spirit and the church. This was no small sin. Though they might fool the church, they could not fool the Holy Spirit. And as the Lord exposed Achan’s sin and he was put to death, so too their sin was exposed by the Holy Spirit, and they died. Both of Achan’s death and the death of Ananias and Sapphira serve as a vivid and concrete warning to all who desire to hold on to the things of this world. The Gospel is at war with this world and with our sinful hearts and separates us from this old kingdom. We cannot hold on to the old world for if we do, we will be destroyed with it.

We don’t know what the eternal state of Ananias and Sapphira was. Both with Achan and Ananias and Sapphira, their sin affected the congregation not just themselves and served as a vivid warning. This act symbolized more than greed, but a holding on to an age that Jesus was at war with, and God wanted to make clear that the old world must die. The most we can say for sure is that their deaths were a means to make this point clear. And there are other passages like this where God putting someone to death does not tell us of the person’s eternal state. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he says some have become ill and some have died because they have approached the Lord’s supper inappropriately and were profaning it. And on top of this the rich were taking advantage of the poor, something we know the Lord detests. But it also follows with this hope, “But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world” (1 Corinthians 11:32). Or take the case of Uzzah who merely touched the ark when he saw oxen startled and probably with good intention and was struck dead. We cannot make any assumptions. But the warning in these stories is clear. And it is a warning we see throughout the Bible, flee the things of this world for it is marked out for destruction, do not hold on to them, leave them behind, don’t look back, flee the judgement to come, and come to Jesus.

Hebrews was written to address those who because of persecution were considering leaving Christianity and going back to the Law of Moses and the sacrificial system. The writer of Hebrews explains, “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13, ESV). When Christ died and rose again the Temple and the sacrificial system was declared obsolete and could no longer bring them to repentance even if they sought it with tears and weeping. The only means for repentance was through Jesus. As the Gospel was being preached in the book of Acts the old Temple system was vanishing away, and would be finally destroyed in 70 AD. So yes, in the book of Acts, we see a war taking place within Jerusalem between the kingdom of this world and the Kingdom of God. Those who believed the words of Jesus and the judgment to come were choosing to leave the old Jerusalem behind, for a new Jerusalem that cannot be shaken. In Acts 5 this understanding consisted of realizing that the property they owned was fading away and they couldn’t take it with them and so they sold it and gave the proceeds to the church.  

So now what does this mean for us? This all may be true, but what is the comfort? If you are like me, this passage leaves you uncomfortable, trembling as fear creeps up and is difficult to shake off. And as seen in the passage, we are not alone. At the death of Ananias and Sapphira, great fear fell upon the church. I instinctively know that I am no better than Ananias and Sapphira. Doesn’t my own heart hold on to the things of this world? Surely it does. Or more honestly, with me, I know it does. Though I desire to put to death my flesh, I am like Paul in Romans 7, a wretched man failing every step of the way, still doing the things I hate, and not doing the things I love. When my pastor preached on Acts 5, he noted that Peter, who seems to stand tall in this scene, would later fail and once again act in a way contrary to the Gospel, when he, on coming to Antioch, “drew back” and chose to eat separately from the Greeks. He, like Ananias and Sapphira, allowed pride and wanting to be seen as great before men dictate his behavior. When he did this, he did not only compromise himself, but also the other Jews followed his example. Even Barnabas, who was singled out before the incident with Ananias and Sapphira as one who did indeed sold a field and brought all the money to the apostles, fell into sin with Peter. When this happened, Paul is not shy with his words; he states that Peter “stood condemned” and that “their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel.” So, tell me, if even this great man was prone to fail, what is my hope?

When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, they were commanded to spread Eden over the face of the whole world. The Kingdom of God was to conquer the world. However, because of their desire for something more than God and his kingdom, they took for themselves what was forbidden, and attempted to hide their sin. When the LORD came, judgement was pronounced, and death came into the world. As Achan’s sin brought death to others, so because of Adam’s sin, death came to all mankind. So, this clinging on to the forbidden and hiding our sin is not just an issue with Adam and Eve, Annanias and Sapphira, or Achan, we too fall under the same condemnation.

One of the great hymns, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing describes this struggle I feel, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love.” I am so prone to be distracted by the beauty of this world, wanting to hold onto it, and not let it go. Thankfully, the song does not leave us in despair, it describes how grace, like a fetter, binds and seals are hearts to God. For we have been purchased by Jesus’ blood. And this is the theme of Hebrews as well as it warns us not to hold on to the old age. God through Jesus has accomplished our salvation once for all and He draws us to himself. After describing those who in the past walked by faith, the writer of Hebrews says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2, ESV). Paul in his struggles with holding on to sin states, Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! . . . . There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 7:24-8:1). Jesus has conquered and sits on his throne and will accomplish his work in me.

The opposite of hiding and clinging on to our sin is confessing our sin and calling upon the name of the LORD to deliver us from our sin. As our hearts struggle with sin, do we hide our sin and shrink back, or do we come to the Lord with our sin and lay it down at his feet, trusting in the work and worth of Jesus alone? For as we lay down our sins, not trusting in our own works, but in the works of Jesus, we can come before the throne of grace and live. There is no need to hide, even in our most grievous sin. David experienced this, “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away, through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin”(Psalm 32:3-4, ESV). And so, we are called to “Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you” (Psalm 32:9, ESV). We are to come close to our Father.

Instead of death, as we come before God’s throne in Christ, the Father, as a parent washing their kid, lovingly washes us and brings healing through the blood of Jesus. The writer of Hebrews goes on to describe this comfort we have in the midst of God’s discipline in the church,

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

      “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

      nor be weary when reproved by him.

      For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

      and chastises every son whom he receives.”

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:5–13, ESV)

In the first sermon of this war as the Gospel moves to conquer, Peter predicates our victory on the fact that Jesus is sitting on his throne. And it is because of this fact that we can run to Jesus, who is the founder and perfector of our faith. The victory has been accomplished. When Peter spoke of the judgement to come, the people “were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ Peter gives us the answer to how we are to save ourselves from this crooked generation, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:37-39, ESV).

So, when we read these passages, there must be no doubt that these passages are anchored in the fact that Jesus is sitting on his throne, and will conquer our hearts, for he alone is the founder and perfector of our faith. He has made a covenant promise that he will save all those who call upon the name of Jesus. The passage about Annanias and Sapphire is sandwiched between statements of the church conquering Jerusalem, the gospel spreading, and many coming to the faith. Adam and Eve’s sin, Achan’s sin, Annanias and Sapphira’s sin, and even my sin are not enough to prevent the advancement of the Kingdom of God. This passage ends with, “The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed” (Acts 5:16). After this act of discipline, the war was now going out beyond the confines of Jerusalem and bringing healing. God’s discipline brings healing, therefore the writer of Hebrews can say in the midst of God’s discipline, “lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.” God’s discipline reminds us of and brings us back to the Gospel. And so, we see that the aftermath of the stark discipline in Acts 5 ushered in an expansion of the kingdom and healing of many through the power of the gospel.

Prayer: May the God who cherishes me guide me through his nurturing discipline, conquering my heart and putting to death anything inside of me that holds on to this age. For it is in his discipline that I am liberated from the sin that clings to me, overwhelms me, and weighs me down. And it is through his rebuke that my lamed feet are healed. It is my Father’s loving discipline that allows me to run faster to the one I love. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16, ESV).

—

Foot note: We cannot say definitively what the motivations were behind those selling the land, but it is clear from these passages that the old kingdom with its Temple practices was passing away, and a New Kingdom, founded in Jesus, was taking its place. A seismic shift was taking place in the land just as occurred when the Israelites came into the promised land under Joshua. It is also clear that the gifts that were presented and laid at the apostles’ feet were declared fully devoted to the Lord, making their holding back a portion a serious offense, just as Achan held back a portion of the things devoted to the Lord. We see a similar situation with Saul, when he did not handle the things devoted to the Lord appropriately. And from epistle of Hebrews, we know there was this tension between holding on to the old Temple and its practices in light of the finished work of Christ.

– – –

Here is a link to the sermon my pastor preached on Acts 5. It is a sermon on the healing power of this passage as the Gospel is unleashed in the fullness of its power – The Law | Acts 4:33-5:16 (youtube.com).

Be careful what you wish for . . .

Some will ask if God exists, why doesn’t he make himself completely obvious so that there is no doubt that he exists. They say that this is what they want in order for them to believe. If they had it they would believe in God. But is believing in God’s existence what they need? They foolishly make this claim because they do not understand the dangers of what they are asking. The saying is true, we must be careful what we wish for. . ..  

The demons believe and are condemned for it

You want God to reveal himself definitively and clearly in order for you to believe. But is this kind of belief enough? The scriptures tell us that the demons believe in God, and yet they are left shuddering and without hope (James 2:19). Why is this so? The answer is that they have no hope because of the fact that they believe and know that God exists. And it is their knowing God that condemns them and has left them without hope, for their rejection of God came after God made himself known to them. Therefore, there is no more that God can do for the demons, no more evidence that God can provide to convince them to change their hearts. What in you would make your response any different than the demons?  

Signs and wonders do not produce faith

We see this warning in other places throughout the Bible of people hardening their hearts despite being given signs and wonders and direct proofs of God’s existence. We see this specifically during the Exodus. Pharaoh continually hardened his heart against the signs and wonders God gave. But not only Pharaoh, but more significantly, the Israelites who had been delivered also hardened their heart and went astray, and were left without hope. After the Israelites had been given many manifold and direct proofs of God and had experienced God’s love and faithfulness and his tender care for them in the wilderness, they still lacked faith in God and failed to trust in his word. Because of this, God says of that generation that they shall never enter his rest. There was no more hope for them. Israel once again rejected God, despite all the signs and wonders Jesus performed. Despite all they had seen, they, too, hardened their hearts. This is a common pattern when God reveals himself with signs and wonders. 

An interesting note: when Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, comes to Jesus, he states, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Don’t miss that this man who was “a ruler of the Jews” doesn’t say “I believe” but he says “we believe”. Could he be speaking of the other leaders as well? It is not clear who the “we” are, but it is clear that the leadership understood that Jesus had come to destroy their world and that instead of embracing Jesus and acknowledging that his works were from God, they publicly attributed his works to Beelzebub. Jesus had come to destroy what they had known and their privilege. In the parable of the vineyard Jesus describes the leaders as ones who were willing to kill the son to protect what they had in the hopes that the vineyard would remain in their possession. There was a stubborn rejection of the signs and wonders given to them in order to protect what they had. 

Revelation only brings judgement

It is clear that the more revelation God gives us of himself, the more judgment we will incur if we continue to reject him, and if we continue to harden our hearts, there will come a day when it will be declared that we shall never enter God’s rest. 

“Jesus said, ‘For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.’ Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, ‘Are we also blind?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.’” (John 9:39–41) 

So, we must be careful how much we want to see because the more we see, the more we are hastening the day of our final judgment if we continue to harden our hearts. Those who claim they want a sign in order to believe are like these Pharisees: if you will not hear the gospel, you will also not be convinced by a powerful sign. We will later see that it is only the gospel that can make one believe.

God will reveal himself 

There will be a day when God makes himself fully known to humanity in a definitive and decisive way as atheists have asked, where no one can deny who he is. They won’t doubt his existence or attribute it to the failings of their mind. All eyes will see him. They will know that he is God. Atheists will confess that he is God with no doubt in their minds. But on that day, our fate will be sealed. On that day, every knee will bow down and confess that he is Yahweh. But for many, like the demons, this bowing and confession will be to their judgment. For having knowledge and acknowledging who God is and his sovereignty is not enough.  

If like the Jewish leaders, we believe that God owes you an extraordinary sign to prove his existence, even if your request was granted, like the Jewish leaders who contributed the miracles to the work of Beelzebub, we too, would find some other explanation other than being willing to hear the call of God. We are not much different than the Israelites in the wilderness or the Jewish leaders who saw the works of God.  

Those who ask God to reveal himself in this way do not understand what they are asking. If God made himself known, as many atheists have asked, then that day would be their judgment day. They would perish without hope. We cannot presume that we would repent, even if we saw the most ardent proof of God. And so again, we need to be careful what we ask for, for just as the demons determined their own fate despite such evidence, if God gave us what we asked for, God could do nothing more after that to rescue us. 

But I would repent 

Some may say, “But my heart would change, I would repent if I saw that kind of evidence!” I know many believe this, but would it be enough? Just as belief is not enough, so repentance is not enough to rescue us from ourselves. It is unlikely we would change, but even if we did and let’s say lived a perfect life, the Christian faith requires something more profound than living a moral life. It requires dying to ourselves and losing our lives, not a frantic attempt to save it by changing our outward behavior in order to be rescued from judgment. Blaise Pascal wrote, “God has given evidence sufficient for those with an open and an open heart, but it is sufficiently vague as not to compel those whose hearts are closed”. God is not interested in “compelled hearts”. 

No, God has given enough evidence for us to believe; we are just really good at suppressing his call. We are like children playing on the playground who don’t want to listen to their parent calling to them from afar off to come home. Because they want to continue to play, they suppress that call. And like these children, we want to continue in our own way, and so we suppress the call of God to come home. And just because the parent leaves their home and no longer yells from afar, but shows up on the playground and makes it clear that their child is to return home, and the child yields to their parents demand and walks with them home, this does not mean that the child’s heart values their parent’s voice in that moment more than the playground. Given the chance, if not compelled, they would rush back to the playground without hesitation.  

Of course, the analogy would be more fitting if instead of playing in the playground, the kids were playing on a busy highway. For though the pleasures of this world are intoxicating, they are fleeting and in the end, cause us harm. Peter describes our love for the things of this world as vomit and mire, 

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” (2 Peter 2:20–22) 

Yes, if God showed up, we might submit, but our hearts would still be attached to this world. Know one who is attached to this world can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Pride is destructive both to the person and those around them, and it has no place in the Kingdom of God.  

Was Esau able to find hope in this kind of repentance? His weeping and tears were those of bitterness, loss, and sorrow but not of a broken heart or of a man who had died to himself. We do not realize how much sin and pride have infected our hearts. Just as one gets used to a horrid rotting smell after a while, we have gotten used to the depths of our sin and see them as light. We are used to the smell of death that sin brings. But Jesus made it clear that if we say a harsh word to another that we are far more infected by sin and pride than we realize. If we look at another with lust, we are subject to eternal judgment. Jesus made it clear that none of us are as good as we think we are and justly deserve judgment. Our passions and desires are at war with one another and with God.  

We would not embrace God 

Do not think that if God gave us direct revelation that you would embrace him or want to be near him. Apart from Christ, just as Adam fled and hid from God, so we, too, will shrink back and flee from God’s presence. Those who love darkness do not want to be in the light. Gehenna is described as a place of darkness; and it is described with qualities that are in opposition to God. This is one of the ironies of the fate of those who reject God, 

     Woe to those who draw iniquity 
       with cords of falsehood,  
          who draw sin as with cart ropes,  
     who say: “Let him be quick,  
          let him speed his work  
          that we may see it;  
     let the counsel of the Holy One
      of Israel draw near,  
          and let it come, 
           that we may know it!”  
     Woe to those who call evil good  
          and good evil,  
     who put darkness for light  
          and light for darkness,  
     who put bitter for sweet  
          and sweet for bitter!  
     Woe to those who are wise 
       in their own eyes,  
          and shrewd in their own sight! 
                (Isaiah 5:18–21) 

We reject God because we think our way of doing things is good and God’s way of doing things is evil. The irony is that because we love the darkness, we will abandon God, and in doing so, we will abandon the source of life, light, love, joy, goodness, etc., and flee to dwell in a place that has none of these things to be free of God’s presence. It would not matter if God showed up because we would not want to come to him if he did. 

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (John 3:19–20) 

Let’s suppose I dwelt in a dark cave for a long time, and all of a sudden, I found myself in a bright open field. What would my response to the light be? For those who only have knowledge of God, this light is unbearable. They cover their eyes and shrink back. They do not want to be near God. They will not be able to bear standing before God. 

     Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
         And who shall stand in his holy place? 
            (Psalm 24:3)    

Only those found in Jesus and who are a completely new creation can stand in the light and embrace it. Without Jesus, no one can approach God. But for those apart from Christ, they are unable to stand and do not want to be in his presence. This response to rejecting God and fleeing his presence is deeper and more ingrained in us than someone in a cave being exposed to light. If God showed up, we would not embrace him; instead, like roaches fleeing when the light is turned on, we would frantically flee to a place of darkness. The same light that opens a world of beauty for those who love the light is torment for those who love darkness. Our hearts must change if we are to be able to be near God. No amount of evidence would change this. We are no better than the demons, Pharoh, the Israelites, or the Pharisees. Thankfully, God has presented himself through Jesus in human flesh, breaking the veil that kept God separated and hidden so that we might be able to stand before God on the day he is fully revealed, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. Those who have come to the Lion of Judah and embrace him in love will not flee like the wicked,  

The wicked flee when no one pursues,  but the righteous are bold as a lion. (Proverbs 28:1) 

the lion, which is mightiest among beasts, and does not turn back before any (Proverbs 30:30)

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10:39) 

When dealing with someone who is struggling with the idea of Christianity and asking the question of why they should believe in the God of the Bible, we must realize that the struggle is rarely merely an intellectual one. And this is the case whether the person is an atheist, agnostic, going through deconstruction, or having doubt. As I have talked with people this is often the core issue. Even after giving what they agree to be a solid answer, they still don’t want to give up what they believe. They are often dealing with what they believe to be right and good, for without the King, every man does what is right in their own eyes. Sin often entangles us because we believe it is good. Psychologically we are often more persuaded by a good story than we are by facts. This is why slogans of those who attack Christianity often appeal to this condition and speak to the heart rather than the intellect. We hear things like, “Love wins” or “Love always”. After all who can argue with love, is not love the supreme good. Our responses though to these kinds of questions often deal with the intellect rather than the heart. I’ve seen many times where someone asks a genuine heart felt question where they are struggling only for the depth of their questions to be ignored by some intellectual response. The Bible though solid in its intellectual compacity does not ignore this flaw of human nature and how we often follow our hearts. In dealing with these kinds of questions we must follow the scriptures example. It is the word of God and the beautiful story of the Gospel that changes hearts. If we are patient and willing to listen to the depth of the questions that the person is having, we can have no fear, for the word of God is perfectly capable of handling a rowdy, struggling, sinful human heart. It sets the captives free. So instead of giving a solely intellectual answer that satisfies our own questions, we must dig deeper in our conversation with others and deeper into the word of God and let God’s words speak. The story of the Gospel is intriguing, compelling, beautiful, and awe inspiring. In the light of God’s beauty, the slogans of this world become a pale whisper and are exposed for the foolishness they are. The Gospel is far better than the silly slogans the world provides. It attacks both mind and heart. We need to be get better about not just giving an answer to the questions but entrancing people with wonder of the story. A story that unlike the slogans of this world stands on a firm and solid foundation. Unlike the fickle hearted ruled slogans of this world, thankfully there is not just beauty but also solid scholarship and intellect to back it up the Gospel, for only things in Christ can stand.

We often ignore the heart of the questions people are having because an unruly heart is so difficult to tame. It takes time, patience, struggle, and a willingness to get close and wrestle. We must keep in mind that the sword described in Hebrews 4 is not a long sword, but one meant for close combat and wrestling. It meant for this kind of struggle. So, we should not be surprised at this kind of warfare and be ready for close combat and wrestling with the enemy. We can stand against the enemy without fear, for it is easy to be brave when facing a foe, when there is a lion backing you up. As Augustine said, we need to uncage the lion and let the word of God roam free and stop holding it back. So don’t be afraid to intently and purposefully listen to the questions of those challenging Christianity, they are only whimper and pale in comparison to the lion. But also, do not attack them in your own strength or with what is right and wise in your own eyes. We do not depend on Egypt to win our battles. That glory goes to the Lord alone. Be patient and listen to their question and wait on the Lord and allow his word to conquer not your intellect. Let us gather around the fire of God’s word and experience the light and heat of the Gospel as we listen to the story and let it envelope us and sink into our hearts, breath, blood, flesh and bones.

The death of Shemei

Solomon looked at the man standing before his throne and proclaimed, “You know in your own heart all the harm that you did to David my father. So, the LORD will bring back your harm on your own head. But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever” (1 Kings 2:44-45, ESV). After the king spoke these words, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada drew his sword and struck him down. . . Shimei was dead.

Three years earlier, before he died, Shimei had stood before Solomon and Solomon had warned him, “on the day you go out and cross the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall die” (1 Kings 2:37, ESV). Shimei replied, “What you say is good; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do” (38). But Shimei did not take these words to heart, for before being brought before Solomon’s throne to be sentenced, he had crossed the Kidron to retrieve two of his servants who had fled to Gath. And just as Solomon had promised, the moment he stepped across the Kidron, that very day, his death was certain.

“The day”

This event is reminiscent of God’s command to Adam, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16–17, ESV). Both Solomon and God gave the edict “for in the day”. But neither Shimei nor Adam were put to death on the exact same day they violated the command. Did God fail to keep his promise that “in the day” Adam ate of the tree he would “surely die”?

After Shimei stepped on the other side of the Kidron, he traveled to Gath, obtained his servants, and returned home. The average day’s journey for a donkey is 15-20 miles, but possibly 30 (donkeyonfarm.com). The trip to Gath and back would have been around 50-60 miles there and back. Shimei would also have had to take the time to retrieve his servants. Therefore, it is improbable that Shimei left Jerusalem, found his servants in Gath, returned to Jerusalem, and was summoned by Solomon on the same day. On the day Shimei crossed the Kidron his death was certain, but his death did not occur until he was brought before the throne room and saw Solomon face to face, and judgment was pronounced.

Sound and Wind

After Adam sinned and God comes to meet with Adam we find an interesting phrase, “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the [wind] of the day” (Genesis 3:8, [added]). Notice it doesn’t say the LORD God walked, but instead “the sound of the Lord God” and this walking was in “the wind of the day”. In the rest of the Bible, we have similar language. It is the word of the LORD that met with Abraham in Genesis 15 and spoke through the prophets. We also see a similar description at the end of Job when the LORD comes to speak. And when God comes, he comes cloaked in clouds. We see a vivid picture of this when God comes to Mount Sinai: “there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder” (Exodus 19:16–19, ESV). It is no surprise that Adam and Eve, on hearing God come into the garden of Eden after they had broken God’s command, shrunk back and hid themselves from the presence of the LORD among the trees of the garden, just as the Israelites trembled at Sinai.

Man shall not see God’s face and live

Though this image of God coming into the Garden and meeting with the Israelites at Mount Sinai is powerful, it is a picture of a God who has hidden himself, who has hidden his face. When Moses asked to see God’s glory, he was told, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.’” (Exodus 33:19–20, ESV). Remember, Shimei’s death did not occur till he stood before the throne and saw Solomon face to face. Coming before the throne and seeing the king face to face meant judgment, and the penalty had already been proclaimed – death. When God came to meet Adam in the Garden, he hid his face and promptly escorted Adam and Eve out of Eden, and the sword, instead of putting Adam and Eve to death, prevented them from entering the throne room of God. Just as Shimei’s death was certain when he passed over the Kidron, so Adam’s death was certain, but unlike Shimei, Adam’s day before the throne was postponed.

In that crucial point in history, if Adam and Eve had stood before the throne of God and saw God’s face that very day, their judgment would have been proclaimed, and they would have died. If God had not hidden himself and driven Adam and Eve out, humanity would have ended there. You and I would not exist.

An all-knowing, all-powerful, perfectly-loving God will hide himself

The question is often asked why would an all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly-loving God hide himself from us, if he wants us to know him. Why does he not reveal himself clearly? The simple answer is because he is all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly loving, he has in love chosen to hide himself so that he can postpone the day of our judgment. He does this so that during this postponement, he can rescue and bring a people to himself. We are in the period between when Shemei placed one foot across the Kidron and before he came before the throne of Solomon. Make no mistake, just as Shemei’s death was certain the moment he passed the Kidron, so our death is certain, and that “day” will come . . .

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11–15, ESV)

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. (2 Peter 3:8–10, ESV)

And this is our hope . . . On this day, the day of the great white throne judgement evil will finally be destroyed, and no longer cause harm and on that day the final enemy will be destroyed, death itself. And yet, because God hid himself, not all of humanity will be destroyed. He made a way through his son, Jesus, the son of David.

On that day, the throne of the son of David will prosper and be established forever, and the people of the son of David will stand victorious. For God has made another day called “Today”. On this day, called “Today”, Jesus, the final Adam, in his humanity stood before the throne of God. On the cross, he bore the wrath of God in our place. The punishment that should have fallen on us fell on him. As our great high priest took upon himself the wrath of God and died in our place. But Jesus did not stay in the grave and could not be held in Sheol; he conquered death and the gates of Hades in his resurrection. The bondage of death can no longer hold us. When we call upon the name of the Lord and put our trust in the work and worth of Jesus alone, we have our day before the throne of God, but just as the ark and the Passover lamb protected them from the wrath of God, we are bound to Christ, and God’s presence instead of destroying us purifies us and makes us whole. We are not like Adam and Eve or the Israelites who shrunk back and hid themselves in God’s presence, but instead, we “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16). We stand before the throne, and the King declares us righteous. For those of the Kingdom of David, “No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads” (Revelation 22: 3-4, ESV).

God owned the idea of hiddenness before the atheists

Throughout the Bible, God is seen as being surrounded or cloaked in clouds or veiled. The idea of a hidden God does not come first from atheists questioning God; it comes from the story of the Gospel and is an important concept in understanding this redemption story. An old lady once said to King David, “We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God will not take away life, and he devises means so that the banished one will not remain an outcast” (2 Samuel 14:14). And this is the purpose in God hiding himself – because God so loved this world, he made a Way and had a plan to bring us back to himself, so that one day we might stand before his throne, in his presence and see his face. For those who are in Christ, when we stand before God, his judgment passes over us while we remain unscathed, for our judgment is dealt with on the cross and is conquered in Jesus’s resurrection. So, the atheist may ask the question, “Why is God hidden?” but it is only because God is hidden that they can even ask the question. The only reason you and I are alive and able to read this is because a perfectly loving God hid himself, postponing our judgment day.

Come!

The LORD has called out to you and I to “Come!”. Be assured of this, though our judgment and fate our certain, if we do not heed the call of the Gospel. Do not fool yourself by thinking you will be able to say to God, “a perfectly-loving God would not hide himself, therefore I ought not be judged”. This call has gone out to the whole world. His call has gone out to you.

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

          But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for 
     “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, 
          and their words to the ends of the world.” 
          (Romans 10:17–18, ESV) 

We may believe that we can be children and claim we just didn’t hear God, and feel like we can make excuses, but our excuses will expose us for who we are and will suddenly become feeble, and our mouths will be shut when we stand before God’s throne. Our own words will condemn us. The scripture warns us instead of refusing to listen, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

     Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, 
          which must be curbed with bit and bridle, 
          or it will not stay near you. 
            (Psalm 32:9, ESV) 

Instead, hear and listen to the call and come,

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take of the water of life without price. (Revelation 22:17

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30, ESV)

You might still say, “But why does God not reveal himself like he did to the Israelites in the desert? Surely, if he did this, I would believe”. We will deal with this in later posts.

“Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him” (Proverbs 30:5).

For many there is a tendency to take the scripture with a grain of salt, take in the parts they like, ignore the parts the don’t. They might buy into popular ideas of erroneous errors or harmful teaching within the scriptures, regardless of the evidence to the contrary. It can be popular and feel freeing to deconstruct the Bible. Either by abandoning it or fitting it into our context our world view. Love demands more . . . . A God of love does not speak to us with wavering speech. Though are hearts and minds are not clear, we cannot say this of God’s heart and mind. It is ludicrous to even imagine an all-powerful God who loves giving us weak and untrustworthy words. Paul says the scriptures are God breathed, what God speaks comes from his heart. You cannot say God is love and go on to say that the scripture is erroneous. God’s word is not only love, but also life. John begins his Gospel with these words, “In the beginning was the Word . . .. in him was life”. Quoting Moses, Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” God’s word points us to the one who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Jesus said, “You examine the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is those very Scriptures that testify about Me” (John 5:39).

Sadly, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). When you reject the scripture or interpret them in your own way, you are rejecting Jesus. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32). Don’t buy the attacks people make on the scripture, these are arguments of weak-minded people, who may of struggled, but have not wrestled deep enough. Coming to know the scripture is a war, the scripture is at war for are hearts and minds. When the scripture describes the word of God as a double-edged sword, it is the sword used in close combat where men are wrestling for life. Do not be week-minded, allow the sword to pierce you. Hold on and wrestle like Jacob till you are overcome. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.  At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:25–29)

epilogue: When I say weak-minded, I have a lot of compassion for those who struggle with the inerrancy of scripture. I know it is tough, draining, sometimes the hardest battle you have ever been in. I’ve been there and because of my own foolishness still have to battle. But we must not let go till God’s word wins. The admonition of the scripture is to “wait on the Lord”.

The Firstborn and Beginning of God’s Creation

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Colossians 1:15, ESV)

And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. (Revelation 3:14, ESV)

INTRODUCTION: the importance of understanding that Jesus is the “firstborn of creation” and “the beginning of creation” in all aspects of what these terms mean, but specifically Jesus as a part of creation.

Colossians 1:15 and Revelation 3:14 are descriptions of who Jesus is and help us to understand his character and nature. In Colossians 1:15, Paul describes Jesus: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” In Revelation 3:14, Jesus describes himself, “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.” In these passages, the phrases “the firstborn of all creation” and “the beginning of God’s creation” are key in understanding the nature of Jesus. In Greek, the meaning of these words and the syntax allow for possible variations in understanding what these phrases mean.

“Firstborn” has a few general possible meanings. “Firstborn” can mean literally the firstborn child. But also in the Bible and in the culture, firstborn was also a title given to the child whom the father chose to be preeminent over his other children. This title was most often given to the literal firstborn, but not always. We see this concept with Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Judah. I will argue that Jesus is both literally firstborn and is confirmed as the firstborn, each being important in understanding the nature and work of Jesus.

Another aspect in this passage is understanding how the firstborn relates to creation. It is not just “firstborn” but “firstborn of creation”. The syntax allows for two possible interpretations.

1. Preeminence over creation or ruler of creation
2. The firstborn amongst creation

As before, I will argue that both these variations are true and are necessary for our understanding not only who Jesus is and his work. 

                The phrase “the beginning of creation” also has possible variations. The word “beginning” is “arche” in Greek, which has the possible meanings of “ruler”, “source”, and “beginning”.  So, this verse could mean,

1. The ruler of the creation of God
2. The source of the creation of God
3. The beginning of the creation of God

As with the phrase, “firstborn of creation”, I believe that the scripture is taking hold of all three of these meanings to demonstrate both the nature and power of Jesus. And as with the previous phrase, I will be discussing the importance of Jesus being a part of God’s creation, not just outside of it as a creator.

Of these interpretations, the idea of Jesus being “firstborn amongst creation” and being “the beginning of the creation of God” or the idea that these phrases relate to Jesus as a part of the creation of God is the most controversial. But these concepts are crucial in properly understanding who Jesus is and cannot be ignored. I will first discuss the other variations and show how they are true in order to provide a foundation and defense for understanding why this more controversial understanding is true as well.

The image of God corrupted

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

                So God created man in his own image,

                                in the image of God he created him;

                                male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27, ESV)

Who are we? What is our fundamental nature, the essence of who we are meant to be? We were made to image God and reflect his rule and care. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion . . .’” “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15, ESV). The imagery of Eden is one of a royal priesthood. Humanity was made in the image of God, to rule, to work, and to keep this world. We were to be a royal priesthood imaging God on earth.

When the serpent showed up in Eden, he challenged our father and mother, Adam and Eve, with a choice, would they image God by fully trusting Him and looking to Him alone as their way, truth, and life, trusting in every word that comes from the mouth of God or would they be like God, who alone has the wisdom to determine between good and evil, and chose to do what is right in their own eyes. Doing what is right in our own eyes is contrary to reflecting who God is. It is contrary to being made in the image of God. Sadly, Adam and Eve chose to abandon God and His word in order to do what was right and pleasing in their own eyes. And we, their sons and daughters, have gone down the same path, every one of us choosing to do what is right in our own eyes.

The firstborn foretold

Since Adam’s fall, that image of God we were meant to be has been profoundly corrupted and infected at the very core of who we are. We are hopeless on our own, with no means of restoring ourselves to who we are meant to be. But we were not left on our own. When Adam fell, mankind was not abandoned. God, in his love, promised he would one day send a man, one born of woman, who would crush the serpent’s head.

                     I will put enmity between you and the woman,

                                and between your offspring and her offspring;

                he shall bruise your head,

                                and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15, ESV)

Before Jesus was born, great men came into the world. All these men failed to be the perfect image of God. Adam failed. Noah failed. Abraham failed, Isaac and Jacob failed. Moses failed. David failed. The prophets failed. None of these men were the perfect image of God. Israel was called God’s firstborn son. Israel failed. All humankind, like our father Adam, has failed. As time moved on and men continued to fail, but in his patience, God continued to proclaim and elaborate on his promise through the scripture and prophecy. The godly men of the Old Testament looked forward to the reality when this man would come into the world. This man to come would be the perfect man, he would not choose his own way, truth, or life; he would not fail, but live perfectly in obedience and trust in God. He would be the perfect image of God, God would call him his son, and as his son, he would have the right to the title of firstborn. Psalm 2 speaks of this son of God, the firstborn,

I will tell of the decree:

                The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;

                                today I have begotten you.

                Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,

                                and the ends of the earth your possession.

                You shall break them with a rod of iron

                                and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” (Psalm 2:7–9, ESV)

Ethen the Ezrahite speaks about this son, the messiah, who would be appointed as the firstborn.

He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,

                                my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’

                     And I will make him the firstborn,

                                the highest of the kings of the earth. (Psalm 89:26-27, ESV)

The son

Before we go further in exploring what it means to be the firstborn, let us look at what it means for Jesus to be the “son of God”. Having lived 2,000 years of theological history, many of us, when we hear the term “son of God”, think of the person of the Trinity God, the Son, but when men like Peter intimately walked with this man, they experienced his humanity firsthand. They ate with him, sweat with him, celebrated with him, sang with him, and lived with him. Peter knew Jesus as a man. Peter had met his mother, Mary. He would have known of Joseph. But when he said, “You are the Messiah, the son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), Peter was declaring that this man’s father was not Joseph. Peter was declaring that this man was unlike any human in all history.

We need to lay hold of this and understand the human nature of the term “son of God”, for it is in becoming a part of creation, one of us, that he gained the right to save mankind from their sins. As the scripture says, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:6,7)” Jesus became one of us, human, made in the image of God. And like every human, he had a father and mother. His mother was Mary. His father was not Joseph, but God. And this is what Peter is declaring when he says that Jesus is the son of God. He was the only unique human in all history whose father was God. Jesus was the only unique begotten son of God. Hebrews 1:5 confirms the fulfillment of Psalm 89,

For to which of the angels did God ever say,

                “You are my Son,

                                today I have begotten you”?

                                Or again,

                “I will be to him a father,

                                and he shall be to me a son”? (Hebrews 1:5, ESV)

At Jesus’s birth, the angel’s proclaimed, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10–11, ESV). A babe came into the world, the son of God . . .

And so, when the long-awaited man arrived, he came like any other man. He was born into a humble family. He was cared for as a baby. He grew up. He learned. He grew in wisdom. He lived in history and walked among and with people. Jesus was a man in every way. Mary raised Jesus amongst family and friends. As a son, he loved his mother and earthly father. He loved those around him. He had compassion for others, touching them, healing them. The apostles sat at his feet, walked with him, and touched Jesus with their hands. They were loved by Jesus, a love that would transform them. They had a relationship with this man. In every way, he was a man.

He experienced the hardships of being a man and was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin, for, unlike any other man, no sin or fault could be found in him (Hebrews 4:15). This man did not live like other men who had been corrupted by sin as their father Adam. He did not do what was right in his own eyes, but he looked to the Father and did nothing without the Father. “So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise’” (John 5:19, ESV). He was the perfect imprint of His Father; He was the perfect image of God, the perfect human. And though he was born of a woman as prophesied, he was unlike any other human or any other creation in history, for his father was God. He truly is the son of God.

The title of firstborn is earned

I will address the fact that Jesus was born into the title of firstborn and him being the firstborn of creation later. That will become crucial. But it is also important to understand that Jesus, although he had the right to the title by being the actual firstborn, also earned the right to the title of firstborn and his inheritance in his humanity. In Psalm 89, Ethan speaks of a time to come in the future where God “will make him the firstborn”. The word “make” has the meaning of to give, to hand down, to set, to place, to grant. So, someone in Ethan’s future would be given the title of firstborn. During Ethan’s time and in the times of the Old Testament, this had not happened yet, for all men had failed, but the saints looked forward and longed for a time when it would be fulfilled. And it was fulfilled in the life of Jesus.

In the culture of the time and scripture, the one who inherits is given the title of firstborn, regardless of birth order. We see this with Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Judah, Moses, and Solomon. Being the literal firstborn did not necessarily mean preeminence. Jesus was not the first man. He was not Adam. Adam had failed to be the perfect image of God and lost his right to the title. Reuben and Esau likewise lost their title of firstborn. All of mankind, due to sin, has lost the right to this title. Though Jesus was not the first man, he is the first and only human who fulfilled the purpose for which man was created. Jesus is the only man who fully submitted to his God, considering the Father greater than himself, unlike the rest of humanity who had gone their own way in their pride, considering themselves greater than God, and doing what was right in their own eyes. Jesus, the man, is the only human who worshiped the only true God with his whole heart, mind, and soul. He was the only human of whom it could be said that he was the perfect image of God. And in being the perfect image of God, though not the first man, he earned the right to the title of firstborn, replacing Adam and becoming the final Adam. He learned obedience, and God declares this human his perfect son. Just as a father in that culture confirms the son he has chosen as his firstborn, God confirms his appointment of Jesus as his firstborn when he declares, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16–17, ESV)

For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. (2 Peter 1:17–18, ESV)

The son laid down his glory, became less than angels, humbling himself, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,” (Philippians 2:6, ESV). It is in his humanity and his perfect life that God grants the man, Jesus, the titles of the son of God, firstborn, and the perfect image. He won this title in his humanity so that we would no longer be bound to Adam. As the firstborn, we who trust in him no longer look to Adam for our inheritance but are bound to the final Adam, the perfect human, Jesus. It is in Jesus’s name, not Adam’s, that we are known by God, nor are we any longer in the image of Adam, we are in the image of Jesus, who is the firstborn among many brethren.

Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45, ESV)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:17–18, ESV)

The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:47–49, ESV)

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:29, ESV)

Revelation 3:14

We still need to say more about Jesus being the firstborn. We have only discussed how he was the “firstborn” in one sense but have not discussed him being the actual firstborn nor the phrase “firstborn of creation” and how it ties into him being a part of God’s creation. Also, if you are the firstborn, you gain an inheritance, we have not discussed what this inheritance is. And we will.  But to get us there, I want to first look at Revelation 3:14, for it has a link to Paul’s letter to the Colossians, specifically to Paul’s description of Jesus as “the firstborn of creation”.

Revelation 3:14 is a part of Jesus’ letter to the church at Laodicea. In each of his letters to the seven churches in Revelation, Jesus gives a description of himself that is linked to the descriptions of himself in Revelation 1. So, we can look at how these verses parallel each other to get a better understanding of what they mean. Below are shown the parallels in the first six letters to the churches and Revelation 1. To show this pattern, we will look at the pattern in the 7^th church.

And for the 7^th church the church of Laodicea (Revelation 3:14; Revelation 1:5)

Revelation 3:14 connection to Colossians 

Interestingly, Paul instructs that his letter to the Colossians be read to the church in Laodicea. “And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea” (Colossians 4:6, ESV). So, when the church at Laodicea hears these words from Revelation, they are already familiar with the terms Jesus is using. And when Jesus is dictating his letter to the church of Laodicea, he is aware that they are familiar with these terms and concepts and the meanings behind them. So, the descriptions in Colossians and the descriptions here in the letter to Laodicea are connected and, when used together, can help us discover what these terms mean. We will also see that the letter of Hebrews also uses these terms and similar phrases. So, let’s elaborate on these terms.

The words of the Amen, the Faithful and true witness

As we see in the pattern above, “the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation” is connected to “the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings on the earth.” These descriptions are also similar to the descriptions we find in Colossians 1. The descriptions in Revelation, “the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness” and “the faithful witness” are reflected in “He is the image of the invisible God” in Colossians. These images express that Jesus is a faithful and true witness of who God is, both in his words and deeds. These phrases describe Jesus as the perfect and true man who fully and completely portrays who God is. John states, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18, ESV). As said before, mankind was originally made to be in the image of God. We failed. Jesus, in his humanity, did not fail. Jesus, the man, is the perfect witness, imprint, and image of the invisible God. He is the perfect human. Jesus said, “I am the truth”, and by him, we know the truth about God. He told his disciples that if they have seen him, they have seen the Father.

Firstborn from the dead

The phrase “the firstborn from the dead” is found in both Revelation and Colossians. There are accounts of people being raised from the dead in the Bible, the widow Zarephath’s son, the Shunamite woman’s son, the man raised out of Elisha’s grave, the widow of Nain’s son, Jairus’ daughter, Lazarus, Tabitha, and Eutychus. This verse is not talking about this type of resurrection. These resurrected but had the same weak bodies as before. When Jesus was resurrected, he no longer had the same kind of body, but his body, not seeing decay, was transformed into a new kind of body (John 2:18-22, ESV, will be quoted shortly). This is the same kind of body the saints will have at their resurrection. For if the saints will not have the same type of body, then Jesus did not resurrect as well. Paul states,

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. (1 Corinthians 15:14-16, ESV)

He goes on to say,

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23, ESV)

Paul connects the saints’ resurrection to Christ. And it is “by a man” that their resurrection has come. Jesus did not cease being a man at the resurrection. His human body did not cease to exist but was transformed into a spiritual body. If the saints’ bodies are to be resurrected, it is in vital connection with the body of Christ’s resurrection, for our resurrection is the same. If this is not true, our faith is in vain. Paul says in Romans, “he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Jesus was the first human to be born into the New Creation through his bodily resurrection from the dead. And because he is one of us, both in his earthly life and in his resurrection, “he is not ashamed to call them brothers” (Hebrews 2:11b, ESV). We who are being made in the image of Jesus are the congregation of the firstborn, enrolled in heaven (Hebrews 12:23).

Firstborn: the inheritor of the world

Jesus says he is the “ruler of the kings of the earth.” As “the firstborn”, Jesus has gained an inheritance. Let us look more into what that inheritance is. In Deuteronomy 32:8-9, we learn this

                When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,

                                when he divided mankind,

                he fixed the borders of the peoples

                                according to the number of the sons of God.

                But the LORD’s portion is his people,

                                Jacob his allotted heritage. (ESV)

When the nations were divided, God took Jacob aside from all the nations of the world as his own possession. Yahweh was to be their God, and Israel was to be His people. God did not choose them because they were great. They are described as small in number and weak, a small flock among the nations.

For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 7:6–8, ESV)

Though God took this nation and became the Shepherd of this small people, God had not forgotten the other nations. His heart still went out to and longed for the multitudes of people in the nations scattered across the world. In his covenant with Abraham, whom he loved, his friend, he promised that the nations would be blessed through Abraham’s seed (Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18). The covenant was a promise to bring the nations to himself. And this promise of making the small flock and multitudes amongst the nations, both the Jews and Gentiles, one flock would be accomplished through Abraham’s descendent, a man Yahweh would call his son.

                I will tell of the decree:

                The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;

                                today I have begotten you.

                Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,

                                and the ends of the earth your possession. (Psalm 2:7-8, ESV)

And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. (John 10:16, ESV)

Through Jesus, no longer is it just Israel, the little flock, that is God’s inheritance, but Jesus as the son of God, has been given all the nations as his inheritance. God has rescued his people from their slavery to sin. And so, through the Gospel, Jesus has inherited the nations. All are now one flock under one shepherd.

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4–6, ESV)

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. (Ephesians 2:11–16, ESV)

Ruler of the kings on the earth

Because Jesus is one of us, “the firstborn among many brothers”, Hebrews goes on to state he is our perfect high priest in the order of Melchizedek, and he has the authority to sit on David’s throne at the right hand of God, reflecting Psalm 110, and foretold by Zechariah,

And the word of the LORD came to me: “Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah. Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. And say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honor and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’ (ESV)

Zechariah says of this man, the priest-king, “he shall build the temple of the LORD”. When asked by the Jews by what authority Jesus had done the things he had done, he answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John goes on to explain,

The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. (John 2:18-22, ESV)

And we know that his body or “temple” resurrected for the disciples “thought they saw a spirit”, but Jesus, the one who is the Amen and Truth, the faithful witness, who cannot lie, assures them, “spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have”, fulfilling his promise that he would raise “this temple”.

But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. (Luke 24:37-43, ESV)

It is the power of Jesus’s human bodily resurrection that gave him the authority to be both priest and king in the order of Melchizedek.

This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. (Hebrews 7:15-16, ESV)

Both these positions, king and priest, require a human to take on the role. We know that he did not sit down at the right hand of God as an angel: “And to which of the angels has he ever said, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?’” (Hebrews 1:13, ESV). But as he fulfilled the role, Adam failed in obedience in his humanity, he also filled the role of king that both Adam and David failed to do without sin. “For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect” (Hebrews 2:16-17a, ESV). Adam was commanded to rule and be a keeper over the earth, to be a priest-king. He sinned by disobeying God’s command, but he also failed in his role to rule and to keep when he did not stomp the serpent on the head. The final Adam came to accomplish this. Jesus not only fully obeyed the law of Moses as a human, but he also sits on the throne of David as king and priest, completing what the Levitical priesthood was unable to do. Adam failed to stomp on the serpent and put his enemies under his feet. Jesus fully accomplishes in his humanity what we failed to do. And as the perfect man, once his enemies are placed at his feet, he will deliver the kingdom to God, the Father, fully accomplishing everything humanity was supposed to do and then God will be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:24-25). The passage in Revelation, after speaking of Jesus being the “firstborn from the dead”, continues with “and ruler of kings on the earth.” His resurrection as a human, the firstborn of the dead, gave him the authority to be king, as is said in Psalm 89.

He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,

                                my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’

                     And I will make him the firstborn,

                                the highest of the kings of the earth. (26-27, ESV)

It has been testified somewhere,

                “What is man, that you are mindful of him,

                                or the son of man, that you care for him?

                You made him for a little while lower than the angels;

                                you have crowned him with glory and honor,

                                putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

(Hebrews 2:6-8, ESV)

Colossians states, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14, ESV). Also, “He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent” (Colossians 1:18)

The book of Hebrews considers these concepts. It opens with these words,

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

Jesus being the Son, being the heir of all things, being the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, the world being created through Jesus, Jesus as the beginning of creation, Jesus upholding the universe by the word of his power and being priest and king sitting at the right hand of God are themes that keep being repeated in all these passages.

The scripture has an interesting caveat in the word “until”. The scriptures say that Jesus will sit at the right hand of God until he has placed all his enemies under his feet.

“And to which of the angels has he ever said, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?’” (Hebrews 1:13, ESV)

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. (Hebrews 10:12–13, ESV)

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

                                my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

                I have put my Spirit upon him;

                                he will bring forth justice to the nations.

                He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

                                or make it heard in the street;

                a bruised reed he will not break,

                                and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

                                he will faithfully bring forth justice.

                He will not grow faint or be discouraged

                                till he has established justice in the earth;

                                and the coastlands wait for his law. (Isaiah 42:1-4, ESV)

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:25–28, ESV)

After David had come to defeat his enemies putting them under his feet, Solomon had become king. It was then that the temple could be built.

And Solomon sent word to Hiram, “You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet. But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune. And so I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’ (1 Kings 5:2–5, ESV)

The word “until” implies that Jesus will not always be sitting at the right hand of God. After Jesus has placed all his enemies under his feet, we see New Jerusalem, the New Temple, the new dwelling place of God coming down to earth, and in the midst of her is one throne, the throne of God and the Lamb. And God will be all in all.

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:3–4, ESV)

And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one. (Zechariah 14:9, ESV)

The beginning of the creation of God & Proverbs 8:22.

Paul writes in Colossians 1:18, “He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent”. Both Revelation 3:14 and Colossians 1:18 have the term “the beginning” connected with the terms “firstborn from the dead” and his rulership or preeminence. His being “the beginning of God’s creation” supports who he is as “firstborn from the dead” and “ruler of the kings of the earth”. But what does “the beginning of creation of God” mean? Fortunately, we are not left to guess the meaning. We can go to the Old Testament to find where this title comes from.

Proverbs 8:22 uses wording similar to Revelation 3:14, “The LORD created me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old” (NASB). I believe that it is from these verses that the New Testament is referring to when it speaks of Jesus as being the “beginning of God’s creation”. Something significant is happening in this verse and the surrounding verses that impacted the writers of the New Testament and their understanding of the Messiah, the man who lived among them, so let’s explore the meaning behind this verse.

The wisdom of God

What is the subject of these verses? Well, the passage tells us, “I, wisdom”. These verses are about wisdom personified. Wisdom in the Hebrew language is feminine, so it is no surprise that she is portrayed as a woman. All agree that wisdom is an eternal attribute of God; there was never a time when God lacked wisdom, so what does it mean to “create” here in this passage? It cannot be not talking about mere wisdom. Let’s look back and see how this woman is described.

Chapters 1-9 of Proverbs give you a picture of Wisdom and Foolishness, both calling out to us to come to them. We have a choice of whom to follow. Choose life or choose death. This choice is not only a theme in these passages but throughout the scripture.

                Does not wisdom call?

                                Does not understanding raise her voice?

                On the heights beside the way,

                                at the crossroads she takes her stand;

                beside the gates in front of the town,

                                at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud: (Proverbs 8:1-3, ESV)

For whoever finds me finds life

                                and obtains favor from the LORD,

                but he who fails to find me injures himself;

                                all who hate me love death.” (Proverbs 8:35-36, ESV)

                She has sent out her young women to call

                                from the highest places in the town,

                “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”

                                To him who lacks sense she says,

                “Come, eat of my bread

                                and drink of the wine I have mixed.

                Leave your simple ways, and live,

                                and walk in the way of insight.” (Proverbs 9:3-6, ESV)

                The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,

                                and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. (Proverbs 9:10, ESV)

The context of 8:22-31 is a woman who cries out to the sons of men, calling them back to the fear of the Lord. The whole Bible proclaims this message from beginning to end. It is the message of the Gospel. Wisdom has its ultimate fulfillment in the Messiah, who did walk the streets and byways, calling men back to God.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (Hebrews 1:1-2, ESV)

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, ESV)

Here is another passage describing this woman, describing her as the tree of life, a symbol of the Gospel.

                She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;

                                those who hold her fast are called blessed.

                The LORD by wisdom founded the earth;

                                by understanding he established the heavens;

                by his knowledge the deeps broke open,

                                and the clouds drop down the dew. (Proverbs 3:18-20, ESV)

The theme of choosing life or death and the call of the Gospel to choose wisdom over foolishness is the call to humanity throughout history.

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said,

                “Today, if you hear his voice,

                do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” (Hebrews 3:12-15, ESV)

Those writing the New Testament understood that the Gospel did not begin after Adam sinned. The Gospel’s call, its message, and its plan were established before the foundation of the world. Before the world began. Before Adam chose foolishness and sinned. Before Adam came into existence. And it is with the Gospel at the forefront that God created the world. They could see this from reading Proverbs 8. They found in the words of this chapter that the Gospel was there in the beginning, the first of the works of God, and is the purpose for which the world was created. The Gospel is the wisdom through which the world was made.

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Romans 1:20, ESV)

                The heavens declare the glory of God,

                                and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

                Day to day pours out speech,

                                and night to night reveals knowledge.

                There is no speech, nor are there words,

                                whose voice is not heard.

                Their voice goes out through all the earth,

                                and their words to the end of the world.

                In them he has set a tent for the sun, (Psalm 19:1-4, ESV)

who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, (2 Timothy 1:9. ESV)

The word “possessed or created” in Proverbs 8:22 is beautiful and can mean “create, acquire, purchase, or possess”; all of these word nuances fit the theme here. Before the foundation of the world, God determined in his wisdom and love to create the Gospel plan and to acquire and purchase the fulfillment of the Gospel through the Messiah. You don’t have a Messiah without the Gospel, so the Messiah and the Gospel plan are the beginning of God’s creation. The Greek term “arche” in Revelation 3:14 is fitting, meaning beginning, ruler, origin, describing Jesus’ role in creation. The Gospel and the Messiah were established first, and through the Gospel and the Messiah now creation would begin. The roles the Father and Jesus would play in accomplishing the Gospel began and are displayed in the roles they played in creation. Wisdom is this purpose and the call of the Gospel throughout the ages.

Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. (1 Corinthians 2:6-7, ESV)

                “I will open my mouth in parables;

          I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 13:35, ESV)

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (1 Peter 1:20-21, ESV)

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. (Matthew 25:34, ESV)

who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, (2 Timothy 1:9. ESV)

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. (Romans 16:25-27, ESV)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:3-10, ESV)

Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. (1 Corinthians 2:6-7, ESV)

Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. (Ephesians 3:7-12, ESV)

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:1-12, ESV)

Paul states that Jesus became to us wisdom from God. Jesus was the embodiment of God’s redemption plan. And so Paul focused on this wisdom, the beginning of the creation of God.

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31, ESV)

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5, ESV)

We see these roles from the beginning because God’s covenantal plan and love was the purpose through which the world was created, it was integrated into creation itself. The Messiah’s work of redemption did not begin at the birth of Jesus, it began before the foundation of the world when God created his plan to rescue mankind. It is through Jesus that the world was created, and it is through Jesus that we and all things in heaven and earth are reconciled to God.

Before continuing, I want to pause on this concept that both the Arians and Trinitarians can agree on. . . . The purpose of Creation is the Gospel. The Gospel, and setting apart the Messiah, is the purpose and source and beginning of all the works of God, the beginning of God’s creation, and indeed the first of the works of God. The last book of the Bible is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Jesus is both the beginning and the end of creation. He is the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end (Revelation 1:8, Revelation 21:6, Revelation 22:13). Jesus is the center of creation.

Jesus preexisted creation

When God created the Gospel as the first of his works, the Messiah was also the beginning of God’s creation, for through the Messiah, all things were made.

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:16–17, ESV)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1-3, ESV)

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) (John 1:14-15, ESV)

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ (John 1:29-30, ESV)

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. (John 17:4-5, ESV)

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11, ESV)

Jesus was more than a mere man, for he preexisted all. He said of Abraham,

Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” [57] So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:56–58, ESV)

Jesus has preeminence over creation because he existed before creation and is the creator of the world.

The final Adam

A pattern we see developed in these scriptures is that Jesus as a man came into this world and is the perfect image of God and by his obedience as the final Adam, he has earned the right to be the heir and ruler of all things and has been appointed the firstborn of creation, his name being elevated above all other names.

In Colossians 1:15, the Greek syntax suggests that the terms “image of the invisible God” and “the firstborn of all creation” express similar concepts and give us a picture of Christ’s humanity. These descriptions are unique to Jesus. The Father is not the image of God or the firstborn of creation. This title belongs to Jesus alone, for only a human is made in the image of God. Jesus becoming human was the role set apart for him since before the beginning of the world. Christ, the Messiah, the man, the final Adam became a part of creation and through his obedience was made the preeminent creation and the inheritor or firstborn of creation. Being preeminent not only as a part of the creation but also as the one who is before all things and is the creator of all things. So that in every way, his name is above all other names, both as the creator and as a man created in the image of God.

It has been testified somewhere,

                “What is man, that you are mindful of him,

                                or the son of man, that you care for him?

                You made him for a little while lower than the angels;

                                you have crowned him with glory and honor,

                                putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

 (Hebrews 2:6-8a, ESV)

And so, the man Jesus was elevated above all.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11, ESV)

So much more . . .

Remember people walked with Jesus, ate with him, touched him. They were intimately familiar with his humanity, but as they write we can see they also knew that he was so much more. . .. Since they knew him in his humanity, you would expect them to describe his humanity, his being born of God, being firstborn of creation, and such. Yet as you read what they are writing, you can imagine them bursting at the seams, for we also see them in the next breath say, but he is so much more . . .. describing him as before all things and creator of all things. Jesus was no mere man. How grand it would have been to have walked intimately with this man!

This man is the center of all creation, Jesus being separated for this purpose before creation began in the Gospel, the first of the works of God, the beginning of the creation of God. He is the one through whom God created the world. It is in Jesus alone that all things, both in heaven and earth, are held together. John, a man who walked, ate, and touched Jesus, wrote, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3, ESV). Paul confirms this in his letter to the Colossians after calling him the firstborn of creation.

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. (Colossians 1:16-18, ESV)

These passages are saying, yes, Jesus is a man, and he has gained honor and inheritance and rule as a man, but he is also so much more than a mere man. His right to these titles has been earned as a man but were already his because he is more than a man. The writer of Hebrews warns us to take heed, that we do not neglect Jesus, for he is greater than Moses, the prophets, Melchizedek, and much more than the angels. Jesus, in John, states he is greater than the sons of God.

Arianism vs Trinitarianism

There are two groups, the Arians and the Trinitarians, that begin to differ on who they believe Jesus is at this point, and we will explore this. Both the Arians and Trinitarians could agree, or at least ought to, although there are variations amongst both camps, that the Gospel plan was created and began to be implemented before the foundation of the world as the first of God’s creations and that that plan would be accomplished through the Messiah who existed before the world began. Both agree that Jesus was set apart as the means and wisdom through which the Gospel would be accomplished before the foundations of the world, that he would come as a man and redeem his fellow people and brothers. Both agree that the roles that the Father and the Son would play in this redemption were set in place before the foundation of the world, and we see these redemptive roles play out from the beginning of creation. The key difference is that Trinitarians believe Jesus is Yahweh, while Arians do not believe that Jesus is Yahweh.

Arianism believes that Jesus is more than just a man, more than the angels, believing he is a created god, the first of the creation of God, and greater than all other creation. So, they believe that before creation, when the Gospel plan was formed, not only did Jesus’ role in the Gospel become established, but his very existence began. They believe God created Jesus and through him, God created everything else. One key aspect for Arius, an early and most famous proponent of this idea, is that because Jesus was created, he had a beginning. Arius said, “There was a time when the son was not.” Arians contend that being created, Jesus is not eternal. So, both agree that the concept of the Messiah was created with the Gospel plan of God before creation, but disagree on whether Jesus was in existence eternally before this plan. Trinitarians believe that Jesus eternally existed with God, as one of the three persons of the Godhead. The Gospel was the first of the works of God, and the roles each person of the Trinity would play in the Gospel is the first of God’s work, seen in their roles at creation and in history. Arians would say that Jesus was created as the first of God’s works and was set apart before the foundation of the world for the Gospel plan. Arians and Trinitarians also disagree on who Jesus is. Both agree that Jesus left his glory in the incarnation but disagree on what was the extent of that glory that Jesus had before the world began. Arians believe Jesus was a created lesser god. Trinitarians believe Jesus is Yahweh.

Neither beginning of days nor end of life

The writer of Hebrews, along with other passages dealing with the concept of the firstborn, states that all things were created through Jesus.

And,

                “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,

                                and the heavens are the work of your hands;

                they will perish, but you remain;

                                they will all wear out like a garment,

                like a robe you will roll them up,

                                like a garment they will be changed.

                But you are the same,

                                and your years will have no end.” (Hebrews 1: 10-12, ESV)

But does the writer of Hebrews believe that there was a time when Jesus did not exist? Later in his epistle, he writes of the order of Melchizedek, the king and priest of the Most High God,

For this, Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever. (Hebrews 7:1-3, ESV)

The writer of Hebrews argues it is on the basis of “having neither beginning of days nor end of life” that the order of Melchizedek has preeminence over the Levitical priesthood. It is not only in the fact that Jesus goes on to live forever that gives him authority, for both men and angels will go on to live forever, but the fact that is unique to all of creation: he is the only creation that has had no beginning of days. And if he has no beginning of days, then there is not a time when the son was not. The writer of Hebrews goes on to say, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8, ESV). In the first chapter, he states, “But you are the same, and your years will have no end (Hebrews 1:12b, ESV). He also says that Jesus is unchanging, an attribute that can only be said of God. The eternal existence of Jesus is a theme throughout this epistle.

Jesus is Yahweh

                When the writer of Hebrews speaks of the Son as the creator of the earth in chapter 1, verses 10-12, he quotes Psalm 102. The text seems to come out of nowhere. Why would the writer pull this text out and say that this speaks of the son? This Psalm is about Yahweh, and the writer of Hebrews seems to want you to make this connection because he adds the term Lord in his quote. Well, he doesn’t actually add it, he grabs it (a common practice in that culture, when wanting to emphasize the whole section) from verse 12 of the psalm, which says, “But you O LORD, are enthroned forever;” which is a continuation of the theme he previously discussed, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,”, expressing the eternal nature of Jesus. This psalm also correlates the theme the writer has for worship, “And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him.’” (Hebrews 1:6, ESV) with “when the peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the LORD.” (vs. 22). By expressing two different parts of this Psalm, he is also wanting you to look and meditate on the psalm as a whole and connect it to the son. The psalm begins in verse 2 with, “Do not hide your face from me” and talks of the Yahweh arising and having pity on Zion and appearing in his glory. These are describing the return of Christ. It must be noted that in using the phrase “You Lord” the writer of Hebrews is not only connecting his quote with verse 12 of the psalm, but he is also connecting us to the one who is the subject of the psalm. He is connecting Jesus with the sacred name of God, Yahweh. And so not only is Jesus said to have had no beginning of days, but he is also called Yahweh, and one day he will be revealed in the fullness of his nature. The writer of Hebrews is not alone in this, as we will see.

Many of the writers of the New Testament were men who knew the man Jesus, knew his humanity but also knew there was something more. In their experience with him, they had come to believe and proclaim that he was the son of God. Jesus was the son that all of history had been waiting for. Those who walked with him as a man also described him as God. While with them, Jesus had taught them, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39). So, in coming to understand this man who had walked amongst them, they would have followed Jesus’ command and looked to the stories, prophecies, psalms, and wisdom of the scripture. In the passage of Hebrews above, he seems to pull a passage out of nowhere, yet he didn’t. He was following Jesus’ instructions to search the scriptures for they bear witness of who Jesus is. They found their foundation in understanding the nature of Jesus from the Old Testament.

No one has ever seen God?

John writes, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18, ESV). But wait a minute, . . . did not men in the Old Testament see God?

I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,

                                but now my eye sees you;

                therefore I despise myself,

                                and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6, ESV)

Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. (Genesis 12:7, ESV)

So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” (Genesis 32:30, ESV)

Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, [10] and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank. (Exodus 24:9-11, ESV) [Note: Just as Jesus ate in his resurrection body to show its reality, so too did these men eat and drink.]

Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. (Exodus 33:11a, ESV)

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1, ESV) 

Moses asks to see God’s glory

So, if the scripture in the Old Testament speaks of men seeing God, where is John getting this from, that “No one has ever seen God”? John knows of the story of Moses asked to see God’s glory and what God said.

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” (Exodus 33:18-23, ESV)

When Moses asked to see God’s glory, God said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” God did show Moses his glory, but not the fullness of His face; Moses was covered by the hand of God. So, what did Job, Abraham, Moses, and Isaiah see? Who did they see?

Jesus speaks of Abraham seeing him.  “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad” (John 8:56, ESV). After quoting from Isaiah 53 and 6, John says that Isaiah saw the glory of Jesus, “Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him” (John 12:42, ESV). When the Old Testament men and women encountered God, they were encountering Jesus. In the Old Testament, we see Jesus described as the right hand (or hand) of God, the angel of the LORD, the Name, the Word, the Savior, the Creator, and the glory of the LORD, descriptions not a part or separate from Yahweh, but Yahweh himself, revealing himself to humanity in a way that they would not be destroyed.

God’s patience and love in hiding His face

Because of Adam’s fall, and because of our sin, men cannot see God’s face and live. Jesus said that the more we know, the more our judgment. When we see God face to face, there is no more to be known, and we will be judged. “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, (Hebrews 9:27, ESV). And so, for now, because of God’s patience with mankind, and to call a people to himself, God’s face is veiled. Yet, we are given hope that this will not always be the case. God gave Israel a blessing to encourage them that one day, both heaven and earth would be reconciled, and we would one day see the face of God.

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,

                The LORD bless you and keep you;

                the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

                the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

                “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

 (Numbers 6:22–27, ESV)

Because of His love for us, God has not abandoned us, nor left us on our own. We will see his face once again. But for now, He has revealed Himself to us through Jesus. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, . . .” (John 3:16, ESV). And he has fulfilled his promise to put his Name upon his people through Jesus.

He has given us His name

In the Old Testament, the Tabernacle was the place where God’s name dwelt. When Jesus came, God’s name tabernacled amongst us “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9, ESV).

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:19–20, ESV)

And the Word became flesh and dwelt [to set up a tent] among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14, ESV, italics added)

It is God pursuing us, revealing himself in a way that we will not die. And God has done so much more. Now, through Jesus, He has given us His name and put his name upon his people. Jesus said, “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word” (John 17:6, ESV). And because of what Jesus has done, his name dwells in us and we have become the body of Christ, the temple of God.

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4–5, ESV)

We are all under this one hope, all mankind throughout history who have put their hope in Jesus.

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— (Ephesians 4:4, ESV)

But for now, we have not seen Jesus in his fullness, for when he was with us, the fullness of the deity was hidden, tabernacled in a human body. “For now we see in a mirror dimly” (1 Corinthians 13:12, ESV). But Jesus has promised to return, and at his return will be the revelation of Jesus Christ, where he will appear, and we will see him for who he is. It will not be an invisible return, for every eye shall see him.

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. (Revelation 1:7)

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:30, ESV)

When Jesus returns, God’s face will no longer be hidden. The verse goes on,

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12, ESV).

John states,

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2, ESV).

Revelation states,

“No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:3–4, ESV)

This is our one heavenly and earthly hope: when God reconciles heaven and earth through Jesus, we will see God face to face. His face shall shine upon us, and his Name shall be upon us.

The Name

                The writers looked to the Old Testament to find Jesus, and they found him. They read verses like Isiah 45:22-23 and Joel 2:32 and saw Jesus

                “Turn to me and be saved,

                                all the ends of the earth!

                                For I am God, and there is no other.

                By myself I have sworn;

                                from my mouth has gone out in righteousness

                                a word that shall not return:

                ‘To me every knee shall bow,

                                every tongue shall swear allegiance.’

                “Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me,

                                are righteousness and strength; (Isaiah 45:21–24, ESV)

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls. (Joel 2:32, ESV)

                therefore, thus says the Lord GOD,

                “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion,

                                a stone, a tested stone,

                a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:

                                ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ (Isaiah 28:16, ESV)

The apostle Paul, a learned Pharisee who once killed those calling on the name of Jesus, takes hold of these three verses to show that they refer to Jesus, the name above all other names, and that it is by calling on the name of Jesus that salvation comes,

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5–11, ESV)

To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:43, ESV)

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9–13, ESV)

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:11–12, ESV)

Because the Old Testament used Yahweh while describing Jesus, the New Testament writers who follow their example do not have a problem substituting JEHOVAH with Jesus. Paul takes the name of Yahweh in Joel 2:32 and replaces it with Jesus.  In both Romans 10:11 and Acts 4:11, he supports this substitution by referring to Isaiah 28:16.

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-11, ESV)

For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame” (Romans 10:11)

But he goes further and says, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:11, ESV) . . . . Wow! No other name. . . . This would be blasphemy if Jesus is not Yahweh, for Paul would not only be contradicting the Old Testament but also stating that Yahweh’s name had been replaced by another being and that other beings name is now the only name that can save, JEHOVAH’s name can no longer save. He is not saying this. Paul was a learned man and knew the scriptures. He fully understands the implications of what he is saying.  He is saying that Jesus is Yahweh.

The Confession: Jesus is Lord

                The New Testament refers to Jesus as Lord. The term Lord as seen in “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” or “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord” often refers to the covenant name, JEHOVAH. Lord also often refers to rule and specifically the throne of David. The apostles take hold of these two meanings and associate both meanings to the confession, “Jesus is Lord”. Jesus is Lord and sits on David’s throne, but he is also Lord, JEHOVAH, the name whom men must call upon to be saved. Lord both declares Jesus’s humanity and divinity. Both aspects are important and require the Holy Spirit’s work for one to confess.

Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:3, ESV)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. (1 John 4:1–3, ESV)

When speaking of the Father and the Son, the apostles often use a phrase similar to “God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”, for this is an apt description describing each of their roles in creation and the Gospel. It also follows the pattern of the Shema, “The LORD our God, the LORD is one”.

Paul uses this formula in describing the Father and Son and connects it with the confession of the Shema, confirming that he believes “there is no God but one”,

“there is no God but one.” For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. (1 Corinthians 8:4b–6, ESV)

As Jesus being one Lord is not to the exclusion of the Father being Lord, nor is the Father being one God to the exclusion of Jesus being God but both are descriptions apt to their roles in the Gospel. Paul is clear that he is including them both, when he says “there is no God but one” and then goes on to describe who that one God is, following the pattern of the Shema, which also includes Lord and God, the terms God and Lord both refer to one God, just as they do in the Shema. The Shema states, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (Deuteronomy 6:4, ESV).

The Confession: my Lord and my God

Jesus is not only called Lord, he is called God as well. When Thomas sees Jesus after his resurrection, he proclaims of Jesus, “My Lord and My God” or in Greek “the Lord of me and the God of me”. The grammar is clear that Thomas was speaking only to Jesus and that he is calling Jesus “the God”. Jesus confirms his confession, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” If Jesus is not the God, then either Jesus or John or both are guilty of blasphemy for not clarifying or rebuking Thomas’ statement. This was a bold and clear statement by Thomas. No one in that culture would have just let it be if it were not true. Men picked up stones to stone Jesus for less. And no one in that culture would have said what Jesus said or written what John wrote if it were not true.

                John uses the phrase “I am” or “I am he” throughout his Gospel. It is tightly interwoven in the text. Jesus did not use the phrase “I am” casually. In one instance, a mob had come to arrest Jesus. As they came to arrest him, Jesus said, “I am he”, and all the mob fell to the ground. John is very clear that it is the statement “I am he” that causes the mob to fall to the ground. John had a purpose in including this phrase in his Gospel.

Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. (John 18:2–6, ESV)

The ”I am” statements culminate with the confession of Thomas. And Thomas is not the only apostle to call Jesus God.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1, ESV)

waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, (Titus 2:13, ESV)

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: (2 Peter 1:1, ESV)

You shall not take the name of the LORD in vain

                The Law says, “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain” (Deuteronomy 5:11, ESV). This is the only command in the ten commandments with this kind of warning. The apostles understood this when they called Jesus Lord and God.

This commandment is similar both in command and in warning to the words of Jesus when he said, “unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24, NASB).  Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that he is the I am. Jesus told his disciples, “I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he” (John 13:19).

This is sobering. . . . for there is no other name by which men can be saved. “. . . no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.” And  “every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” Both of these are necessary to call upon the name of the LORD. Shortly after referring to Jesus as firstborn and creator (his humanity and divinity), Paul makes this statement again referring once again both to Jesus’ divinity and humanity . . .

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, (Colossians 2:8-9, ESV)

We cannot ignore the name of the Lord, and we cannot use the Name of the Lord in vain. While it is still called Today, we must follow the great confession found in scripture, “Jesus is Lord”. And though we did not walk, touch, or eat with Jesus while he was on earth, we must boldly and clearly proclaim the confession of Thomas: “My Lord and my God.”

The firstborn of creation as part of creation

                Jesus, being both the creator and having been born as a part of creation, is the only one of whom it can be said that he is “the firstborn of creation”. It cannot be said of God the Father or God the Holy Spirit, for they did not become a part of creation, and no other human or angel has the right to this title, for they are created, not born of God. This title is unique to the man, Jesus. I said before that he has a right to this title not only by his perfect life but also that it was his at birth. Jesus is the only unique son of God. He is the only human or creation that was born of God. As the only one who is born of God, he is the only one who can be called the firstborn, for there are no others. So not only does the term “firstborn of creation” show Jesus’ supremacy over creation, but it also describes his unique nature as a man and son of God. Likewise, the term “son of God” also speaks to both his divine and human nature. This is why the Jews picked up stones, saying this title made him equal to God. A charge Jesus did not deny but confirmed. Those writing in the New Testament understood that this man, Jesus, was unlike any other human in history. He was the man promised back in Genesis 3:15, the one foretold in the scripture. It was fitting when Pilate said of the man next to him who was wearing a royal robe and a crown, “Behold the man!” (John 19:5). The Apostles intimately beheld this man who had walked with them and proclaimed this man that they had known to the nations.

                We must ask ourselves: will we behold this man? Who we say this man is matters. . .. For it is only in his name that men can be saved. Jesus said, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24, NASB). For those who believe in the “I am”, God who is faithful will keep his covenant of Love with his people.

                 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD,

                                “and my servant whom I have chosen,

                that you may know and believe me

                                and understand that I am he.

                Before me no god was formed,

                                nor shall there be any after me.

                 I, I am the LORD,

                                and besides me there is no savior.

                 I declared and saved and proclaimed,

                                when there was no strange god among you;

                                and you are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and I am God.

                 Also henceforth I am he;

                                none can deliver from my hand;

                                I work, and who can turn it back?”   (Isaiah 43:10–13, ESV)

“I, I am he

                                who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,

                                and I will not remember your sins. (Isaiah 43:25, ESV)

I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24, ESV)

For more on Melchizedek go (here)

BACKGROUND: The son of God, the son of man

Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

                So God created man in his own image,

                                in the image of God he created him;

                                male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27, ESV)

The Man

Who are we? What is our fundamental nature, the essence of who we were meant to be? We were made to image God and reflect his rule and care. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion . . .’” “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15, ESV) Humanity was made in the image of God, to rule, to work, and keep this world. We were to be a royal priesthood imaging God.

 When the serpent showed up in Eden, he challenged our father and mother, Adam and Eve, with a choice, would they image God fully trusting in Him and looking to Him alone as their way, truth, and life or would they be like God in choosing for themselves between good and evil and doing what was right in their own eyes. Doing what is right in our own eyes is contrary to being made in the image of God. Sadly, Adam and Eve chose to abandon God and His word in order to do what was right and pleasing in their own eyes. And we, their sons and daughters, have gone down the same path, every one of us choosing to do what is right in our own eyes.

 Since Adam’s fall, that image of God we were meant to be has been profoundly corrupted infected at the very core of who we are. We are hopeless on our own, with no means of restoring ourselves to who we are meant to be. But we were not left on our own. When Adam fell mankind was not abandoned. God in his love promised he would one day send a man, one born of woman, who would crush the serpent’s head. He would be the perfect man, perfect in obedience and trust in God, the perfect image of God. The perfect priest-king.

                     I will put enmity between you and the woman,

                                and between your offspring and her offspring;

                he shall bruise your head,

                                and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15, ESV)

As time moved on, God continued to proclaim and elaborate on his promise through the scripture and prophecy. The godly men of the Old Testament looked forward to the reality when this man would come into the world.

And so, when the long-awaited man arrived, he came like any other man, He was born into a humble family. He was cared for as a baby. He grew up. He learned. He lived in history and walked among and with people. Jesus was a man in every way. Mary raised Jesus amongst family and friends. As a son, he loved his mother and earthly father. He loved those around him. He had compassion on others, touching them, healing them. The apostles sat at his feet, walked with him, and they touched Jesus with their hands. They were loved by Jesus. They had a relationship with this man. In every way, he was a man.

He experienced the hardships of being a man and was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin, for, unlike any other man, no sin or fault could be found in him (Hebrews 4:15). This man did not live like other men who had been corrupted by sin as their father Adam. He did not do what was right in his own eyes, but he looked to the Father and did nothing without the Father. “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise” (John 5:19, ESV) He was the perfect imprint of His Father, He was the perfect image of God, the perfect human. He was born of a woman, but unlike any other human in history, his father was God. He is the son of God.

The son

Having lived 2,000 years of theological history, many of us when we hear the term “son of God”, we think of the person of the Trinity God, the Son, but when men like Peter intimately walked with this man, they experienced his humanity firsthand. They ate with him, sweat with him, celebrated with him, sang with him, lived with him.  Peter had met his mother, Mary. He would have known of Joseph. But when he said, “You are the Messiah, the son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), Peter was declaring that this man’s father was not Joseph. Peter was declaring that this man was unlike any human in all history.

We need to lay hold of this. To understand the human nature of the term “son of God”, for it is in becoming a part of creation, one of us, that he gained the right to save mankind from their sins. As the scripture says, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:6,7)” Jesus became human, made in the image of God, just like the rest of us. And like every human, he had a father and mother. His mother was Mary. His father was God. He was the only unique human in all history whose father was God. Jesus was the only begotten son of God. Hebrews 1:5 proclaims,

   For to which of the angels did God ever say,

                “You are my Son,

                                today I have begotten you”?

                                Or again,

                “I will be to him a father,

                                and he shall be to me a son”? (ESV)

At Jesus’s birth, the angel’s proclaimed, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10–11, ESV). A babe came into the world, the son of God . . . the only human, the only created thing born of God.

Firstborn: born into the world

Before Jesus was born, great men came into the world. All these men failed to be the perfect image of God. Adam failed. Noah failed. Abraham failed, Isaac and Jacob failed. Moses failed. David failed. The prophets failed. None of these men were the perfect image of God. Israel was called God’s firstborn son. Israel failed. All humankind, like our father Adam, have failed. But the prophets proclaimed a man who would come who would not fail and who would have the right to the title of firstborn. Ethen the Ezrahite speaks about this man, the messiah, who would be appointed as the firstborn. He would replace the first man, Adam, becoming the firstborn, and in his name, not Adam’s, would those who trust in him find their identity and be a new creation.

                     He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,

                                my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’

                     And I will make him the firstborn,

                                the highest of the kings of the earth. (Psalm 89:26-27, ESV)

When Jesus was born, he became the firstborn and only human son of God. No other human could claim God as their father. So just in the fact that he was born, he had the right to be called the firstborn son of God. Though he was the natural firstborn of God by birth, he also earned the right to the title of firstborn, by being the perfect image of God. “I will make him the firstborn”. Unlike Adam and all other humans, he did not fail. And because he did not fail, he won the right to the inheritance of the firstborn.

Firstborn: the inheritor of the world

Let us look more into what it meant for him to be the firstborn. In Deuteronomy 32:8-9, we learn this

                When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,

                                when he divided mankind,

                he fixed the borders of the peoples

                                according to the number of the sons of God.

                But the LORD’s portion is his people,

                                Jacob his allotted heritage. (ESV)

When the nations were divided, God took Jacob aside from all the nations of the world as his own possession. YHWH was to be their God and Israel was to be His people. God did not choose them because they were great. They were little and weak among the nations.

For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 7:6–8, ESV)

Though God took this nation, and became the Shepherd of this little flock, God had not forgotten the other nations. In his covenant with Abraham, whom he loved, he promised that the nations would be blessed through Abraham’s seed (Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18) The covenant was a promise to bring the nations to himself. This promise of making the little flock and the large flock one would be accomplished through Abraham’s descendent, a man the YHWH would call his son.

                I will tell of the decree:

                The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;

                                today I have begotten you.

                Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,

                                and the ends of the earth your possession. (Psalm 2:7-8, ESV)

And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. (John 10:16, ESV)

Jesus wins the nations by being the final Adam

Through Jesus, no longer is it just Israel, the little flock, that is God’s inheritance, but Jesus as the son of God has been given all the nations as his inheritance. YHWH has rescued his people from their slavery to sin. In the culture of the time and scripture the one who inherits is given the title of firstborn, regardless of birth order. Jesus was not the first man. He was not Adam, but he did earn the right to be called firstborn and became the final Adam. Adam had failed to be the perfect image of God and lost his right to the title. Jesus being the perfect image of God, the perfect human, earned the right to the title and YHWH made him the firstborn. And as firstborn, we who trust in him no longer look to Adam for our inheritance, but to Jesus. He became the final Adam through whom we have become alive. When we trust in the promises of God, we are no longer in the image of Adam, we are in the image of Jesus, who is the firstborn among many brethren.

Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45, ESV)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:17–18, ESV)

The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:47–49, ESV)

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:29, ESV)

And so, through the Gospel, Jesus has inherited the nations. All one flock, under one shepherd.

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4–6, ESV)

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. (Ephesians 2:11–16, ESV)

He was appointed firstborn in his humanity

Psalm 89 states that God would appoint a man as the firstborn. It is important to understand that Jesus earned the right to this inheritance and the title of firstborn as a human when he came to earth. Unlike Adam, who lost the right of being firstborn through sin, Jesus did not sin. Jesus, therefore, gained the nations as an inheritance because he lived a perfect life of obedience as a man. So though he was the only firstborn human son of God by birth when he came into the world, he was not given the title of inheritance till he earned the right to his title by being the perfect image of God.

It has been testified somewhere,

                “What is man, that you are mindful of him,

                                or the son of man, that you care for him?

                You made him for a little while lower than the angels;

                                you have crowned him with glory and honor,

                                putting everything in subjection under his feet.” (Hebrews 2:6-8, ESV)

For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, (Hebrews 2:16-17a, ESV)

                Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

                                my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

                I have put my Spirit upon him;

                                he will bring forth justice to the nations.

                He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

                                or make it heard in the street;

                a bruised reed he will not break,

                                and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

                                he will faithfully bring forth justice.

                He will not grow faint or be discouraged

                                till he has established justice in the earth;

                                and the coastlands wait for his law. (Isaiah 42:1-4, ESV)

The son laid down his glory, became less than angels, humbling himself, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,” (Philippians 2:6, ESV) He became a man. Jesus is the only man who fully submitted to his God, considering the Father greater than himself, unlike the rest of humanity who had gone their own way in their pride, considering themselves greater than God, and doing what was right in their own eyes. Jesus, the man, is the only human who worshiped the only true God with his whole heart, mind, and soul. He learned obedience and God declares this human his perfect son,

“This is My beloved son in whom I am well pleased!” (Matthew 3:17; 17:5, Luke 3:22; 2 Peter 1:17)

It is in his humanity and his perfect life that God grants the man, Jesus, the titles of the son of God, firstborn, and the perfect image. Those writing in the New Testament understood that this man, Jesus, was unlike any other human in history. He was the man promised back in Genesis 3:15, the one foretold in the scripture. It was fitting when Pilate said of the man next to him who was wearing a royal robe and a crown, “Behold the man!” (John 19:5). The Apostles intimately beheld this man who had walked with them and proclaimed this man that they had known to the nations.

                We must ask ourselves; will we behold this man? Who we say this man is matters. For it is only in his name that men can be saved. Jesus said, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24, NASB)

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WHO IS THIS MAN?

Support verses for Jesus not being God

                The question of who this man is has loomed through the ages. Just like in Jesus’ day, some call him a good man or a prophet or see him as an enemy. There have been many theories. Two that stand out in church history are the Arian and Trinitarian beliefs. Both agree that Jesus is more than a mere man. Trinitarians believe Jesus is God. Arians believe that Jesus is not God but is the first creation of God and through Jesus, God created everything else. Texts such as Colossians 1:15, Revelation 3:14, and Proverbs 8 are used to support the claim that Jesus is the first being created by God, and through whom all other things in creation were made.

                He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Colossians 1:15, ESV)

“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. (Revelation 3:14, ESV)

                “The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work,

                                the first of his acts of old. (Proverbs 8:22, ESV)

We will take a look at these verses so that we might believe that Jesus is who he claimed to be.

Revelation  3:14

Let’s start by looking at Revelation 3:14. In the letters to the churches, Jesus’s description of himself in the letters to the churches is linked to the descriptions of him in Revelation 1. So, we can look at both of these parallels together to understand what they mean. Below shows the parallels in the first six letters to the churches and Revelation 1, in order to show this pattern, then we will look at the pattern in the 7^th church.

Comparison of descriptions of Jesus in the letters to the descriptions in Revelation 1

And for the 7^th church the church of Laodicea (Revelation 3:14; Revelation 1:5)

Revelation 3:14 connection to Colossians 

Interestingly, Paul instructs that his letter to the Colossians be read to the church in Laodicea. “And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea” (Colossians 4:6, ESV). So when the church at Laodicea hears these words from Revelation they are already familiar with the terms Jesus is using. So when Jesus is dictating his letter to the church of Laodicea, he is aware that they are familiar with these terms and concepts and the meanings behind them. So, the descriptions in Colossians and the descriptions here in the letter to Laodicea are connected and when used together can help us discover what these terms mean. So, let’s elaborate on these terms. The letter of Hebrews also uses these terms and similar phrases while exploring who this man is and can be used as we explore these terms.

The words of the Amen, the Faithful and true witness| The faithful witness

As we see in the pattern above, “the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation” is connected to “the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings on the earth.” And these descriptions are also similar to the descriptions we find in Colossians 1. The descriptions in Revelation “the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness” and “the faithful witness” are reflected in “He is the image of the invisible God” in Colossians. These images are expressing that Jesus is a faithful and true witness of who God is both in his words and deeds. These phrases are describing Jesus as the perfect and true man, who fully and completely portrays who God is. John states, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” (John 1:18, ESV) As said before, mankind was originally made to be in the image of God. We failed. Jesus in his humanity did not fail. Jesus, the man, is the perfect witness, imprint, and image of the invisible God. He is the perfect human. Jesus said, “I am the truth”, and by him, we know the truth about God. He told his disciples that if they have seen him, they have seen the Father.

Firstborn from the dead

The phrase “the firstborn from the dead” is found in both Revelation and Colossians. There are accounts of people being raised from the dead in the Bible, the widow Zarephath’s son, the Shunamite woman’s son, the man raised out of Elisha’s grave, widow of Nain’s son, Jairus’ daughter, Lazarus, Tabitha, and Eutychus. This verse is not talking about this type of resurrection. These resurrected but had the same weak bodies as before. When Jesus resurrected, he no longer had the same kind of body, but his body, not seeing decay nor dissolving or disappearing and being the same body, was transformed into a new kind of human body (John 2:18-22, ESV, will be quoted shortly). This is the same kind of body we will have at our resurrection. For if we will not have the same type of body, then Jesus did not resurrect as well. Paul states,

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. (1 Corinthians 15:14-16, ESV)

He goes on to say,

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23, ESV)

Paul connects our resurrection to Christ. And it is “by a man” that our resurrection has come. Jesus did not cease being a man at the resurrection. His human body did not cease to exist but was transformed into a spiritual body. If our bodies are to be resurrected, it is in vital connection with the body of Christ’s resurrection, for our resurrection is the same. And if this is not true, our faith is in vain. Paul says in Romans, “he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Jesus was the first human to be born into the New Creation, through his bodily resurrection from the dead. And because he is one of us, both in his earthy life and in his resurrection, “he is not ashamed to call them brothers,” (Hebrews 2:11b, ESV). We who are being made in the image of Jesus are the congregation of the firstborn, enrolled in heaven (Hebrews 12:23).

Ruler of the kings on the earth

Because Jesus is one of us, Hebrews goes on to state he is our perfect high priest in the order of Melchizedek and he has the authority to sit on David’s throne at the right hand of God, reflecting Psalm 110, and foretold by Zechariah,

And the word of the LORD came to me: “Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah. Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. And say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’ (ESV)

Zechariah says of this man, the priest-king, “he shall build the temple of the LORD”. When asked by the Jews by what authority Jesus had done the things he had done, he answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John goes on to explain,

The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. (John 2:18-22ESV)

And we know that his body resurrected for the disciples “thought they saw a spirit”, but Jesus, the one who is the Amen and Truth, the faithful witness assures them, “spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. (Luke 24:37-43, ESV)

It is the power of Jesus’s human bodily resurrection that gave him the authority to be both priest and king in the order of Melchizedek.

This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. (Hebrews 7:15-16, ESV)

Both these positions king and priest require a human to take on the role. Adam was commanded to rule and be a keeper over the earth, to be a priest-king. He sinned by disobeying God’s command, but he also failed in his role to rule and to keep when he did not stomp the serpent on the head. The final Adam came to accomplish this. Jesus not only fully obeyed the law of Moses as a human, but he also sits on the throne of David as king and priest, fully accomplishing in his humanity what we failed to do. And as the perfect man, once his enemies are placed at his feet, he will deliver the kingdom to God, the Father, fully accomplishing everything humanity was supposed to do and then God will be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:24-25). The passage in Revelation after speaking of Jesus, being the “firstborn from the dead”, continues with “and ruler of kings on the earth.” His resurrection as the firstborn of the dead gave him the authority to be king as is said in Psalm 89.

He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,

                                my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’

                     And I will make him the firstborn,

                                the highest of the kings of the earth. (Psalm 89:26-27, ESV)

Colossians states, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14, ESV). Also, “He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent” (Colossians 1:18)

The book of Hebrews considers these concepts. It opens with these words,

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

Jesus being the Son, being the heir of all things, being the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, the world being created through Jesus, Jesus as the beginning of creation, Jesus upholding the universe by the word of his power and being priest and king sitting at the right hand of God are themes that keep being repeated in all these passages.

The scripture has an interesting caveat in the word “until” The scriptures say that Jesus will sit at the right hand of God until he has placed all his enemies under his feet.

“And to which of the angels has he ever said, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’?” (Hebrews 1:13, ESV)

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. (Hebrews 10:12–13, ESV)

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:25–28, ESV)

After David had come to defeat his enemies putting them under his feet, Solomon had become king. It was then, that the temple could be built.

And Solomon sent word to Hiram, “You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet. But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune. And so I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’ (1 Kings 5:2–5, ESV)

The word “until” implies that Jesus will not always be sitting at the right hand of God. After Jesus has placed all his enemies under his feet, we see New Jerusalem, the New Temple, the new dwelling place of God coming down to earth, and in the midst of her is one throne, the throne of God and the Lamb. And God will be all in all.

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. [4] They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:3–4, ESV)

And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one. (Zechariah 14:9, ESV)

Proverbs 8:22: The beginning of creation | the wisdom of God

I will discuss “the beginning of creation” and “the firstborn of creation” further, but first let’s look at Proverbs 8 for insight on what these mean. We need to look at Proverbs 8 because something is going on here that is important to note. Arius believed this passage describes Jesus being created as the first of God’s creations, tying it in with Colossians 1:15-18, Revelation 3:14, and John 1:1. He believed that Proverbs 8:22 described the creation of Jesus. Proverbs 8:22 says, “The LORD created me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old” (NASB). I would agree that something significant is happening in these verses and that these verses impacted the writers of the New Testament and their understanding of the Messiah, the man who lived among them, so let’s explore the meaning behind this verse.

What is the subject of these verses? Well, the passage tells us, “I, wisdom”. These verses are about wisdom personified. Wisdom in the Hebrew language is feminine, so it is no surprise that she is portrayed as a woman. All agree that wisdom is an eternal attribute of God, there was never a time when God lacked wisdom, so what does it mean to “create”. It is not talking about mere wisdom. Let’s look back and see how this woman is described.

Passages 1-9 give you this description of Wisdom and Foolishness are calling out to us. We have a choice of who to follow. Chose life or choose death. This choice is not only a theme in these passages but throughout the scripture.

                Does not wisdom call?

                                Does not understanding raise her voice?

                On the heights beside the way,

                                at the crossroads she takes her stand;

                beside the gates in front of the town,

                                at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud: (Proverbs 8:1-3, ESV)

For whoever finds me finds life

                                and obtains favor from the LORD,

                but he who fails to find me injures himself;

                                all who hate me love death.” (Proverbs 8:35-36, ESV)

                She has sent out her young women to call

                                from the highest places in the town,

                “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”

                                To him who lacks sense she says,

                “Come, eat of my bread

                                and drink of the wine I have mixed.

                Leave your simple ways, and live,

                                and walk in the way of insight.” (Proverbs 9:3-6, ESV)

                The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,

                                and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. (Proverbs 9:10, ESV)

The context of 8:22-31, is a woman who cries out to the sons of men, calling them back to the fear of the LORD. The whole Bible proclaims this message from beginning to end. It is the message of the Gospel. Wisdom has its ultimate fulfillment is in the Messiah, who did walk the streets and byways calling men back to God.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (Hebrews 1:1-2, ESV)

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, ESV)

Here is another passage describing this woman describing her as the tree of life, a symbol of the Gospel.

                She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;

                                those who hold her fast are called blessed.

                The LORD by wisdom founded the earth;

                                by understanding he established the heavens;

                by his knowledge the deeps broke open,

                                and the clouds drop down the dew. (Proverbs 3:18-20, ESV)

The theme of choosing life or death and the call of the Gospel, to choose wisdom over foolishness is the call to humanity throughout history.

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said,

                “Today, if you hear his voice,

                do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” (Hebrews 3:12-15, ESV)

Those writing the New Testament understood that the Gospel did not begin after Adam sinned. The Gospel call, its message, and its plan were established before the foundation of the world. Before the world began. Before Adam chose foolishness and sinned. Before Adam came into existence. And it is with the Gospel at the forefront that God created the world. They could see this from reading Proverbs 8. They found in the words of this chapter that the Gospel was there in the beginning and is the purpose for which the world was created. The Gospel is the wisdom through which the world was made.

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Romans 1:20, ESV)

                The heavens declare the glory of God,

                                and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

                Day to day pours out speech,

                                and night to night reveals knowledge.

                There is no speech, nor are there words,

                                whose voice is not heard.

                Their voice goes out through all the earth,

                                and their words to the end of the world.

                In them he has set a tent for the sun, (Psalm 19:1-4, ESV)

The word “create” in Proverbs 8:22 is beautiful and can mean “create, acquire, purchase, or possess” all of these word nuances fit the theme here. Before the foundation of the world, God determined in his wisdom and love to create the Gospel plan and to acquire and purchase the fulfillment of the Gospel through the Messiah. You don’t have a Messiah without the Gospel, so The Messiah is the beginning of God’s creation. The Greek term “arche” in Revelation 3:14 is fitting meaning beginning, ruler, origin describing Jesus’ role in creation. The Gospel and the Messiah were established first, and through the Gospel and through the Messiah now creation would begin. The roles the Father and Jesus would play in accomplishing the Gospel began and are displayed in the roles they played in creation. Wisdom is this purpose and the call of the Gospel throughout the ages.

Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. (1 Corinthians 2:6-7, ESV)

                “I will open my mouth in parables;

          I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 13:35, ESV)

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (1 Peter 1:20-21, ESV)

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. (Matthew 25:34, ESV)

who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, (2 Timothy 1:9. ESV)

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. (Romans 16:25-27, ESV)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:3-10, ESV)

Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. (1 Corinthians 2:6-7, ESV)

Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. (Ephesians 3:7-12, ESV)

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. [9] For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:1-12, ESV)

Paul states that Jesus became to us wisdom from God. Jesus was the embodiment of God’s redemption plan. And so Paul focused on this wisdom, the beginning of the creation of God.

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31, ESV)

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5, ESV)

Both the Arians and Trinitarians could agree, or at least ought to, that the Gospel plan was created and began to be implemented before the foundation of the world as the first of God’s creations and that that plan would be accomplished through the Messiah who existed before the world began. Both agree that Jesus was set apart as the means and wisdom through which the Gospel would be accomplished before the foundations of the world, that he would come as a man and redeem his fellow people and brothers. Both agree that the roles that the Father and the Son would play in this redemption were set in place before the foundation of the world and we see these redemptive roles play out from the beginning of creation.

For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. (1 Corinthians 8:5-6, ESV)

We see these roles from the beginning because God’s covenantal plan and love was the purpose through which the world was created, it was integrated into creation itself. The Messiah’s work of redemption did not begin at the birth of Jesus, it began before the foundation of the world when God created his plan to rescue mankind. It is through Jesus the world was created and it is through Jesus we and all things in heaven and earth are reconciled to God.

                Before continuing I want to pause on this concept that both the Arians and Trinitarians can agree on. . . . The purpose of Creation is the Gospel. The Gospel, and setting apart the Messiah, is the purpose and source and beginning of all the works of God, the beginning of God’s creation, and indeed the first of the works of God. The last book of the Bible is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Jesus is both the beginning and the end of creation. He is the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end (Revelation 1:8, Revelation 21:6, Revelation 22:13). Jesus is the center of creation.

The final Adam

A pattern we see developed in these scriptures is that Jesus as a man came into this world and is the perfect image of God and by his obedience as the final Adam, he has earned the right to be the heir and ruler of all things and has been appointed the firstborn of creation, his name being elevated above all other names.

In Colossians 1:15 the Greek syntax suggests that the terms “image of the invisible God” and “the firstborn of all creation” express similar concepts and give us a picture of Christ’s humanity. These descriptions are unique to Jesus. The Father and the Holy Spirit are not the images of God or the firstborn of creation. This title belongs to Jesus alone. It is the role set apart for him since before the beginning of the world. Christ, the Messiah, the man, the final Adam became a part of creation and through his obedience was made the preeminent creation and the inheritor or firstborn of creation. Being preeminent not only as a part of the creation but also as the one who is before all things and is the creator of all things. So that in every way, his name is above all other names, both as the creator and as a man created in the image of God.

It has been testified somewhere,

                “What is man, that you are mindful of him,

                                or the son of man, that you care for him?

                You made him for a little while lower than the angels;

                                you have crowned him with glory and honor,

                                putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

 (Hebrews 2:6-8a, ESV)

And so the man Jesus was elevated above all.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11, ESV)

Jesus preexisted creation

We see that Jesus, the man, the son of God, was the only firstborn of God in creation. When God created the Gospel as the first of his works, the Messiah was also the beginning of God’s creation. And as we have said he is more than just a man having existed before creation.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1-3ESV)

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) (John 1:14-15, ESV)

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ (John 1:29-30, ESV)

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. (John 17:4-5, ESV)

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11, ESV)

Jesus has preeminence over creation as the firstborn because he is the creator of the world. Being both the creator and having been born as a part of creation, Jesus is the only one with the right to this title. No other creation nor God the Father or the Holy Ghost can be called the firstborn of creation.

THE NAME

So much more . . .

Remember people walked with Jesus, ate with him, touched him. They were intimately familiar with his humanity, but as they write we can see they also knew that he was so much more. . . . Since they knew him in his humanity, you would expect them to describe his humanity, his being born of God, being firstborn of creation and such. Yet as you read what they are writing, you can imagine them bursting at the seams, for we also see them in the next breath say, but he is so much more . . . . describing him as before all things and creator of all things. Jesus was no mere man. How grand it would have been to have walked intimately with this man!

This man is the center of all creation, Jesus being separated for this purpose before creation began in the Gospel, the first of the works of God, the beginning of the creation of God. He is the one through whom God created the world. It is in Jesus alone that all things both in heaven and earth are held together. John a man who walked, ate, and touched Jesus wrote, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3, ESV). Paul confirms this in his letter to the Colossians after calling him the firstborn of creation.

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. (Colossians 1:16-18, ESV)

These passages are saying, yes, Jesus is a man and he has gained honor and inheritance and rule as a man, but he is also so much more than a mere man. His right to these titles has been earned as a man but were already his because he is more than a man. The writer of Hebrews warns us to take heed, that we do not neglect Jesus, for he is greater than Moses, the prophets, Melchizedek, and much more than the angels. Jesus in John states he is greater than the sons of God.

At this point, the Trinitarians and the Arianism again should agree. Arianism believes that Jesus is more than just a man, more than the angels, believing he is a created god, the first of the creation of God, and greater than all other creation. When the scripture refers to all things being created through Jesus, Arians believe these verses refer to all other things created after Jesus was created. One key aspect for Arius is that Jesus had a beginning. Arius said, “There was a time when the son was not.” Arians contend that being created; Jesus is not eternal. So, both agree that the concept of the Messiah was created with the Gospel plan of God, before creation, but disagree on whether Jesus was in existence eternally before this plan. Trinitarians believe that Jesus eternally existed with God, as one of the three persons of the Godhead. The Gospel was the first of the works of God, and the roles each person of the Trinity would play in the Gospel is the first of God’s work, seen in their roles at creation and in history. Arians would say that Jesus was created as the first of God’s works and was set apart before the foundation of the world for the Gospel plan. Arians and Trinitarians also disagree on who Jesus is. Both agree that Jesus left his glory in the incarnation but disagree on what was the extent of that glory that Jesus had before the world began. Arians believe Jesus was a created god. Trinitarians believe Jesus is YHWH.

Neither beginning of days nor end of life

                The writer of Hebrews along with other passages dealing with the concept of the firstborn, state that all things were created through Jesus.

And,

                “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,

                                and the heavens are the work of your hands;

                they will perish, but you remain;

                                they will all wear out like a garment,

                like a robe you will roll them up,

                                like a garment they will be changed.

                But you are the same,

                                and your years will have no end.” (Hebrews 1: 10-12, ESV)

But does the writer of Hebrews believe that there was a time Jesus did not exist? Later in his epistle, he writes of the order of Melchizedek, the king, and priest of the Most High God,

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever. (Hebrews 7:1-3, ESV)

The writer of Hebrews argues it is on the basis of “having neither beginning of days nor end of life” that the order of Melchizedek has preeminence over the Levitical priesthood. It is not only in the fact that Jesus goes on to live forever that gives him authority, for both men and angels will go on to live forever, but the fact that unique to all of creation, he is the only creation that has had no beginning of days. And if he has no beginning of days, then there is not a time when the son was not. The writer of Hebrews goes on to say, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8, ESV). In the first chapter, he states, “But you are the same, and your years will have no end (Hebrews 1:12b, ESV). He also says that Jesus is unchanging, an attribute that can only be said of God. The eternal existence of Jesus is a theme throughout this epistle.

YHWH: Jesus is LORD

                When the writer of Hebrews speaks of the Son as the creator of the earth in chapter 1 verses 10-12, he quotes Psalm 102. The text seems to come out of nowhere. Why would the writer pull this text out and say that this speaks of the son? This Psalm is about YHWH, and the writer of Hebrews seems to want you to make this connection because he adds the term Lord in his quote. Well, he doesn’t actually add it, he grabs it from verse 12 of the psalm, which says, “But you O LORD, are enthroned forever;” which is a continuation of the theme he previously discussed, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,”, expressing the eternal nature of Jesus. This psalm also correlates the theme the writer has for worship, “And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him.’” (Hebrews 1:6, ESV) with “when the peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the LORD.” (vs. 22). By expressing two different parts of this Psalm, he is also wanting you to look and meditate on the psalm as a whole and connect it to the son. The psalm begins in verse 2 with, “Do not hide your face from me” and talks of the YHWH arising and having pity on Zion and appearing in his glory. These are describing the return of Christ. It must be noted that in using the phrase “You Lord” the writer of Hebrews is not only connecting his quote with verse 12 of the psalm, but he is also connecting us to the one who is the subject of the psalm. He is connecting Jesus with the sacred name of God, YHWH. And so not only is Jesus said to have had no beginning of days, but he is also called YHWH and one day he will be revealed in the fullness of his nature. And the writer of Hebrews is not alone in this.

The Apostles found Jesus in the Old Testament

                Many of the writers of the New Testament were men who knew the man Jesus, knew his humanity but also knew there was something more. In their experience with him, they had come to believe and proclaim that he was the son of God. Jesus was the one that all of history had been waiting for. While with them, Jesus had taught them, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39). So, in coming to understand this man who had walked amongst them, they would have followed Jesus’ command and looked to the stories, prophecies, psalms, and wisdom of the scripture. In the passage of Hebrews above, he seems to pull a passage out of nowhere, yet he didn’t. He was following Jesus’ instructions to search the scriptures for they bear witness of who Jesus is. They found their foundation in understanding the nature of Jesus from the Old Testament.

No one has ever seen God?

John writes, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18, ESV). But wait a minute, . . . did not men in the Old Testament see God?

I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,

                                but now my eye sees you;

                therefore I despise myself,

                                and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6, ESV)

Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. (Genesis 12:7, ESV)

So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” (Genesis 32:30, ESV)

Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, [10] and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank. (Exodus 24:9-11, ESV) [Note: Just as Jesus ate in his resurrection body to show its reality, so too did these men eat and drink.]

Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. (Exodus 33:11a, ESV)

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1, ESV) 

Moses asks to see God’s glory

So, if the scripture in the Old Testament speaks of men seeing God, where is John getting this from, that “No one has ever seen God”? John knows of the story of Moses asked to see God’s glory and what God said.

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” (Exodus 33:18-23, ESV)

When Moses asked to see God’s glory, God said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” God did show Moses his glory, but not the fullness of His face, Moses was covered by the hand of God. So, what did Job, Abraham, Moses, and Isaiah see? Who did they see?

Jesus speaks of Abraham seeing him.  “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” (John 8:56, ESV). And after quoting from Isaiah 53 and 6, John says that Isaiah saw the glory of Jesus, “Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him” (John 12:42, ESV). When the Old Testament men and women encountered God, they were encountering Jesus. In the Old Testament, we see Jesus described as the right hand (or hand) of God, the angel of the LORD, the Name, the Word, the Savior, the Creator, and the glory of the LORD, descriptions not a part or separate from YHWH, but YHWH himself, revealing himself to humanity in a way that they would not be destroyed.

God’s patience and love in hiding His face

                Because of Adam’s fall, and because of our sin, men cannot see God’s face and live. Jesus said that the more we know the more our judgment. When we see God face to face, there is no more to be known and we will be judged. “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, (Hebrews 9:27, ESV). And so, for now, because of God’s patience with mankind, and to call a people to himself, God’s face is veiled. Yet we are given hope that this will not always be the case. God gave Israel a blessing to encourage them that one day, both heaven and earth would be reconciled, and we would one day see the face of God.

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,

                The LORD bless you and keep you;

                the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

                the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

                “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

 (Numbers 6:22–27, ESV)

Because of His love for us God has not abandoned us, nor left us on our own. We will see his face once again. But for now, He has revealed Himself to us through Jesus. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, . . .” (John 3:16, ESV). And he has fulfilled his promise to put his Name upon his people through Jesus.

He has given us His name

 In the Old Testament, the tabernacle was the place where God’s name dwelt. When Jesus came, God’s name tabernacled amongst us “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,” (Colossians 2:9, ESV).

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:19–20, ESV)

And the Word became flesh and dwelt [to set up a tent] among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14, ESV, italics added)

It is God pursuing us, revealing himself in a way that we will not die. And God has done so much more. Now, through Jesus, He has given us His name and put his name upon his people. Jesus said, “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word” (John 17:6, ESV). And because of what Jesus has done his name dwells in us and we have become the body of Christ, the temple of God.

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4–5, ESV)

We are all under this one hope, all mankind throughout history who have put their hope in Jesus.

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— (Ephesians 4:4, ESV)

But for now, we have not seen Jesus in his fullness, for when he was with us the fullness of the deity was hidden, tabernacled in a human body. “For now we see in a mirror dimly,” (1 Corinthians 13:12, ESV). But Jesus has promised to return, and at his return will be the revelation of Jesus Christ, where he will appear, and we will see him for who he is. It will not be an invisible return, for every eye shall see him.

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. (Revelation 1:7)

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:30, ESV)

When Jesus returns, God’s face will no longer be hidden. The verse goes on,

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12, ESV).

John states,

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2, ESV).

Revelation states,

“No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:3–4, ESV)

This is our one heavenly and earthly hope, when God reconciles heaven and earth through Jesus, we will see God face to face. His face shall shine upon us, and his Name shall be upon us.

The Name

                The writers looked to the Old Testament to find Jesus and they found him. They read verses like Isiah 45:22-23 and Joel 2:32 and saw Jesus

                “Turn to me and be saved,

                                all the ends of the earth!

                                For I am God, and there is no other.

                By myself I have sworn;

                                from my mouth has gone out in righteousness

                                a word that shall not return:

                ‘To me every knee shall bow,

                                every tongue shall swear allegiance.’

                “Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me,

                                are righteousness and strength; (Isaiah 45:21–24, ESV)

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls. (Joel 2:32, ESV)

                therefore, thus says the Lord GOD,

                “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion,

                                a stone, a tested stone,

                a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:

                                ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ (Isaiah 28:16, ESV)

The apostle Paul, a learned Pharisee, who once killed those calling on the name of Jesus, takes hold of these three verses to show that they refer to Jesus, the name above all other names and that it is by calling on the name of Jesus name that salvation comes,

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5–11, ESV)

To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:43, ESV)

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9–13, ESV)

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:11–12, ESV)

Because Old Testament used YHWH while describing Jesus, the New Testament writers who follow their example do not have a problem substituting YHWH with Jesus. Paul takes the name of YHWH in Joel 2:32 and replaces it with Jesus.  And in both Romans 10:11 and Acts 4:11, he supports this substitution by referring to Isaiah 28:16.

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-11, ESV)

For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” (Romans 10:11

But he goes further and says, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:11, ESV) . . . . Wow! No other name. . . . This would be blasphemy if Jesus is not YHWH, for Paul would not only be contradicting the Old Testament but also stating that YHWH’s name had been replaced by another being and that other beings name is now the only name that can save, YHWH’s name can no longer save. He is not saying this. Paul was a learned man and knew the scriptures. He fully understands the implications of what he is saying.  He is saying that Jesus is YHWH.

The Confession: Jesus is Lord

                The New Testament refers to Jesus as Lord. The term Lord as seen in “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” or “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord” often refers to the covenant name, YHWH. Lord also often refers to rule and specifically the throne of David. The apostles take hold of these two meanings and associate both meanings to the confession, “Jesus is Lord”. Jesus is Lord and sits on David’s throne, but he is also Lord, YHWH, the name whom men must call upon to be saved. Lord both declares Jesus’ humanity and divinity. Both aspects are important and require the Holy Spirits’ work for one to confess.

Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:3, ESV)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. (1 John 4:1–3, ESV)

When speaking of the Father and the Son, the apostles often use a phrase similar to “God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” for this is an apt description describing each of their roles in creation and in the Gospel. It also follows the pattern of the Shema, “The LORD our God, the LORD is one”.

Paul uses this formula in describing the Father and Son and connects it with the confession of the Shema confirming that he believes “there is no God but one”,

“there is no God but one.” For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. (1 Corinthians 8:4b–6, ESV)

As Jesus being one Lord is not to the exclusion of the Father being Lord, nor is the Father being one God to the exclusion of Jesus being God but both are descriptions apt to their roles in the Gospel. Paul is clear that he is including them both, when he says “there is no God but one” and then goes on to describe who that one God is, following the pattern of the Shema, which also includes Lord and God, the terms God and Lord both refer to one God, just as they do in the Shema. The Shema states, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (Deuteronomy 6:4, ESV).

The Confession: my Lord and my God

                Jesus is not only called Lord, he called God as well. When Thomas sees Jesus after his resurrection, he proclaims of Jesus, “My Lord and My God” or in Greek “the Lord of me and the God of me”. Jesus confirms his confession, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” If Jesus is not God, then either Jesus or John or both are guilty of blasphemy for not clarifying Thomas’ statement. This was a bold and clear statement by Thomas. No one in that culture would have just let it be if it were not true. Men picked up stones to stone Jesus for less. And no one in that culture would have said what Jesus said or wrote what John wrote if it were not true.

                John uses the phrase “I am” throughout his Gospel. It is tightly interwoven in the text. Jesus did not use the phrase “I am” casually. One instance, a mob had come to arrest Jesus, Jesus said, “I am”, and all the mob fell to the ground. John had a purpose in including this phrase in his Gospel.

[Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. [6] When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. (John 18:2–6, ESV)

The ”I am” statements culminate with the confession of Thomas. And Thomas is not the only apostle to call Jesus God.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1, ESV)

waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, (Titus 2:13, ESV)

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: (2 Peter 1:1, ESV)

You shall not take the name of the LORD in vain

                The Law says, “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain” (Deuteronomy 5:11, ESV). The apostles understood this when they called Jesus Lord and God.

This commandment is similar to the words of Jesus when he said, “unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24, NASB).  Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that he is the I am. Jesus told his disciples, “I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.” (John 13:19).

This is sobering. . . . for there is no other name by which men can be saved. “. . . no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.” And  “every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” Both of these are necessary to call upon the name of the LORD. Shortly after referring to Jesus as firstborn and creator (his humanity and divinity), Paul makes this statement again referring once again both to Jesus’ divinity and humanity . . .

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, (Colossians 2:8-9, ESV)

We cannot ignore the name of the Lord, and we cannot use the Name of the Lord in vain. While it is still called Today, we must follow the great confession found in scripture, “Jesus is Lord”. And though we did not walk, touch, nor ate with Jesus while he was on earth, we must boldly and clearly proclaim the confession of Thomas, “My Lord and my God.” And God who is faithful will keep his covenant of Love with his people.

                 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD,

                                “and my servant whom I have chosen,

                that you may know and believe me

                                and understand that I am he.

                Before me no god was formed,

                                nor shall there be any after me.

                 I, I am the LORD,

                                and besides me there is no savior.

                 I declared and saved and proclaimed,

                                when there was no strange god among you;

                                and you are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and I am God.

                 Also henceforth I am he;

                                there is none who can deliver from my hand;

                                I work, and who can turn it back?”   (Isaiah 43:10–13, ESV)

“I, I am he

                                who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,

                                and I will not remember your sins. (Isaiah 43:25, ESV)

I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24, ESV)

I am still learning about this, so I do not know if I can explain this well and I do not have much time to write, so it will be choppy, but I think the Lord will show you more than I can write. I was talking about one aspect of the fear of the Lord and one aspect of what it means to be close and in His presence. You were talking about how you would read the writings of Jonathan Edwards and how his concept on predestination was hard and challenged you. I think there are many things about God like that, things that cause us to tremble. The scripture says, “our God is a consuming fire.” And Christ is both the lion and the lamb and both in fullness and in truth. He is Holy. And He is loving. I was talking to you about John on Patmos, when he saw Christ. I got the order backwards, but the point is the same.

On the isle of Patmos John had an encounter with the beauty of Christ:

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades” (Revelation 1:12-18).

Jesus revealed to John His beauty. And John’s response to the beauty of Christ was to fall at his feet as though dead. He was in the presence of the beauty of Christ and it was more than he could handle, but by grace, Jesus touched him and said, “Fear not”.

Isaiah had a similar experience before God:

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”” (Isaiah 6:1-8)

In the fullness of the beauty of God, man trembles and becomes undone. But His beauty is good because He is good.

Often the beauty of God can be difficult for man because they do not want to experience a God that will cause them to tremble and be undone. In John we see men forsaking Christ, because the things Christ said were too hard.

“When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me– not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him. ” (John 6:25-71)

Paul when dealing with a difficult subject of the beauty of God in Roman’s 9, responds to the questions of men who did not like what they heard, because it shook them. They found the beauty of the Lord to difficult. Paul responds to these men by saying, “Who are you O man, who answers back to God?” He does not explain or defend God, God is who he is, and who are we, O man, to question His goodness and beauty even if it makes us tremble at the very essence of who we are? Later in Ephesians when Paul is dealing with the same difficult subject as in Romans, states that the purpose of God in this was “according to the kind intention of His will”. It was because of His goodness. And it stirs up praise within Paul that pours out in his letter and the letter becomes doxology. What man finds difficult, God does because He is kind and good and beautiful.

Here is another verse: “Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:1-2). It is good and sweet to tremble before the Lord.

There is a church here and as a part of their statements of belief they state this:

“God’s Word is like a lion: powerful, living and active. We believe the lion is ‘caged’ when it is used improperly as a pragmatic guidebook, platform for politics, for perpetual therapy, or for phony experience. The Church is responsible to uncage this lion and watch it run and triumph. And it will triumph, for it is the inspired and inerrant Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice.”

I would be negligent if I left you with just trembling before the Lord, for it is not all that happens in His presence, for we are not the only one that responds. What is good is the response of Christ, “But he laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades’” (Revelation 1:17,18). Jesus cries out to us, “Fear not, I am” “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” By His grace alone, we stand. And, Oh!, how that grace is lavished on us by His kind intention. And by this, His love, we run into His presence as a child runs to a Father.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 13:28,29)