1931 A PLACE CALLED REST
When I get up in the morning- I
spend about an hour or so praying/meditating before I write.
I get the entire ‘message’ during
this time.
This morning- in my mind- I saw a
sort of panoramic view of all of church history- quite a message for a short
post.
I also felt like covering the
history of Judaism during the time of Christ- another long subject.
I think the main reason for these
themes popping up is because I have been reading some in the book of Hebrews-
and I want to cover Hebrews 4.
But- let’s try the other stuff
and see if we can get it in.
In the early days of the church-
in the 4th century- we had the rise of the Roman emperor/military
ruler- Constantine.
Part of the achievements of
Constantine was his development of the eastern half of the Roman empire- whose
capitol was named after him- Constantinople.
Over a period of years the early
Roman church fought over whose bishop would have more influence- the bishop of
Rome [Pope] or the bishop in the east.
Many bishops in the Catholic Church
have disagreed over the influence of one bishop being greater than the others
[the idea that all the bishops should have an equal voice at the church
councils is called Collegiality].
This has caused splits within the
Catholic Church thru the centuries [the last big one in the 19th
century].
Eventually the early church
split- and the Eastern Church separated from Rome.
The eastern empire [called
Byzantium- the seat of the Eastern Orthodox Church] officially split in the
year 1054.
Now- in church history we call
this the Great Schism- even though the Protestant split which took place in the
16th century was greater in effect.
Okay- the Protestant reformers split
over various issues- I have an entire study on the blog about this.
But the main issue became what we
call justification by faith.
Over the centuries many good men-
and average church goers- lost the main message of the New Testament- which was
a message of being saved by the grace of God.
Many well meaning Christians were
struggling to do penance in a way that sort of earned them their salvation thru
works.
The Protestant reformer Martin
Luther was teaching the book of Romans [he was a scholar and a Catholic leader
in intellectual circles at the time].
During his teaching on the epistle
of Paul [Romans- in our bible] he came across a verse that said THE JUST SHALL
LIVE BY FAITH.
As he mediated on the passage-
and the other themes in Romans that speak about being saved by faith and not by
works- he started a sort of mini revolution amongst the students and he became
a sort of favorite teacher in the area of Germany where he was teaching.
Over a period of time- thru all
sorts of religious and political machinations- he launched what we now call the
Protestant Reformation.
Okay- Hebrews 4.
How does this fit in?
In Hebrews 4- the writer is
appealing to a first century Jewish audience who were steeped in a legalistic
mindset.
That is- in many ways- they were
like the Christians of the 16th century who lost the idea of grace-
and were seeking to please God thru the works of the law.
The writer tells them that thru
the appearing of the Messiah- Christ- we can enter into a new type of covenant-
one based on rest.
He says ‘those who have entered into
Gods rest have ceased from their own works- as God did from his’.
Okay- there’s a lot to unpack
here- and time is running out.
The writer uses the creation
account in Genesis chapter 2- where the bible says God created the world in 6
days- and on the 7th day he rested.
He symbolically says ‘there is a
place- called Gods ‘rest’ that we too must enter into’.
He’s using an analogy- God rested
from his works on the Sabbath day- so we too must strive to enter into this
Sabbath rest [a type of the New Covenant- established on the death and resurrection
of Christ].
If you read the chapter- you
should be able to pick up this main theme- the main point he is making is
because Jesus has come and become the final Passover sacrifice for the sins of
man- therefore the Old law- with all of its sacrifices and demands- has now
been fulfilled thru Christ.
We sit ‘at the table’ with the
other disciples- the Lords table- and we freely partake of the Body and Blood
of Christ- and by faith we receive eternal life- not by the works of the law.
See- this is the whole point.
Thru out the centuries Christians
have lost this sense of free grace- this reality that we come to God by faith-
not based on how good we have been- how hard we have tried to obey the law.
No- we come to God- Boldly
[Hebrews] ‘because we have a great high priest who is now in heaven- seated at
the right hand of God’.
Jesus represents us to God- he is
before the throne of God interceding [praying] on our behalf.
It is no longer a matter of our
effort- our striving- no- we are truly saved by grace.
Amen.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
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