Jesus came to the Nation of Israel, such as it was in His day, and preached, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Whatever it was Israel was doing, they needed to repent. He seemed particularly concerned the Pharisees and other religious leaders repent from their sins. We have ample evidence what He found at fault in them. For some years now I have striven to indicate much of Jesus' criticism can be summed up as pressing Israel to return to their Hebrew Mystical roots, because so very much of Israel's sin was the result of leaving those roots. The shallow, soulless ritualism of the Jewish leaders Christ confronted was a direct result of embracing Hellenism, and its utter lack of a higher realm of truth. Beyond mere ideals and human perceptions of them via logic, Hellenism asserted there was nothing. Mechanical ritual observance was a direct result of such thinking. It was all foreign to the fundamental assumptions of the Scripture. Jesus was calling the people back to those Hebrew Mystical assumptions, to turn away from this world and the limits of mere human logic, to embrace the Truth, not as a body of understanding, but as Person who must be known as such.
Thus, our writer calls for his Jewish readers in Rome to realize just how far they were supposed to have come. Did they, like Peter walking on water, find the place of Christ so utterly foreign they could not lay hold of Him? Had they not already laid the ground of finding in Christ the ultimate higher truth of which the rituals and teaching of Moses were but a mere symbol? Seize this and move on! It's no longer up for debate and rehashing to the nth degree, as rabbis so loved to do. Jesus was the clarification of all things; now follow Him on into a higher understanding where God is to be found.
It is the fundamental nature of Christians to grow, to keep seeking the next level of faith and understanding. If it is possible for a soul to have sampled the realm of the Holy Spirit, that mystical, unspeakable glory of God's own very Presence and power, and then turn back to that false understanding of Moses, there is no hope. Indeed, it is not possible; but if it were, such a soul might as well go ahead and die, for Christ cannot save him yet again. The anchor for the change in your nature in Christ is in Heaven, in God Himself. The Son died for sins once for all; do you intend to crucify Him again? If you can renounce Him after getting to know Him, you bear even more guilt than all the Jews who never embraced Him in the first place. In modern parlance, it is worse than a plot of ground so infertile, it can serve only as a parking lot. No, this is ground which perverts good seeds into weeds.
As harsh as these words may be, our writer's faith realizes anyone who could leave Christ never knew Him. Anyone capable of embracing His Spirit of sacrifice surely has given the only true evidence of redemption. Where this Spirit is born, we expect in due time to see diligence in making Him known. This, at the cost others in Christ have borne before us, tossing their worldly existence aside as excess baggage.
As it is today, so it was in ancient times: Some court cases came before a judge with insufficient evidence. Lacking a conclusion, the cloud of suspicion remained, and could hinder normal life. Settling the issue to allow the suspect complete freedom often required submitting a bond of some value, but that would include laying one's reputation and social privileges on the line. This hardly applied to those at the bottom of society who might be punished on general principle alone when accused, but for those of some status, this was important. Regardless how great the man may be, he would swear an oath in the name of someone greater, someone who could and would back him up if the judge bothered to ask. Sometimes an agreement or alliance would come before a judge, and it was handled similar to a question of whether the parties were trustworthy, or whether they were guilty of lying. God, in offering a covenant to Abraham, whom the Jews claimed often as their father, bound Himself by an oath on Himself, since there was no greater power as guarantor.
The whole point behind such covenants and oaths was to provide a reasonable assurance, to compel one or both parties to go forward under the assumption this agreement or settlement was based in reality. Stop doubting, stop investing resources in a backup plan; just go and do. It implied the one party must now choose to honor the other. While Western culture introduces the element of skepticism, as if it's wise to doubt, in Eastern cultures you were required to embrace with a whole heart, and strive in the name of your gods to ignore feelings of doubt. It was this which was laid upon Abraham, for it was his very God who both backed up the warrant, and offered it Himself. Can Jehovah fail?
Abraham found God did not fail, for the writer quotes from the passage in Genesis 22, where Abraham prepared to offer up Isaac on Mount Moriah, the same ground upon which stood Herod's Temple. On this ground, God promised anew two things. He would speak well of Abraham, and when God says good things about you, all nature must respond accordingly. He would also insure Abraham had more descendants than anyone could count. That's because the Covenant of Abraham was extended by Christ, renewed in Him, the original covenant of individual faith and redemption. Abraham left behind everything which mattered to a man in his world, and traded it for a future of which he knew nothing. He offered his only chance at having a son to carry his name. Jehovah Jireh (God Our Provider) took care of all his needs. Those who embrace faith in Christ are children of Abraham, a number far greater and broader than mere DNA could mark. Those of us turning to Christ will find the spiritual riches of the Kingdom more than compensate for the loss of paltry worldly possessions. We find the power of Life in the Holy Spirit more than adequately replaces this miserable existence in a fallen world.
Jesus took up the vestments of that former ancient Covenant of Faith, a covenant which stood before, during and after the Covenant of Law, never abrogated, being the literal fulfillment of the Promise of Abraham. Mount Moriah was just a place; what happened there is what mattered. The Temple standing at that time on Mount Moriah was just a building, a poor shadow of God's Court in Heaven. The veil in Herod's Temple was torn when Christ cried out, "It is finished!" The veil which hides God Himself from those in the flesh has been breached forever by the Son of God, as both man and God. He is the final representative of that ancient covenant of which Melchizedek was a symbol. Embrace the mystical truth of God's revelation, His Son.
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Ed Hurst
25 March 2008
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