nthebrews3

Caution to students of God's Word - Please remember two things when using our studies: #1. Our commentary is not God's Word. It is only our interpretation or understanding of "His Word" and even though we try our best to be accurate we may or may not be correct. #2. The King James translation, or any other translation, of the original Hebrew text has some words which were given different translations at different places probably because of the interpreters preconceived ideas of what they think God meant to say. For example: According to the notes in the "Dake's Annotated Reference Bible" the Hebrew word hayah in the KJV is Trans. (became) 67 times, (becamest or came to pass) 505 times, (become) 66 times, and (come to pass) 131 times, but for some reason in Genesis 1:2 it is translated (was)! That sure changes the way a person perceives the original creation of the earth, doesn't it? Gen. 1:2 And the earth was (became) without form, ... Having said that, let us continue with our "Key Knowledge" lessons. These are pamphlets containing knowledge, we believe, you must have to fully and accurately unlock and understand the Word of God.

John 15:26
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

John 16:13-14
[13] Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. [14] He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

This Bible Study was originally written by Roger Christopherson,
published at http://www.theseason.org/

Without the leading by the Holy Spirit, there is no understanding of the truths, for all the truth of the Scriptures are revealed to us by God's Spirit.

Hebrews 3:1 "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;"

"Christ Jesus" in the Hebrew tongue means "the Anointed" [Christ] "Savior of God" [Jesus]. Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed by God to be the Savior of mankind. Our confession to Christ is that we love Him, we trust Him and find Him to be true. We call ourselves "Christians" because we are "Christ followers".

We also are partakers in the same flesh that He partook of to pay the price to cause Satan's destruction at the end of the Millennium age.

Hebrews 3:2 "Who was faithful to Him That appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all His house."

Moses built a house and was faithful to the house that he built. The "house" Moses built was a "family unit" growing into a nation, and temple which is a "commitment" to God. Christ was born into that family in the flesh, through the Virgin Mary, and we become members of that family, or temple through Christ into the many membered body of Christ.

Hebrews 3:3 "For this Man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.

"This Man" is Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is counted more worthy then Moses, because Jesus was perfect in His flesh body. It was God that built the house, in as much as He created all things, and became He/God became flesh in the form of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and came to dwell with man for a while.

John 1:14 "And the Word [Jesus Christ] was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten [by birth] of the Father, full of grace and truth."

In a spiritual sense, Christ said that He would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, and that is what happened at Christ's death when Jesus went into the tomb for three days and nights, (NOT FRIDAY EVENING UNTIL SUNDAY MORNING LIKE THE CHURCH TEACHES!) Could that be because the weekend collection plate is larger than the weekday plate? and the church values that more then the acuracy of God's Word! ,and came out of that tomb resurrected, Christ then rebuild the temple, the body of Christ made up of all those that would believe and have eternal life. The body of Christ is that temple that Christ spoke of.

Hebrews 3:4 "For every house is builded by some man; but He That built all things is God."

Every house is made up of materials of wood, stone, wire, shingles and many other things, and those materials that a house is made of is determined by the man doing the construction. Though man uses these materials to build his house, it is God that created all materials and raw material that went into the house.

God will take the seed, and from it develop the great fir tree. Then man cuts down that tree, and hauls it to the lumber mill, where it is cut into the dimension lumber that is fit for house building, and the contractor buys the lumber and uses it to frame the house. God created the tree, and gave man the intelligence to process it into lumber, and blessed the buyer of that house with an income to afford to live in it. All blessings come from the Father, even the air you breath, and the earth that you walk on. Man can build nothing except he use the materials that God created.

In a spiritual sense, why wrestle against the Creator of all things, when the reason that God created those things was for our use and enjoyment. God created us for His pleasure, as well. Why create problems that don't exist and fight the facts that are before our eyes. God created those things. Thank Him for them.

Hebrews 3:5 "And Moses verily was faithful in all His house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;"

Notice here that Moses was only a servant to God, to be used in God's overall plan. When you read in the scriptures the things that Moses did and said, they were to be a type of those things written in God's plan that would follow. The things that Moses built, like the tabernacle of God, was only a token of the things that would be fulfilled in Christ.

Numbers 12:6 "And He said, "Hear now My words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make Myself know unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream."

Numbers 12:8 "With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?"

Hebrews 3:6 "But Christ as a son over His own house; Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end."

Each and every Christian who claims the name of Christ and has repented of His sins in Jesus name, is part of that house of Jesus Christ's. We make up the many parts or members that it takes to complete the house or temple of Christ. We are members, that is, if we fit the conditions that it takes to be part of that house. The reason for the standard cutting of lumber is so the house can be built as the contractor and owner had planed it to be, and the house of Christ is designed by God, and all parts of that house must meet the requirements, or conditions of the builder.

That "condition" is; "If we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the the end." The "confidence" which is # 3954in Strong's Concordance Greek dictionary, "Parrahesia, par-rhay-see-see'-ah, all out-spokenness, i.e. frankness and assurance."

"Rejoicing" in the Greek text comes from # 2745, "Kauchema, Kow-khay-mah, boasting to the glory of." We see this type of boasting in politics and sports, to where you are so proud of what you are doing that you just can't keep your mouth shut about the results. You are bubbling over with joy.

When we are in Christ, we are having so much confidence and joy over what Christ has done for us, and in creating us that we just cant keep our mouth shut. When was the last time that you were so overjoyed at the fact of what Christ did for you, that you just couldn't keep from telling others. Telling them all about this new house that is made up of all the believers of Jesus Christ, and the many blessings that He can give to those that repent and become part of His temple, his body of Christ.

We are the building stones in His Temple, and Paul is telling us that there is this condition we have to meet to become a building stone that Christ will use in His Temple. You must have confidence to Jesus, that He will maintain each and every promise to the very end. Though dispensations come to an end, life with Christ as our personal Savior has no end. That is our eternal confidence that we have in Christ.

Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"

While in the flesh that is week, you have the confidence in Jesus Christ's name, that when you sin He will cleanse you of that sin when it is repented of. He'll then make your soul right before the Father.

Hebrews 3:7 "Wherefore (as the Holy Spirit saith, "To day if ye will hear His voice,"

You will hear that voice of the Holy Spirit if your eyes are open to see the love that Christ has for us. God will pour out His forgiveness for those that will have that confidence, and become a stone in that house of God. The stones of that house are made up of the many members of the body of Christ.

Hebrews 3:8 "Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:"

Harden not your minds as the Israelites did against God, while in the wilderness after fleeing from the Pharaoh in Egypt. When we see the protection that God gave the Israelites in the parting of the Red sea, the bringing water from a rock, and the giving the daily portion of manna to feed the millions that departed out of Egypt, yet the Israelites after see all these miracles hardened their hearts in disbelief against God. There is no food nor drink that can sustain man in the desert, and these people stood by and watched all these miracles, yet would not believe God when He told them to go in and claim the land.

The provocation came when Moses went up on mount Sinai to get the tables of the law from God, and when Moses returned to the camp, he saw the provocation of the people against God. God was trying to take these stones to build His building, but they had other ideas about God's desires, and rejected God for their idolatries. They took the gifts of gold that God allowed them to take from Pharaoh, and they melted them down into a calf idol, and fell down and worshipped the golden calf, and went into an orgy of idolatry by the time Moses returned from the mountain. The penalty for such an act should have been death for everyone that participated, but God allowed those that would repent, to be spared.

Hebrews 3:9 "When your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years."

Forty years is one generation, and God gave them forty years of wandering in the wilderness to continually observe His miracles to them, to think over the evil they had done. In that forty years all those that worshipped that golden calf and entered into that provocation and refuse to enter into the promise land died in the wilderness, and were left there. All except Joshua and Caleb.

This is a type in the spiritual sense of even our generation. When you are tempted by Satan after you have come to full knowledge, and all shall have full knowledge by the close of the Millennium age, if you still provoke the anger of God, you are going to die, the death of your soul and you will be no more! You will not enter into the promise land, which is to say the third heaven and earth age.

Hebrews 3:10 "Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known My ways."

God was grieved with the children of that forty year period. Those Israelites did not follow God's plan, and they didn't even care for God's ways. It is hard to understand how those people could witness the miracles that they saw, and still not believe in our Heavenly Father with their full trust.

Not one of those that showed disbelief in our Heavenly Father ways entered into that promised land, but only the two faithful spies Joshua and Caleb. These two were able to rightfully claim their inheritance in the land that God promised them.

John 14:2 "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."

John 14:3 "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."

When we look up "mansions" in the Greek, the word is "rest". There are many resting places, and the word rest is also called "sabbath".

Hebrews 3:12 "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God."

This is also a promise direct from God. God's promises are directed at the truth, and if you have an evil heart of unbelief and turn from the living God, who is Christ, then you are doomed and have no hope. The choice is up to you. A teacher can teach from the Word of God all he can, but if the listener has a closed mind and heart to the things of God, then there is unbelief and nothing that can be done for that individual. The choice in the end lies in the mind of the hearer, in your mind as to whether you love Jesus Christ, or not.

Therefore, on the day of our Lord's return your reward will be completely based on the choices that you have made while in the flesh body. You cannot blame anyone but yourself for the rewards that you receive, and we pray that it will always be the blessings of God for His true servant.

Hebrews 3:13 "But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin."

We are to study daily, and keep focused on what we read and understand that we will not be turned away by the glamour of sin. Satan makes sin look very attractive and entertaining, and that is why it is deceitful. When it looks good, and feels good, and for a while it might even have some good rewards, but in the end there is only destruction in it for those that would glamorize away in sin their eternal life, and soul.

Hebrews 3:14 "For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;"

Once we have repented and confessed our sins, we become partakers with Christ. When we hold to the truths of God's Word and stay in the confidence that we first had when we received Him, those blessings will stay with us all the way to the end of this earth age. Your confidence is produced by your trust and faith in Jesus Christ. You act according to the knowledge that you believe in your mind to be true. This is why we say that Christianity is not a religion, but a reality. When you accept Christ and His Word as a reality then your conficence will be firm, with no doubt.

Hebrews 3:15 "While it is said, "To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not you hearts, as in the provocation."

Paul is saying that when God's Word is presented to you, don't close your heart to the Words, but listen. Don't be as those Israelites that wondered in the wilderness for forty years, because they would not listen to God speaking to them.

Hebrews 3:16 "For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses."

This falls right back to those Israelites in the wilderness, some couldn't help from seeing the miracles preformed by Moses in Egypt. All of them saw the miracles as they walked on dry land with the two walls of water that parted on both sides of them, and as they drank from that fresh cool water that came pouring out of a rock.

Hebrews 3:17 "But with whom was He grieved forty years: was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?"

Those that grieved the forty years in the wilderness and died there were the ones that kept not the confidence of God. They provoked our Heavenly Father, and when you provoke the Father He will correct you. It pleases God for you to love Him and ask for His blessings upon your life. Then when you receive those blessings, receive them joyfully with thanksgiving. Once you have accepted Christ, and then when you provoke God, He is not going to ignore you but He will correct you and sometimes those lessons that He gives us are pretty hard to take. When that happens you not only lose God's blessings, but you bring cursings upon yourself. God is in full control, and it is within His power to either bless you, or put those rocks in your path.

Hebrews 3:18 "And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not?"

Those children of Israel that sinned are not going to enter that rest, but are going to die off in the wilderness.

"Unbelief" brings it all together. "Unbelief" means "a lack of faith and trust", for their faith and trust in God was a requirement for them to enter into the promise land. This was only a type of the promise land that is to come very shortly, and it will be a beautiful world with the entire earth rejuvinated. There will be no extreme cold or hot, but a climate pleasing as a heaven on earth for an eternity. There will be no sickness, no sin, and no evil but only a life of eternal happiness. Only eternal life for those that would believe on Christ.

Jesus promised this in John 3:16; "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Do you trust Him? For the Christian, Christ's rest is every day that you live on this earth. As we read earlier from John 14, God is concerned about your place of rest, and He desires that it be yours from the first day of repentance and coming to Him. He desires that your faith in Him be continuously focused on Christ and all the promises that He has given us in His plan. When we are focused on His Word, then we will not wander aimlessly in our faith and belief. The beauty of it all is that God's place of rest is simply in Him.

To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals. We pray that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you accomplish both.

doctrine of many of our Christian churches, (The Man on a White Horse)
political direction of our country, (The Man on a Red Horse)
economic direction our country has taken, (The Man on a Black Horse)
and teaching of our schools and media, (The Man on a Pale Horse)

The Four Hidden Dynasties of the New World Order Revelation 6:1-8
"The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"
Did you know all four are being ridden by Satan?