Book of Hebrews & the Sabbath

(Hebrews 1-4)

Fred R. Coulter—August 6, 2022

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services! Today I want to cover some things in the book of Hebrews, which is one of the most essential books in the New Testament. It is most essential showing what God has done—God the Father and Jesus Christ—and Christ is our High Priest and sacrifice.

I can you tell you this right now. I've been investigating more into Messianic Judaism and I can tell you one thing for sure, they do not understand the grace of God! They're all bogged down in their traditions and the Jewish rituals. The Jews think that they are God's people and they alone have an avenue to God. Everybody else has to go through them!

Well, that's not true! God does the calling and we all go through Christ! The Messianic Jews need to put aside all the traditions of Judaism and really understand the Grace of God and the Truth of God the way it should be in the New Testament, and quit just living in the Old Testament…

If God intended everything to be in the Old Testament, then He wouldn't have inspired the New Testament. It's important to understand. I've yet to find a Messianic group that really understands about Christ, that really understands about the sacrifice of Christ and how all of these rituals and traditions that they have are of no value.

For example, I got a calendar from El Shaddai Ministries. There's a reading for every Sabbath—listen up!—three Scriptures, Law, Prophets, Writings and New Testament. They are still buried in the triennial reading set down by Ezra when he canonized the Old Testament along with the 'Great Synagogue.'

There are some people in the Church of God who get carried away going after these Messianic Jews. The most that I've seen that they do is take the name of Jesus and attach it to Judaism. This is what Paul had to fight against!

The book of Hebrews is profoundly important. Almost all of the experts and theologians say, 'We don't know who wrote the book of Hebrews.'

They didn't understand the things of New Testament times with the Apostle Paul. Remember the last time that Paul went to Jerusalem, and he went to James and the elders. Of course, typical Jewish politics. James said to Paul, 'Look at the thousands that believe.'

Well, we'll see they didn't believe the way that they should! There were some of the so-called 'Christian' Jews who had a vow and they asked Paul to pay for it and to show the people in Jerusalem that he wasn't against the sacrifices and things like that.

Just the last day that that came about, someone recognized Paul and said, 'There he is, there's the one who is saying not to circumcise your children,' which is not what he did!

But you need to understand how hostile that the supposed believers in Jerusalem had against Paul. Remember that the centurion rescued him and then Paul asked the centurion if he speak to the people. So, Paul spoke to the people and went through everything leading up to Christ and so forth.

Then when he got to the word 'Gentiles' they came unglued like an exploding keg of TNT, because remember what happened in Antioch when they came down and Peter was there with Paul and Barnabas, the Jews from the 'circumcision party' came down and what did Peter do? Gal. 2—he had to correct them severely for their hypocrisy! The Jews never wanted to put the Gentiles in the same category. They wanted to follow the same thing that they have always done in their synagogues. The men had their section, the women had their section, and the Gentiles had their section.

When Paul was going around preaching, he was breaking all of that up! Remember that almost every synagogue that he went to ended up in a riot and a split right down the middle of the synagogue. So, the Jews in Jerusalem didn't like Paul doing that. They didn't like him preaching grace! They didn't like him preaching faith, the faith of Christ for the forgiveness of sin and salvation! They had their works, their works of law!

So, the book of Hebrews has been written by Paul, but he didn't put his name on it. Why? Because it would have been burned on arrival by the zealots for Judaism!

Judaism was never the Law of God! Judaism is a religion of men with thousands of laws and codes of Jewish law, which do not give you any opportunity think on your own, to understand on your own, to pray to God on your own, but you must do it according to the configuration of Judaism and the rabbis! That's the mistake that happened to James.

He got captive by them. So, let's see if we can figure out how we know that the Paul wrote it.

Hebrews 13:22: "Now, I admonish you, brethren, to patiently listen to this message of exhortation, for I have written to you in only a few words."

That's the whole book of Hebrews!What you will see is that it constantly emphasizes Christ and the coming end of the covenant with Israel, and the New Covenant with the Church.

Verse 23: "I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released; with whom, if he comes soon enough, I will see you." That is 'see you through him.'

Who was Timothy with always? Paul! He was never with anybody else! This is a clue, because the critics say that they don't know who wrote it. That maybe it was Apollos. We don't know, Apollos came originally out of Egypt.

I wonder if he even lasted through the death of the Apostle Paul, because Paul says in 2-Tim. 1 that 'all those in Asia have left me.' So, Paul wrote Hebrews when he was in prison in Rome. He had his run in, in 58A.D. and then was two years in Cesarean protected. Then he got to Rome in 61, and one of the first things he did was contact the Jews and undoubtedly wrote the book of Hebrews.

Let's add a little bit more to the book of Hebrews; as we will see wasn't just written then, but it was a basic message that Paul brought wherever he went. Remember, he always started in the synagogue. So, we will find later that the other style Paul had, when he string Scriptures together, he did the same thing in Rom. 15. He quotes a Scripture and then says, 'and again… and again… and again…' There's no other writer in the New Testament that wrote that way.

So we have absolute proof that it could not have been anyone else except Paul. Let's understand what Paul is doing. The most important thing with the New Covenant is that through the grace of God and the sacrifice of Christ we have direct access to God the Father and Jesus Christ!You don't need a rabbi; elders are fine but if their good elders they will teach you how to do it yourself, not to replace what they teach and need to do, because they need to. But also it shows that all the elders have got to:

• study and pray
• yield to God
• learn
• put everything together

Especially back then when all of this was going on, because as Carl Franklin wrote in one of his papers years ago, that Sunday-worship started in Jerusalem for Gentiles!

When we come to Heb. 4, Paul knocks that  (the Sunday-worship) completely in 'cocked hat' and kicks it away, because there's nothing, nothing, nothing in the world to substitute for the Sabbath of God! You can't take one day in seven because you don't which day is the seventh day.

Let's see where Paul stars and he wants to get all of the Jews and Gentiles on the same page! He shows that yes, God did deal with the Jews, but now even the Jews must change.

Hebrews 1:1: "God Who spoke to the fathers at different times in the past and in many ways by the Prophets, has spoken to us in these last days by His Son."

Remember that Jesus was the only Begotten! That's important because a lot of the heresy is that Jesus had a natural birth by father Joseph and it came right out of Jerusalem, because they wanted to downgrade Christ and raise Judaism! So, Paul is restoring Christ here:

Who are "…the fathers…"? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Enoch, Noah, Seth and then the Prophets and different ones that God raised up!

"…has spoken to us in these last days by His Son."

This is why we have it written down, because God wants it written down! Remember what God told John when He was giving him the book of Revelation? Write!

You can't go by traditions of men to remain accurate. They never do! It must be written down!

Verse 2: "Whom He [God] has appointed heir of all things…"—the whole universe!

We can understand that a little better now especially with this new James Webb Telescope. When you look at them and see how beautiful and fantastic that is, and when you understand that God says that He's going to make a New Heaven and New Earth, it's going to be a spectacular thing!

Here Paul takes away that Jesus was just begotten and born by Joseph and Mary together. Notice what he says:

"…by Whom also He made the ages" (v 2)

Look at how God starts off the Gospel of John. It starts right off with Christ:

John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and not even one thing that was created came into being without Him" (vs 1-3).

Paul is establishing that this is God Himself manifested in the flesh! And he's talking about what Christ looks like now.

Hebrews 1:3: "Who, being the brightness of His glory and the exact image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His own power…"

Remember what Christ told the apostles before He ascended the final time into the heavens? All power in heaven and earth has been given to Me! Here Paul substantiates that.

"…when He had by Himself purged our sins…" (v 3).

There was no one there to help Him! All alone! He had to be all alone on that cross! That's why it got dark from noon until 3 pm. The sins of the whole world from the beginning until the end had their sacrifice on that cross and His shed blood, right there!

Sidebar: We'll get to it on Atonement. It says in 1-Peter 2 that Jesus carried our sins in Himself to the cross!

Those who say that the other goat of Atonement also pictures Christ Who takes our sins away into the wilderness, doesn't have a clue. They were all there at the cross, and He didn't take away anyplace else. He didn't take them to heaven; He didn't take them to the wilderness.

"…sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" (v 3),

Jesus told the Laodiceans: To the one who overcomes, I will grant you to sit with Me on My Throne and make judgments.

What is "…the Majesty on high"? God the Father with all the glory that surrounds Him (Rev. 4 & 5) with the four living creatures, the 24 elders, the myriads of angels.

Here's another false doctrine: Jesus was an angel. It's amazing how many false doctrines come up about Jesus, and today we have nothing but false Jesus' and false Christs'!

Verse 4: "Having been made so much greater than any of the angels, inasmuch as He has inherited a name exceedingly superior to them.… [not equal, but exceedingly superior] …For to which of the angels did He ever say, 'You are My Son; this day I have begotten You'?…." (vs 4-5).

He never said—now has it been recorded—that to any of the angels, and not one of the angels ever, ever became a bona fide human being like Jesus Christ did.

Keep this next phrase and again in mind:

"…And again, 'I will be a Father to Him, and He will be a Son to Me'? And again, when He brought the Firstborn…" (vs 5-6). That's Christ!

• Christ was the firstborn of Mary
• Christ was the Firstborn from the dead (Rev. 1:5[transcriber's correction])

That tells you that He was born again at the resurrection! If He's firstborn over here in the flesh and Firstborn at the resurrection, how are you going to argue with that?

Verse 6: "And again, when He brought the Firstborn into the world, He said, 'Let all the angels of God worship Him.'"

Think about that! The angels would not worship anything but God!

Verse 7: "Now, on the one hand, of the angels He says, 'Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire.' But on the other hand, of the Son He says, 'Your Throne, O God, is into the ages of eternity; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom" (vs 7-8).

Stop and think about this for just a minute. All you diehard Protestants, who get all upset when you hear the word law! You're no different than all these lawless crooks that they let out on the street. You have to have law!

What is righteousness? Scepter is the ruling rod. "…a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom." Righteousness is law-keeping! He rules by law! And He gives grace so we can have that connection with Him!

One of the things that Paul is doing here in writing this, he's trying to bring all of the Jews who are steeped in every physical little aspect of whatever they do, and they have no sense of spiritualism!

Verse 9: "You loved righteousness… [What is righteousness? Law-keeping!] …and hated lawlessness…"

All you hard-headed Protestants, you're going to keep after your lawlessness until you are cast into the Lake of Fire! Because: IF you don't obey God and IF you don't keep His commandments, everything you're doing is vain! That's why all the holidays that you have… Already some stores are getting Christmas trees up and ready to go. These are the things that God says He hates, but you love!

Verse 9: "You loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; because of this, God, even Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions.' And, 'You, Lord, in the beginning did lay the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Your hands" (vs 9-10).

Notice how it goes back to Christ Who did the creating! Christ Who did the speaking!

Verse 11: "They will perish, but You remain forever; and they will all grow old like a garment, and You will roll them up like a covering, and they shall be changed; but You are the same, and Your years will not end" (vs 11-12).

What does it say about Christ? Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever!

• Yesterday means when He was the Lord God of the Old Testament.
• Today means today at any time from that time until His return
• Forever means "…You are the same, and Your years will not end"—or change!

Verse 13: "But unto which of the angels did He ever say, 'Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet'? Are they not all ministering spirits, being sent forth to minister to those who are about to inherit salvation?" (vs 13-14).

This whole first chapter comes right at all the things that Judaism does, and puts it right smack with God the Father and Jesus Christ. When we come to Heb. 2 we're going to learn some important things here, as well. We will see the progression of this up to Heb. 4.

Hebrews 2:1: "For this reason, it is imperative that we give much greater attention to the things, which we have heard, lest at any time we should slip away."

Why? They don't slip away, you slip away from Them from not actively working with Them in studying and praying every day!

Verse 2: "For if the word spoken by angels was enforced without fail, and every transgression and disobedience received just recompense, how shall we escape…" (vs 2-3).

Think about it: God the Father and Jesus Christ working directly in our lives to bring us the

• knowledge of salvation
• knowledge of the Truth
• knowledge of His Word
• knowledge of His plan
• forgiveness of sin
• blessing of His Holy Spirit

All of that!

Verse 3: "How shall we escape if we have neglected so great a salvation…"

Isn't that what happens with people? That's why you are to always put God first!

"…which was first received when it was spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him; God also bearing witness with them by both signs and wonders, and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?" (vs 3-4).

Again Paul emphasizes against the angels being in a superior place. This becomes important. Look at Catholicism, which is nothing but angel-worship. Everything done in the Roman Catholic Church is Baalism with the name of Jesus on it!

If you're a staunch Catholic, don't get mad at me, you check it out. Get the book: The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop. That was one of the first books I ever read when I was starting to come to the knowledge of the Truth. I hadn't been involved in any religion, so I didn't know the different things of even Protestantism.

That book by Alexander Hislop is so well documented, it will show you that everything that is done in the Roman Catholic Church is from ancient Babylon! {download at truthofGod.org}

Verse 4: "God also bearing witness with them by both signs and wonders, and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will? For it is not to the angels that He has placed in subjection the world that is to come, of which we are speaking" (vs 4-5).

God is not going to remake this world the way that men think that they want it remade. How many times down through history have men tried to improve things?

• have a better government
• all good people get together and make things work

• Really??
• What does always end up being?

even if you have a short time of good behavior by people

• What happens? You have another generation come along that has not been loyal and faithful, and has not been taught!

Then the next generation comes along and look at what we have today! Here we are five generations removed and they can't even tell you what a woman is! They dare to try and change the genders of young children.

How did the National Association of Teachers Union get the power to do that in the schools without even telling their parents. They call that gender affirmation!

Well, it's not! It's gender annihilation! When you castrate the boys and burn out the ovaries of young girls you ruin and destroy their lives and emotions permanently. The queer society of America wants all of those kinds of children for their sexual perversion practices that they live by! That's what happens when people go against the will of God.

Paul gets to the purpose of why human life? Everybody always wants to know what it is! That's why we have the book: From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? {truthofGod.org} That's a beautiful book to show you all the plan of God.

Verse 6: "But in a certain place one fully testified, saying, 'What is man, that You are mindful of him, or the son of man, that You visit him? You did make him a little lower than the angels; You did crown him with glory and honor, and You did set him over the works of Your hands" (vs 6-7).

That goes clear back to Gen. 1; He made them male and female and gave them dominion over everything on the earth! Then He told them to go and replenish!

Verse 8: "'You did put all things in subjection under his feet.' For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that was not subjected to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him."

Why? Because we have to come to a point of character so we can handle all of these things lawfully, legally and in love and truth the way that God wants!

Verse 9: "But we see Jesus…" That's Who we look to! Jesus Christ the only Begotten of the Father, and God the Father. Our prayers go directly to God the Father.

• we don't need a priest
• we don't need rosaries
• we don't need prayer shawls

None of that, because God wants to be connected directly with each one, and:

• grant His Spirit
• grant His Truth
• grant His love

Verse 9: "But we see Jesus Who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor on account of suffering the death… [the death by crucifixion] …in order that by the grace of God He Himself might taste death for everyone; because it was fitting for Him, for Whom all things were created, and by Whom all things exist, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Author of their salvation perfect through sufferings" (vs 9-10).

That's why He came! To save us! Think about it with human beings, it's an amazing thing, indeed! How many times do you have a society come along and they're going to make everything better? Well, look at what it is today!

The only way things can be made better is if people follow the laws and commandments of God, and the Word of God.

• their own ways are never going to work
• their own religions are never going to bring anything about but trouble

If you have an opportunity, spend a little time on the American History Channel and watch all the things of the rise and fall of The Third Reich and Hitler and so forth. He actually was trying to make himself the Messiah, and that he had the German clergy working overtime to rewrite the Bible and get rid of everything Jewish in it, because it was the hatred that they had for the Jews.

Everybody thought that this was going to so good! 'Look at this, we're going to work, we're going to have food to eat, everything is fine.'

Then you turn the coin over to the other side and it's death and destruction.

(break@41:28)

Heb. 2:9—this is an important part right here, because it shows:

• the love of God
• the purpose of God
• why we're here
• where we're going

Then Heb. 3 reflects back upon what the children of Israel actually did in the wilderness. It's quite an amazing thing when you come to understand it.

Hebrews 2:9: "But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor on account of suffering the death… [the death on the cross, and all the scourging and everything that went with it] …in order…"—here's the purpose of it!

God wants people to be in His Kingdom. He loves them! He did this to show His love, His mercy, His grace, His Truth, and how that in Christ—the only Begotten of God the Father—did this!

We know that in John 10 Jesus said that 'He laid His life down willingly; no one took it from Him.' He laid it down willingly! Because He was perfect in His behavior, He had the blessing of receiving it back! That was because:

• He always did the things that pleased the Father
• He always kept the laws and commandments of God in the Spirit of God

This is what He wants us to do!This why it becomes such a difficult and desperate thing in many ways, that people come along and bring their own religion to it and then mess up everything that God has done!

This is what has happened, and it's really an amazing thing!

Matthew 7:21: "Not everyone who says to Me 'Lord, Lord' shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but the one who is doing the will of My Father, Who is in heaven."

Then Jesus said to all these preachers out there; every Sunday-keeping preacher knows better! You can go to any one of them and ask: In the Bible which day is the day the Bible shows that we should worship on? The first day? or The seventh day? They will tell you, 'The seventh day, but…' That means that they are living breaking the Law of God!

Hebrews 2:10: "Because it was fitting for Him, for Whom all things were created, and by Whom all things exist, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Author of their salvation perfect through sufferings."

Why does suffering perfect you? Because when things are bad and you're suffering, and things are not going right, you're susceptible to giving up, to relive the pressure and the tension!

IF you stay loyal, faithful, loving and are keeping the commandments of God—especially the Sabbath—THEN that brings perfection, because you did it when it was difficult, hard and against everything that everyone else did; you stuck to the Truth! That's what Paul is saying here with Jesus. That made Him perfect in all of His behavior when He was a human being.

Verse 11: "For both He Who is sanctifying and those who are sanctified are all of one; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren."

I want you think about that. Sometimes you think that things are really tough and difficult, and they are right now. We've had that, but that's just f small foretaste of what's coming! Look at Venezuela, you might as well say, 'Hello, Venezuela, and embrace it, because that's what's coming here.

• Will you remain faithful?
• Will you remain true?

That's the question!

So, being called the brethren of Jesus here's what He's going to do for us when we are on the Sea of Glass, one of the first things! We're the children of God the Father, and God the Father wants to see His sons and daughters! Wouldn't that be the first thing that you would do?

I know what that's like; I've seen all of our children born! I've held them right after they were born! What do you want to do? You want to see them, look at them and make sure that everything is there.

What do you think God the Father is wanting to do when the resurrection takes place. Notice what Jesus is going to do, because this is part of His perfection, perfecting us!

Verse 12: "Saying, 'I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the Church I will sing praise to You.' And again, 'I will be trusting in Him.' And again, 'Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me'" (vs 12-13).

Quite a thing! Just remember that you belong to God the Father and Jesus Christ! You need to stay in relationship with them with prayer and study so that you love Him!That you begin to grasp the greatness of what God is doing. I can't help but refer to those pictures from the James Webb Telescope! They're amazing!

This gives us just a little blip of what it's going to be like to be a spirit being. Here is Jesus presenting all of us to the Father, a formal meeting on the Sea of Glass. Here are all the saints, all the patriarchs, all on the big Sea of Glass. The world down below is going crazy because they don't know what to do. They think it's an invasion from outer space, which it is!

Christ is up there and the first thing He's going to do is the Father is going to come down and He's going to say, 'Behold! I and the children—the brethren—you have given Me!' That's quite a statement! Think of that!

Verse 14: "Therefore, since the children are partakers of flesh and blood, in like manner He also took part in the same, in order that through death He might annul him who has the power of death—that is, the devil… [remember that everything about Satan's way is death] …and that He might deliver those who were subject to bondage all through their lives by their fear of death" (vs 14-15).

To rescue us from that! Everybody is fearful of death; yet, no one wants to die! But everybody does die! What a conundrum!

Verse 16: "For surely, He is not taking upon Himself to help the angels; but He is taking upon Himself to help the seed of Abraham."

This does not mean the physical children of Israel. This means that if we are Christ's then we are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise! That's all, Jew and Gentile; those are the true sons and daughters of Abraham!

Verse 17: "For this reason, it was obligatory for Him to be made like His brethren in everything that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, in order to make propitiation for the sins of the people."

Have our sins forgiven, forgotten, removed, expunged!

Verse 18: "For because He Himself has suffered, having been tempted in like manner, He is able to help those who are being tempted."

That's what you need to do if you're having a struggle and a temptation coming upon you, draw close to God. Don't sit there and wonder why this is coming. Instead of going to God and praying, you try to figure it out yourself. Well, the temptation is going to be there, and IF you don't go to God and get rid of that temptation, THEN Satan's going to come along and make it more intense and it will soon reach a point a of being so intensified that your weakness takes over, and you sin! This is why He became the propitiation for the sins of the people!

Verse 18: "For because He Himself has suffered, having been tempted in like manner, He is able to help those who are being tempted."

Have you ever been tempted like Jesus had been tempted by Satan the devil? Remember, this was after He fasted 40 days and 40 nights! How strong do you think He was physically? Not very strong, indeed, because afterward the angels had to come and help Him!

But how strong was He spiritually? Because even the greatest and most profound temptations brought upon Jesus Christ—the only Begotten of the Father, God manifested in the flesh—He never yielded to Satan once! That gave Him the strength to:

• always resist the sin
• always resist the temptation
• always be in right standing with God

Heb. 3 is very interesting; there is something about Heb. 3 that a lot of people don't know. It talks in the first part about Jesus "…the Apostle and High Priest…" and faithful to God (vs 1-2); much more so than Moses was with God and the children of Israel.

Jesus was much greater than Moses because Moses was a steward or caretaker of the house. But Christ is the One Who builds the house; that is the New Testament Church. We're all part of that and how that is built.

Hebrews 3:6: "But on the other hand, Christ was faithful as the Son over His own house; Whose house we are, if we are truly holding fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. … [not just halfway there] …For this reason, even as the Holy Spirit says, 'Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart, as in the rebellion, in the day of temptation in the wilderness, where your fathers tempted Me and tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Because of this, I was indignant with that generation, and said, "They are always going astray in their hearts…"'" (vs 6-10).

Stop and think about all th times that they went against God when they were on the way to the 'promised land.' What was one of the first big sins? The golden calf and Sunday-worship! There were other temptations and ten of them added up to such a powerful thing that God would not let them go into the 'promised land,' but condemned them to 40 years wandering in the wilderness.

The question is, did they learn anything? No! Everyone over 20 (at the time of the sin) died in the wilderness and their bodies were strewn in the desert!

Why? Remember that because Moses wanted God to spare the people and to spare Aaron, God did it. But what He did was move the Tent of the Meeting outside the camp! Why? Because the children of Israel were constantly sinning! Constantly dying because of their rebellion!

I want to read you something in the wilderness where it says, 'If they will enter into My rest…'! They didn't go in! Why? Because they didn't obey God! They didn't believe Him!

Think about what that was like; it was virtually for that whole 40 years Moses and God and a few of the children who didn't sin grievously against God. But even they did not keep the Sabbath. Let's see what God said; it was a very difficult thing that happened as shown here, and remember what we read about Christ in Heb. 1, that He loved righteousness and hated sin or lawlessness! Apply that to:

Amos 5:21—God says: "I hate, I despise your feast days… [those are not the Feast days of God] …and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them…." (vs 21-22). Why? I want you to think about that!

• IF they were doing them according to the Word of God, would He not accpet them?
• IF they were followign the instructions that God said for burnt offerings and for meal and drink offerings…
• IF they did it correctly, that would have been fine!

"…Nor will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals. Take the noise of your songs away from Me…" (vs 22-23).

We have the same thing today. We have Sunday-worship and all these wonderful songs and all of this sort of thing. But it's on the wrong day and to the wrong God! They think that they're worshipping God the Father and Jesus Christ, but they're worshipping Satan the devil because it's not on the Sabbath!

"…for I will not hear the melody of your harps. But let judgment roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. Have you offered sacrifices and offerings to Me forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?" (vs 23-25).

Quite a question! A lot of people assume that they did! But they didn't!

Verse 26: "But now you have carried the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun, your images, the star of your gods, which you made for yourselves."

So, here's Moses, here's God, here's the Tent of Meeting, here's the tabernacle, and Aaron and the Levites, the children of Israel and their own tabernacle to Molech in the wilderness alongside the Tabernacle of God!Think about that! That's why God said:

Hebrews 3:11: "So, I swore in My wrath, "If they shall enter into My rest—"

In other words, if they didn't keep the Sabbath, they weren't going to enter into the Holy Land; that's what that means. That becomes very important to understand.

Verse 5: "Now on the one hand, Moses was faithful in all his house, as a ministering servant, for a testimony of those things which were going to be spoken afterwards. But on the other hand, Christ was faithful as the Son over His own house; Whose house we are, if we are truly holding fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. For this reason, even as the Holy Spirit says, 'Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart, as in the rebellion, in the day of temptation in the wilderness, where your fathers tempted Me and tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Because of this, I was indignant with that generation, and said, "They are always going astray in their hearts, and they have not known My ways." So, I swore in My wrath, "If they shall enter into My rest—"'" (vs 5-11)—IF they kept the Sabbath day!

The Sabbath Day was the rest that pointed toward the 'promised land.' But they didn't do it! How quickly after they got into the 'promised land' even after the death of all of those 20 and older. Just as soon as Joshua and the elders died, what happened? Right back to their false religion again! Here it is!

Verse 11: "So, I swore in My wrath, "If they shall enter into My rest—"'—IF they will keep My Sabbath! This is not just entering into the 'promised land.'

Verse 12: "Beware, brethren, lest perhaps there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in apostatizing from the living God. Rather, be encouraging one another each day, while it is called 'today,' so that none of you become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we are companions of Christ, if we truly hold the confidence that we had at the beginning steadfast until the end. As it is being said, 'Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.'" (vs 12-15).

Verse 16: "For some, after hearing, did rebel, but not all who came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was He indignant for forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned… [and continued to sin (Amos 5)] …whose dead bodies were strewn in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter into His rest, except to those who had disobeyed?" (vs 16-18).

IF they didn't keep the Sabbath they weren't going into the 'promised land.'

Verse 19: "So, we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief."

A lot of people think that Heb. 4 is talking about how you're going to enter into the Kingdom of God. Eventually, it will get there. But you need to understand that the Protestants don't understand this because they will tell you that 'Jesus kept the Sabbath for me. I don't have to keep it.'

If Jesus kept the Sabbath for you then He keeps all the Ten Commandments for you, and you don't have to do them. You can go out and do anything you want to, then God has got to save you because of Christ! You have no love, no loyalty, no obedience on your part! You have pure grace and a false faith and a false grace!

Hebrews 4:1: "Therefore, we should fear, lest perhaps, a promise being open to enter into His rest, any of you might seem to come short. For truly, we have had the Gospel preached to us, even as they also did; but the preaching of the Word did not profit them, because it was not mixed with faith in those who heard" (vs 1-2).

They heard about the Sabbath and everything else, but it didn't take.

Verse 3: "For we who have believed, we ourselves are entering into the rest, as He has said… [if you don't do this] …'So, I swore in My wrath, "If they shall enter into My rest—"'… [but they didn't do it] …although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He spoke in a certain place about the seventh day in this manner… [there it is right there; Sabbath-keeping becomes the key important thing in your relationship with God] … 'And God rested on the seventh day from all His works'" (vs 3-4).

When it talks in the Greek, the 'katapausin' that is God's Sabbath Day. He puts His presence in the Sabbath Day, every single Sabbath!

Verse 5: "And again concerning this: 'If they shall enter into My rest—'"

That's the question! Are you going to enter in to keeping the Sabbath or not? This is the challenge to all Protestantism! You're in utter rebellion against God and your salvation that you're preaching is worthless!

Verse 6: "Consequently, since it remains for some to enter into it, and those who had previously heard the Gospel did not enter in because of disobedience, again, He marks out a certain day, 'Today,' saying in David after so long a time (exactly as it has been quoted above), 'Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts'" (vs 6-7).

Now v 8 shows us that entering in to the Sabbath had nothing to do with entering into the 'promised land.' He clarifies it by saying:

Verse 8: "For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken long afterwards of another day. There remains, therefore, Sabbath-keeping… ['sabbatismos'] …for the people of God" (vs 8-9).

It doesn't say Sabbath=keeping for the Jews! The people of God—Jew and Gentile; male and female; young and old!

Verse 10: "For the one who has entered into His rest, he also has ceased from his works, just as God did from His own works."

What was that? That's where God made the Sabbath Day and gave it to Adam and Eve! That's what Paul is talking about! So, it goes all the way back to there.

Verse 11: "We should be diligent, therefore, to enter into that rest… [the Sabbath; diligent to keep the Sabbath] …lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience."

• What happened to the people when they were told they didn't have to keep the Sabbath?
• Where are they?
• Where did they go? They left God!
• Why? Because they had rebellious teachers!

They themselves were not close enough to God in their own way to resist the rebellion of their teachers, and to be obedient to God and Jesus Christ, and love Them and keep His commandments and keep His Sabbath! Let's see what we are dealing with!

Verse 11: "We should be diligent, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience. For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of both soul and spirit, and of both the joints and the marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart" (vs 11-12).

So, if you don't love God and keep His Sabbath, His words and His commandments, it's not just a matter of Sabbath-keeping. It's a matter that Sabbath-keeping becomes a very strong thing that you do because you believe!

The Jews keep the Sabbath, but they have no understanding of God's plan.

• What do you think of the Sabbath Day?
• What do you think of the Holy Days?
• What do you think of the ways of God?
• What do you think of the Word of God?
• Do you live by every word of God, as Jesus said?
• What is it that you do?

That's why it's so important, because you enter into the rest of God, which is the seventh-day Sabbath. Just like He rested on the seventh-day Sabbath that He made beginning with Adam and Eve!

Do we catch the whole breath of everything that the Sabbath brings to us?

Verse 13: "And there is not a created thing that is not manifest in His sight…"

No such thing as a secret with God! He knows all secrets, all thoughts! He's created us with a mind that anytime He wants to know what we're thinking, He's able to do that!

"…but all things are naked… [no protection or covering] …and laid bare before the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account" (v 13).

It's there! So, this is why and powerful, because Paul was writing this while he was in prison, just before he was released. It was sent to the Apostle James and those down in Jerusalem so that they would understand that they need to really do what God says in love, faith, Truth and understanding. That is New Testament doctrine! We are to diligently enter into His rest as He entered into His rest!

Verse 14: "Having, therefore, a great High Priest, Who has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, we should hold fast the confession of our faith. For we do not have a High Priest Who cannot empathize with our weaknesses, but One Who was tempted in all things according to the likeness of our own temptations; yet, He was without sin. Therefore, we should come with boldness to the Throne of Grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (vs 14-16).

That tells us really tremendous importance of the Sabbath Day. That's New Testament doctrine! So, don't let any Protestant every fool you by saying that the Sabbath is for the Jews and Sunday is for the Gentiles.

That started way back early and stuck to us to this day, and it goes way back before that with the children of Israel rebelling against the Sabbath in the wilderness. Then after they got into the 'promised land' they had a little bit of rest for a little time while Joshua was the head, then when he died and all the elders died—read it in Judges 2—the children of Israel went after Molech again! And Ashtoreth! Everything! It gets down to:

• Do we love God with all our heart, mind, soul and being?
• Do we believe what He says?
• Do we believe that it's 100% the Word of God and Truth?

This is where we are, and this is how we need to fortify our mind, thoughts and heart with all the troubles are coming upon us!.

Scriptural References:

• Hebrews 13:22-23
• Hebrews 1:1-2
• John 1:1-3
• Hebrews 1:3-14
• Hebrews 2:1-9
• Matthew 7:21
• Hebrews 2:10-18
• Hebrews 3:6-18
• Amos 5:21-26
• Hebrews 3:11, 5-19
• Hebrews 4:1-16

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Galatians 2
• 2 Timothy 1
• Romans 15
• 1 Peter 2
• Revelation 4; 5; 1:5
• Genesis 1
• John 10
• Hebrews 3:1-2
• Judges 2

Also referenced: Books: {truthofGod.org}

• The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop
• From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? by Fred R. Coulter

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 8/10/22

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