So Easy To Drift Away

CNN reports that salvage of the Costa Concordia has begun. The question: Will the ship stay in one piece during the righting. Giant hollow boxes have been attached to the side of the ship, seen in this CNN photo of May 27, 2013. The plan is to eventually haul the vessel upright and then attempt to re-float it with the aid of the compart-ments pictured here. As you may recall, the giant cruise ship ran aground and tipped over in January, 2012, killing 32 of the 4,200 people on board.

In July, 2013 five members of the ship's crew were convicted of multiple manslaughter and causing personal injury. The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, is being tried separately on charges of multiple manslaughter in the wreck and abandoning of his ship. The charges are that the captain deviated from the ship's computer-programmed route, claiming that he was familiar with the local seabed. When the ship hit a reef, causing the engine room to be flooded, he did nothing to contact the nearby harbour for help but tried to resume the original course, before a U-turn back to Giglio. Why did he not pay attention? Why did he deviate from what he knew was the correct route? These questions will be argued  before the court.

A similar question is raised by the Hebrews writer in light of what he wrote in the first chapter about God's revelation in Christ. He has spoken clearly, unequivocally. Therefore . . .

we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. - Hebrews 2:1-4 ESV 

What was this "message declared by angels" that proved to be reliable? Paul writes about the law given to Moses on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 20:1-26, etc.),

Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. - Gal 3:19 ESV 

Stephen makes the same point in his indictment of the Jews. Of them he says,

"You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it." - Acts 7:51-53 ESV 

 Do you see the points Paul and Stephen are making? In previous times God gave to Israel the law, summarized in the ten commandments. The purpose was to demonstrate to them how they failed to keep covenant with Him, even though they claimed to be children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (whose new name was Israel). In turn the law was given to Moses on the mount by God's angels or messengers. Moses then delivered it to Israel in the wilderness after God had rescued them from slavery in Egypt. But they ignored it, disobeyed and failed to trust in God and in His promises. Consequently they learned that God's commands must be obeyed or you will have to suffer the consequences. That first generation led by Moses perished in the desert. They did not enter the promised land. They ignored God's Word. They let it slip away. They did not obey. Their bones were all left in the wilderness. They never came to the Promised Land.

Other prophets tried again and again to call later generations back to God. They spoke about the coming of the Messiah who would accept responsibility for their sins, bearing the sin of many and making intercession for the transgressors (Isaiah 53:1-12). But, says Stephen, you persecuted the prophets and now you have betrayed and murdered the Righteous One promised by the prophets, the One sent to be your Savior.

Hebrews makes the same points. Jesus has come as God's Word in these last days. God has spoken again, but not through prophets or angels this time. He has rather spoken directly, decisively and clearly through His Son. Jesus is God's Son. He completed His work on the cross, rose on the third day and now rules over all things at the Father's right hand.

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it (Hebrews 2:1 ESV). 

It is oh so easy to drift away, as did the captain of the Costa Concordia. Reports indicate that he was talking on the telephone to an old friend when the disaster occurred. It is oh so easy to let things slip, to turn your attention to many, many other things, to neglect what is given. As a result you and those who look to you as a model or leader will do the same. And ultimately both you and they will lose this great salvation.

More on this next time.

Rest At Last

Three times a year all Jewish men were required to appear before the LORD God at the three great Festivals or Feasts of Unleavened Bread (Passover), Harvest (Pentecost - 50 days after Passover) and Ingathering at the end of the year (Booths). See Exodus 23:14-17; 34:17.

As we return to a study of John 7 we see Jesus finally arriving about at the middle of the weeklong Feast of Booths (Sept.-Oct. in our numbering). He began to teach in the temple and, as usual, people were astounded by his knowledge. However, as had often happened, he was challenged not only for what he taught, but also for what he had done earlier in the year during the Passover Feast. What he had done was to heal a paralyzed man at the pool called Bethesda (John 5:1-16). What got especially the Pharisees so stirred up was not that he had healed the man, but that he had done it on the Sabbath. Not only had he healed the paralytic, he also commanded him to work on the Sabbath by carrying his pallet-bed as he walked for the first time in 38 years! This was a clear violation of the law to do no work on that day.

But they missed the entire point of the Sabbath commandment. This day was not only a day to rest, pray and be with one's family. It also pointed forward to the ultimate rest promised to God's people. When Messiah came God would bring to His people eternal rest, peace and security. Jesus pointed to the fact that he was that Messiah. In him all God's promises were to be fulfilled. He speaks about this as he says,

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." - Matt 11:28-30 ESV

In Christ we have rest from all fear of punishment for our sins. Jesus' healing on the Sabbath points to that, especially among people who were taught that illness was a result of specific sins on the part of those who were sick (John 9:2). Again and again Jesus makes his point by healing people on the Sabbath. Examples include his

• healing a man's deformed hand (Mark 3:1-5)
• casting out a demon from a man in the Capernaum synagogue (Luke 4:33-36)
• healing a woman crippled for 18 years (Luke 13:11-17)
• healing a man suffering from dropsy (Luke 14:1-6)

The Sabbath always foreshadowed the Rest of God, the return to paradise (the experience of

Adam and Eve in the original Garden of Eden). When that blessed Rest comes, all the children

of God will dwell with Jesus in God’s eternal Seventh Day. Jesus made this promise to the

believing thief who died beside him on the cross just prior to the Passover Sabbath. “I tell you the

truth,” Jesus said, “today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). The same promise holds

true for all believers.

The Sabbath was always the ultimate sign, pointing to Jesus as the promised Messiah and Lord of the Sabbath. He came to bring all men that mercy of God foreshadowed by the Sabbath. Mercy is what God is all about. That was why Jesus permitted his disciples to pluck heads of grain to eat on the Sabbath. That was why, a thousand years before Jesus, David and his men, fleeing for their lives, ate the showbread from the Tabernacle. That was why priests serving in the temple on the Sabbath were guiltless. Jesus emphasized again and again that the Jews rescued their sheep that had fallen into a pit and watered their cattle on the Sabbath. Surely then men were of greater value than sheep or cattle.

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. - Hbr 4:9-10 ESV

This is also why the church no longer observes the Old Covenant Sabbath. What it pointed toward is now fulfilled. The Rest-Giver has come. He has offered Himself as the sacrifice for all men's sins. He has returned from death on the third day. He is now among us in His Supper. This is what we celebrate.  So we observe the commandment by gathering to worship and praise the risen Christ on His day, the Eighth Day, the day pointing toward the great Day of His return when we will have perfect rest and peace forever.