Hebrews 4:1-11 … Vanquished enemies!

Hebrews 4:1 “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.”

God has prepared for all of mankind an Everlasting Gospel that remains unchanged from the “foundations of the world.” The Everlasting (for all of the existence) Gospel (good news) is that there is a place where we can commune with God. In Adam and Eve’s existence that was both literal and spiritual. In the Garden was the literal, and after the redemption, the spiritual.

You who are alive and reading this, the same is granted to you; Only difference is that it is in reverse order. We live on earth with the Spirit manifest in our lives and upon our redemption we will ultimately join Him in the [renewed] flesh.

• Psalm 103:17 “But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;”

That verse, in my opinion, says it best… from the perfection of the Garden to the perfection of Heaven!

• John 14:2-3 “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

We see this in real-time when Joshua is conquering the oppressors of his day.

• Joshua 22:4 “And now the Lord your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side Jordan.”

God has already defeated the penalty for sin, that being spiritual death, and is poised to vanquish our enemy Satan. God will drive the oppressors from the Promised Land {earth} and restore the Heavenly Kingdom.

• Proverbs 10:30 “The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.”
• Genesis 1:8 “And God called the firmament [earth] Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.”

Hebrews 4:2 “ For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”

Who exactly are the “them”? That would be the ones that walked from the days of Adam to the first coming of Jesus Christ. Because the Gospel is an Everlasting Gospel… and the Word has existed since the beginning [John1:1] the Gospel is IN the Torah! This is the huge oversight the church of today operates within. They separate themselves from the truth of Gods commands. The same lie… “did God really say that” … plagues the believer via the 501c3 church.

• John 5:46 “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.”

Now how exactly did it “not profit them?” Well, Faith requires action. We talked about that in the prior post. Why does it require action? Everything in life has recommendations attached to it. Take your loving cuddly dog as an example. Is it ALWAYS loving and cuddly? I don’t know about yours, but mine, will go from cuddly to killer at the ring of the doorbell. There is a condition and an action. Everything we buy has a manual or instructions on the box. Why? to make your joy complete.

• John 15:11″These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”

Jesus gave us the “keys to the kingdom” and they were the same set of instructions that Adam and Eve got, that Abraham got, and that Moses wrote down. They are the same actions that Jesus displayed in His ministry.

Hebrews 4:3 “For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.”

Paul is telling us that Faith is hope in action and that our Belief seeks out that very action. In the same way unfaithfulness spurns direction and unbelief creates inaction!

• Proverbs 12:24 “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.”
• Proverbs 15:19 “The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.”

Next Paul will contrast those who put faith and belief into action and those that do not.

Hebrews 4:4-11 “For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time; as it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour [action] therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”

Jesus was saying to the people that he was NOT there to save them from the Romans … better yet he was there to save them from their enemy… Satan!

Heaven, which is the restored earth, will once again be inhabited by the the people of YHVH. The Heavenly city will have instructions for the citizens. They will be the same instructions, as we have discovered, that have always existed. Heaven is our reward, our Promised Land and our eternal rest.

• Joel 3:14-16 “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.”
• John 6:39-40 “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him [FAITH], may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
• 1 Corinthians 15:52 “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
• Revelation 3:12 “Him that overcometh [ACTION] will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.”

As I write this my heart breaks…. today is Saturday December 24th …. the vast portion of humanity is gathering with friends and family. That in and of itself is not horrible… the horrible part is that they are practicing [some unwittingly] an ancient form of winter solstice festival and have claimed it is of religious or Godly origin. This action is ultimately blasphemy. I pray for the world… while it is still today… especially today… that they hear His Voice – the Way, the Truth and the Life – the Word becoming flesh … the Torah! I pray they can enter into His rest.