To most of us in the Western world, this chapter sounds almost like self-contradiction. It's hard to put Hebrew thoughts into Greek language, and I suspect it's a little tough for Alexandrian minds to grasp these spiritual things. While a one-to-one allegory is just fine for them, a spiritual truth which defies definition by being several things at once on different levels may be a factor in the Jewish Christians at Rome struggling to stay oriented on Christ. However, our writer is confident he can draw them up to a higher spiritual grasp. It remains for us to untangle something which is a Hebrew thought written in a Greek language and translated into English.
On the seventh day of Creation, the Word says Our Lord rested. The word used for "rest" is essentially the word "Sabbath" itself. While the root meaning is rather broad, the context would connote celebration of a completed task. It is conceptually related to the Hebrew word usually translated as "peace" -- shalom. This is more than mere tranquility, but tranquility of heart and soul resulting from having achieved, having prospered, found plenty, protected from threats. It was to this sense of rest which David referred in the 95th Psalm, quoting from Moses in Exodus 17.
On the one level, the Covenant of the Law promised a worldly peace, a material health and wealth. This was a law of mere behavior bringing promise of what mere behavior can purchase: worldly success. The Law was binding on this one nation, in this one place, during that one period of time. Obviously, they failed to achieve even that little bit of worldly rest. Joshua performed his duty rooting out all the pagan worship centers in the land. The sources of Canaanite cultural and religious corruption were gone. In due time, by adhering to the Law, Israel would easily slaughter or drive out the remaining occupants. They did not adhere to the Law, nor did they finish off the Canaanites. Instead, they compromised militarily and ritually. They were unfaithful to their part of the Covenant of Moses.
The Nation of Israel had one "gospel" of Law. It was indeed pretty good news God offered everything every other nation of men desired. He gave them far more than they deserved of it. They lacked what little commitment was required for that worldly success. They never quite rested. Just as the first generation died in the wilderness, rejecting their gospel, so the Nation of Israel died in this fallen world because they rejected the gospel of the Messiah. It was to them first. Just as Joshua and Caleb survived the change, so some Jews did indeed pass into the Kingdom. It would be silly to attempt wringing from God's truth a mathematical precision, since He Himself does not require it back from us. It is not somehow holier to make "that generation" mean every breathing human soul since a few did meet God's demands for entering the Promised Land, and some did enter the Kingdom of Heaven. A few did indeed embrace the gospel of their time.
Thus, the door of Heaven remains open to Jews, but only if they come through Christ. There does indeed remain that elusive rest of the soul, that Sabbath of the spirit. Fear of persecution is not a part of the faith which seizes the gospel and grants the victory. This is the same promise given to Abraham, whose covenant remained in effect throughout the period of the Law of Moses. The latter gave worldly blessings, but eternal life was still in the former throughout the life of the Nation of Israel. The Covenant of Abraham was actually more about dying to the old ways, and embracing the sacrifices of the new. One who clings to that fundamental demand could always find eternal salvation throughout the Old Testament. Christ in one sense merely renewed Abraham's Covenant of personal faith, placed it in a new context, and extended it to all humanity. So the path to Moses was closed at the Cross. Whatever could have been had under Joshua was merely an earthly symbol of what really mattered. We must not miss the play on words, as the names "Joshua" and "Jesus" are but two different spellings of the same name. To join in the rest of God's Eternal Sabbath requires doing the works of God, a conquest of the life, a spiritual labor with a spiritual reward.
It is a rare body of Christ which does not teach memorizing the verse regarding the Word as a sword. This is quintessential Hebrew logic, comparing an earthly thing, along with the full implication of what that thing does, to a spiritual concept. In the Kingdom of Heaven, the one weapon of conquest over the flesh is the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. That Living Word is able to clarify with savage efficiency what is godly and what is not, what must be retained, and what must be cut away. We end this life so the other may be born in us. With such piercing glare as the pure light of truth slashing through our souls, can we doubt He knows us better than we ever could ourselves? No motive escapes His notice. The obvious implication relates to the previous verses: How do you expect to pass back into the Eden of Rest if you do not fall under the Flaming Sword which guards the way (Genesis 3:24)?
The writer flatly tells his Jewish readers in Rome again the Mosaic path is closed. The only High Priest of God is there with Him in Heaven. His Law is not the precise and pedantic silliness of the Talmud, nor even the simpler Law of Moses. Who wasn't aware strict Pharisaical obedience could be paired with moral depravity? Our Savior is the High Priest who reads not mere conduct, but our very souls, and judges the truth with mercy. Having been in our place, He knows intimately what we suffer here. Unlike the priests in earthly Zion, His Temple is in God's very presence, as very God Himself. Unlike priests whose moral imperfections did not disqualify them, but ritual impurities did, our High Priest in Heaven is sinless in His very being. He has conquered this fallen life in person and in His Person. Let us hold fast to Him; let us keep that link alive. As His own, we can boldly come before God Almighty, whose purity sees the very depth of our sins, but whose Son stands beside us to cover those sins. When things get rough on this earth, we can know it is for our good, and He will grant us His strength to stand the sorrow and misery.
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Ed Hurst
12 March 2008
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