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 4^th 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 19^th 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 16^th 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 16^th 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 7^th 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.

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