In some ways, Hebrews is a book about people who quit… and the people who want to follow them. It’s a book in which the author is keenly aware of the temptation to return to the ‘better days’ of the past.Why? Because rather than make life easier, faith in Christ appears to have made life a lot more difficult. Is Jesus really that important?
This is a question, incidentally, that has plagued God’s people for a long time. You may think all the way back to Israel just after they’ve been rescued from Egypt. It doesn’t take long before they are complaining about the hardships they face. They accuse Moses and God of wanting to kill them in the wilderness and they miss the plentiful bread and water they had (a powerful example of revisionist history if there ever was one – Exo 16:3).
Ever since this point, it has been painfully apparent that God’s people struggle to live by faith rather than by sight. Tangible and measurable outcomes were the standing motivation for Israel when they built a golden calf and when they asked for a king like the other nations. These are on display even in the New Testament with the sad refusal of the rich young ruler when he was asked to give up his wealth.
The immediate audience of Hebrews are Jewish converts to Christianity. The joy of knowing their messiah, however, has been curtailed by the fact that their faith has alienated them from their previous national identity (Israel) and those who ruled over them (Rome). As a result, many of them were scattered out all over the known world, sheltering in small communities and in constant danger of persecution. To escape the hardship they were tempted to return to the Old Testament covenantal practices of sacrifice and priesthood and the ceremonial law. They thought that in re-attaching themselves to the Jews they would perhaps regain some semblance of peace.
It’s likely you also struggle with this same reality. Jesus is good theologically and maybe even philosophically – he’s good for church and a foundation for an ethical system, but when push comes to shove and you’re facing the troubles of life, you’re likely to be profoundly tempted to find some other means of hope and peace.
This is what the author to the Hebrews challenges us with. And the resounding answer is that Christ is not only sufficient as a solution to all of life’s pains, but he’s the only answer to them.
What is the Solution?
William Gurnall, commenting on Hebrews 3:6 said: “Hope fills the afflicted soul with such inward joy and consolation, that it can laugh while tears are in the eye, sigh and sing all in a breath.” It bears considering that this statement would not be true of hope placed in a vain object – that would simply be wishful thinking. Ironically, this is exactly what we do when we place our hope for joy in wealth or health or reputation. And it’s what we are often tempted to do in relation to our God also – where we think that we can impress him through earthly means, making him love us more and be more inclined to pour out his blessing upon us. But this is not the hope of Hebrews.
Instead, the solution he provides is to remind them of Christ. Jesus, he says, is superior to the shadows and types of the Old Testament. He is one of us in such a way that he can sympathize with us in our weaknesses and yet he is so much more: He is the superior and permanent High Priest who will never die and never fail. He is the ultimate and sufficient sacrifice for sin such that we never need any other sacrifice. He is the victory of his people, the first-fruits of those entering into glory and the perfect satisfaction for a holy and awesome God.
In Hebrews, Jesus is not just the proof of a concept as an exemplar human being, testifying that we have the same hope he did of heaven if we are faithful. But instead, he is the faithful one – he is “the author and finisher of ourfaith”. It is his victory credited to us, not because we are worthy or capable or because of how hard we try, but because the object of our faith has prepared a place for us.
Now it should be said that for the modern mind, these things don’t gel particularly well. And the reason for this is that our societies bind their happiness to the things of this earth. The gospel, though a hope for the afterlife, isn’t particularly relevant to the problems of today.
And yet that is explicitly the message of this book: that the reality of our living hope enables us to strengthen our weak knees, lift our eyes upwards, and carry whatever cross God would lay upon us until he calls us home. It’s this truth that would enable Paul in Philippians to testify that he would much rather be with Christ, and yet he is more than content to continue in service on this earth and to be poured out for the faith of others even as his Lord was.
In this way, the solution to every problem that exists in this life is Christ! Is he worthy of the pain and the fear and the alienation from those we hold dear? Is he worthy of exclusive love and constant service? Is he trustworthy in his promises? Is his person and work sufficient for both today and forever? A thousand times yes!
In fact, it is explicitly our faith in him that enables us to count it a privilege to share in the sufferings of Christ prior to receiving the hope set before us, that causes us to be able to suffer as outcasts in the societies we’re called to serve, to continue to weep with those who weep and those who are prisoners for the gospel and mistreated for their faith, to “laugh while tears are in the eye, sigh and sing all in a breath”. We can stand firm and confident because “He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”” (Heb 13:5-6).
Some implications
The author to the Hebrews highlights that though we are not the hero of our own story, there is a hero – but he is singular. As the apostle Peter said: “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 4:12). In this way, he warned his audience that to return to a previous time was to deny the only capable saviour figure there is. And in so doing, all hope would be lost.
The challenge for us here is that those who deny Christ don’t have this hope. To put it bluntly: not everyone who appears ‘spiritual’ or ‘religious’ is a child of God. In this way, the Jews who keep all the ceremonial feasts and purity laws are not part of our spiritual family. They need to be ‘renewed again to repentance’ (Heb 6:6). The hope we have for them is not that God will provide a new messiah because they denied the first one, but instead that God will open their eyes to the one he has already provided.
It’s also striking though, that the narrow principle (that restoring ‘Jewishness’ and its practices is a denial of hope) is a testimony of the broader principal: that true hope cannot be found anywhere other than in Christ. This too is a lesson for us. Too many of us profess Christ and yet live the rest of our lives as unbelievers because we either think it will be safer for us to be chameleons, or because we think that the ‘joys’ we left behind are still necessary to fill the hole that Jesus isn’t sufficient to fill. It is this reasoning that makes self-professing Christians justify ‘winding down’ with drugs or drunkenness, or carving out some ‘self-love’ through the use of pornography. Others recoil from ‘being poured out’ and ‘emptied’ and instead pursue selfishness, laziness, gluttony – the passions of the flesh and the pride of life.
And yet in the face of this, seeing the message of Hebrews as a withdrawal is doomed to failure. Instead, Christians ought to press into what God has provided through his Son. For example: In the face of terrible hardship and potential persecution, rather than retreat, instead we must be living proof of our living hope. How do you do that? ‘Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25). You feel oppressed by sin and death and the Devil? Go to church. You feel depressed with the pains of life? Use the gifts God has given you to build up the church into Christ their head!
In light of that, it’s important that as believers we are not ashamed of the gospel. God has sent us as a light to a world in darkness; as those tasked with heralding one greater than even the angels in heaven – a King of kings and Lord of lords. One who already reigns at God’s right hand and not one of his children will be lost. If we are in him, we don’t lose in the end. And so “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Heb 10:23).
In the face of imprisonment, persecution and even death, the only true and lasting joy is found when one clings to Christ alone by faith alone. There is no hope in any alternative path to peace; in fact, any alternative to Jesus would be defined as ‘a falling away’ and ‘crucifying again for themselves the Son of God and put[ting] Him to an open shame.’ (Heb 6:4-6).
On this basis we ought also to encourage our own soul to persevere. Not only has Christ suffered in worse ways than we have yet without sin, but God uses the hardships in our lives to bear the fruit of righteousness and to show his fatherly love – that our pain has purpose and our struggle is not in vain.
“Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Heb 13:20-21).
Mr Joshua Flinn is the minister in New Plymouth Reformed Church.
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