Let Us Fear
Hebrews 4:1 contains an expression that I’m not sure is accurately
present in modern American Christianity – especially in the Western
Church. The author of Hebrews 4
expresses the position that we should fear lest some may not have made it. For the author of Hebrews, this is the
absolute and fundamental point of life.
To live a whole life only to realize when it is too late that one has
“failed to attain the desired state” is the worst fate possible.
In the Greek, this expression “having failed to reach it” is a
single word. It is husterew (ὑστερέω). The word literally means “to fail to attain a
state or condition.” It can also mean
“to be behind in some condition” or “to lack in some condition.” You can see this word elsewhere in the New
Testament in 1 Corinthians 1:7.
The author of Hebrews expresses genuine fear that a person should
hear about Christ but not embrace Him.
There is fear that a person would hear the good news but not be united
with it. There is reason to fear for
those who genuinely feel the external call of the Holy Spirit but who do not
ever make the transition to genuinely receiving the Holy Spirit within you.
We have reason to fear. As
the quote from Psalm 95:11 indicates, those who remain in the wrath of God shall
not enter into the rest of God. It is
important for us to move from a position of being in God’s wrath to being in a
position of forgiveness and peace with God.
God’s Rest
It can be genuinely said that God’s work has been finished. God’s work was finished as the foundations of
the world were laid. That is why God
rested. God’s work was fulfilled when
Christ came to earth and died for our sake.
God’s work was fulfilled when the Holy Spirit came and dwelled among
us. But God’s work is undoubtedly
finished. There is no more work left to
do. It is up to us to respond to God’s
work and embrace the eternal rest and peace that comes through Him.
I need to be a little careful here. I do not mean to say that God is no longer at
work. God is at work in each of our
lives. The presence of the Holy Spirit
is proof of that. But the work of God
from a salvation and eternal perspective is complete. We are not waiting for God to bring about
another piece to salvation. God created
the world and promised a redeemer. That
redeemer came in Jesus Christ and God’s Word was fulfilled. The work of salvation is complete.
This is an important distinction to make because what it means is
that we can enter into God’s rest today.
Through Christ, we can know God’s rest.
The people of the Old Testament awaited that redeemer and awaited the
time when they could know God’s rest for certain. But those of us who live after Christ can
know that rest now. We can know fully
what it is like to walk with the Lord and no longer walk with the world.
Our Response
In a sense, this brings us back to the opening comment for
today. We should be fearful for those
around us – even ourselves. We do not
want to miss this opportunity! We can
know what it is like to enter rest with God.
We can know what it is like to walk with God and to follow our
Lord. We can know what it is like to
live with the agenda of Christ and not the agenda of the world.
The author then talks about the Word of the Lord being sharper
than any two-edged sword. The Word of
the Lord is capable of dividing us. It
is capable of pointing out those places in life where we are being
disobedient. It is capable of convicting
us. It is capable of bringing the very
intentions of our heart to light. It is
capable of separating the worldly human being within us from the spiritual
being that God desires us to be.
Yet, how often do we ignore the Word of the Lord? How often do we give it lip-service without
actually listening to it? How often do
we go through the motions without actually allowing the Word of the Lord to
divide soul and spirit or joints and marrow?
We will give account to Him, we should pay attention now.
Our High Priest
For those who are divided by the Word of the Lord, we can approach
the throne of God with confidence. We
know that we have a mediator between us and God who knows our struggles and our
temptations. We have a high priest
before God who is without sin. We can be
washed in His blood and be forgiven of all of our trespasses. We can hold fast to our confession in faith,
knowing that Jesus Christ is capable of fulfilling the Word of God.
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