And this is another huge area where your argument has a big problem
Dramatic assertion completely devoid of Biblical demonstration, counting on the
drama to give it weight.
The idea that the OT saints did not have the Gospel is refuted in Heb 4:2 -
The gospel was preached to them in the sacrifices and ceremonies which were a pattern/type of Christ.
why do you keep arguing against that fact repeatedly pointed out in Heb 4??
Failure to demonstrate your
false assertion. . .
wrong. In Heb 3 the RESULT of disobedience was that God Himself stopped them from entering His rest in Canaan.
In Heb 3 the "nature of the disobedience" was ignoring a direct command of God.
And now a
distinction without a difference. . .I'm seeing a lotta' heat and no light.
Was not the "command of God" to enter Canaan? Therefore, was not the
nature of their disobedience as I stated, failure to enter Canaan?
And this is where your argument has a big problem
More
drama in lieu of Biblical demonstration. . .
No problem has been Biblically demonstrated in the argument presented there.
Heb 4:3 does not say that God has been resting since the foundation of the world - since creation week.
Heb 4:3 -
"And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world."
The
real problem here is not my demonstration, but the
intellectual dishonesty in response to my demonstration.
I expected more of you, Bob.
So again I ask, will I be getting the Biblically specific demonstration of my error which I requested?
I am asking that you
Biblically specifically demonstrate (not just assert)
1)
verse by verse (not inadequate random shots as yours in the above) of the brief exegesis (following) why any comment in black text (
Scripture is blue text) is in error,
2) as well as section by section of the brief exposition (post #92, following this post), any
error therein in relation to those texts.
And so
again, I repeat the brief exegesis of
Heb 3:7-4:13 (from the link in post #11).
Heb 3:7-11 =
Ps 95 ("Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion," etc.)
Heb 3:12:
12) See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.
[Comment: There is an issue of
not holding firmly, of
turning way (rebellion,
apostasy), of
unbelief, of confidence that was
had at first by the NT
Hebrews that the writer is addressing. They were considering a return to their OT religion, perhaps because of persecution by their fellow Hebrews, or threats of their families to disinherit them, or both,
the reason can only be conjecture but, nevertheless, their return to Judaism would be
apostasy.
This passage is actually the second of five warnings in the letter:
1) 2:1-4 - do not fail to hear the NT gospel,
2)
3:7-4:13 - do not fail to believe this word of God, a living power that judges with an all-seeing eye,
3) 5:11-6:12 - do not fall away (apostasy),
4) 10:19-39 - do not lapse back,
5) 12:14-29 - do not refuse God.
]
Heb 3:15-19: Warning against unbelief
15)
As has just been said:
"Today, if you hear his voice (in the NT gospel),
do not harden your hearts (in unbelief of the gospel)
as you did in the rebellion." (and refuse to enter into Christ's NT salvation by returning to Judaism)
16)
Who were they who heard and rebelled? (refusing to enter Canaan)
Were they not all that Moses led out of Egypt? (Nu 14)
17) And with whom was he angry for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned (rebelled),
whose bodies fell in the desert?
18)
And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? (refusing to go into Canaan)
19) So we see that they were not able to enter (the
promised Canaan
rest,
Ex 33:14;
Dt 12:8-10)
because of their unbelief. (as you will not enter his NT salvation rest because of your unbelief of the gospel)
Heb 4:1-10: Do not fail to believe again.
1) Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands (
Today, if you hear his voice--in the gospel--
Mt 11:29;
rest is
still available today, in gospel salvation),
let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it (by returning to Judaism, failing to enter into NT salvation rest).
2)
For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did (
Gal 3:8; sacrifices and ceremonies);
but the message they heard was of no value to them because they did not combine it with faith.
3)
Now we who have believed enter that rest (NT salvation rest)
, just as God has said,
"So I declared an oath in my anger,
'They shall never enter my rest.' "
And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world.
4)
For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work" (God's Sabbath-rest is full time, not just one day a week).
5)
And again, in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest." (God's own
full-time Sabbath-rest)
6)
It still remains that some will enter this rest ("Today. . .")
and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in (to the promised
full-time rest from their enemies in Canaan,
Dt 12:10)
because of their disobedience.
7)
Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today (
Ps 95:7),
when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before:
"Today, if you hear his voice (in the gospel)
do not harden your hearts."(and fail to enter God's
own full-time Sabbath rest in his NT salvation-rest)
8)
For if Joshua had given them rest (in the
promised rest of Canaan, a prefigure of God's NT salvation rest),
God would not have spoken later about another day.
9)
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;
10) for anyone who enters God's rest (which is full-time)
also rests (full-time)
from his own work (to save)
, just as God did from his.
Heb 4:11-13: Exhortation
11)
Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest (
salvation rest)
, so that no one will fall (from faith, salvation)
by following their example of disobedience.
12) For the Word of God (written in this letter**)
is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
13)
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." ("Take heed!" of the God with whom we have to do, you who are considering refusal to go into God's gospel rest.)
Jesus' NT full-time salvation rest is the
fulfillment of God's
own ("my") full-time Sabbath rest for his people.
The Sabbath was given
for man (not for God), not man for the Sabbath.
God's OT Sabbath is about the rest of man from physical labor.
God's NT Sabbath is the fulfillment of the OT Sabbath, and where man's rest is both
1) God's own full-time Sabbath rest (
Heb 4:3-4) and
2) from spiritual work to save.
Heb 10:25: Regarding worship
Christians are not to forsake assembling together, as in the Lord's Supper (
Acts 2:42), for their worship of God.
**John's letter was written to the Greeks (Gentiles), in whose philosophy
logos was the First Cause, the great Intelligence and Reason behind the Universe. John testifies: it is that
logos (Word), which was with God and which was God in the beginning (
Jn 1:1), who became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth and dwelt among us (
Jn 1:1,
Jn 1:14) to reveal God to us.
Note that Jesus is "the Word," he never referred to himself as "the word of God," nor do any of the NT writers refer to him as "the word of God."
