Well last week Jim and I discussed some of the commonly promoted ideas in the letter to the Hebrews in our part 1 of the ongoing series ’ If We Hold Fast Our Confidence.’ (Based on Hebrews 3:6) Jim I find it funny in a peculiar way that the heart of the message to the Hebrews and to us was to rest, and yet so many passages like these seem to imply nothing but! It is complete insanity to be told to rest when you aren’t given a reason to. LOL
Just how are we supposed to rest in Jesus while we’re trying to hold fast to our confidence — all the way until the end? You know, at times that little word IF seems to remove all sense of assurance, doesn’t it?

Well, today’s audio is part 2 of “If we hold fast our confidence”

I’m going to start out by taking a look at the Biblical account of Elijah and the false prophets of Baal, for this story accentuates the hesitancy of Israel to believe the God of their fathers.

1 Kings 18 “How long will you hesitate between two opinions?” 1 Kings 18:21 . The 2 opinions: There is the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and then there is everything else. Now, how do you explain that without coming across as merely one religious viewpoint or belief being professed as the right one? You see, the God of Israel made no such attempt to explain it, he merely demonstrated it through the people he called as his own possession. The people had allowed 450 prophets of Baal (as well 400 prophets of the Asherah) to set up shop in their midst — as if there was no real contradiction, as if it didn’t fundamentally destroy Israel’s confidence and the boast of their hope. The wisdom of God versus the wisdom of man. Israel’s hesitation between two opinions continues to play out in today’s Christianity. In our religious fervor to increase “the kingdom”, we have given in and have adopted the wisdom of the world in order to appeal to the masses. We may assume that we have gotten more people saved by the techniques of the fleshly mind, but what we’ve really done may be closer to the kind of situation Israel found itself in during Elijah’s time. It was that way in Israel when they were confronted by the letter of Hebrews. No, they hadn’t brought back the false gods of Baal and the Asherah, instead they had gotten caught between the sufficiency of the new covenant brought about in Christ through the once and for all sacrifice and the insufficiency of the old covenant that had been brought about through the ministry of angels to Moses.

Let me start out by reading those two verses in Hebrews 3 again.

but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house–whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end. Hebrews 3:6 NASB

For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, Hebrews 3:14 NASB

Considerations:
If means if, but if we don’t recognize what the “if” hangs upon, we will automatically assume it must correspond to the fear and guilt we learned in this world. I heard a story from quite a few years ago, and I may not remember it exaclty, but radio-host was recounting a conversation he had with his son after his own dad had recetly died. His son asked him if grandpa was in heaven, to which he replied, “If what grandpa believed is true, then he is.” Now, his son mistook his meaning and thought his dad was questioning what his grandfather believed, but that was not the case. His point was simple, it’s not true because I believe it, it’s true because it’s true. The IF hangs upon the truthfulness of the message believed, not upon the believing itself.

Many of the “ifs” we come across in the New Testament letters often hang upon this exact thing. Last week we discussed one of the iffiest Bible verses in Paul’s letters, 1 Corinthians 15:1-2, the one that seems to make our salvation hinge upon whether or not we have believed in vain. I mean, what did you assume it meant when that preacher asked you if you have believed in vain or if your faith was worthless? Yeah, you examine the quality of your believing, don’t you?
However, that was not Paul’s meaning, for the upshot of the whole matter had to do with the truthfulness of the message Paul had preached to them, the message they had believed. Paul wrote about it because there were some among them who flat out denied the resurrection of the dead, although it doesn’t seem as if their denial targeted Jesus. But you know what? It didn’t make any difference because as Paul stated “if there is no resurrection fo the dead, not even Christ has been raised.” This led to Paul’s conclusion that only one thing could make one’s believing vain, only one thing could make one’s faith worthless. And what is that one thing? If Christ had not been raised. Fear will cloud the issue so that we can’t recognize the demands Paul made upon the validity of the message itself. And it’s fear that will have us running around like a dog chasing its own tail as we try to examine the quality of our faith.

There are some words/phrases I want to take a closer look at: 1) hold fast, 2) confidence, 3) boast of our hope, 4) deceitfulness of sin, 5) we, 6) beginning and the end

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Keep in mind that Peter was an apostle to the circumcised — the Jews, the Hebrews — and he wrote both of his letters to those who resided as aliens, those who were scattered throughout the Mediterranean world … those who were chosen to hear and follow Jesus Christ.

Galatians 2:7-8 But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised (for He who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles),

2 Peter 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

What were these destructive heresies?

Consider the meaning of the word translated as heresy: αἵρεσις hairesis; from G138; choice, opinion:– NASB usage: factions(2), heresies(1), sect(6). Schism, faction, sect are words that all refer to divisiveness, the destruction of oneness.

Never confuse the differences of expression that come from the heart of unity as being anything like the differences of expression that come from a heart of division. The fleshly mind has shown itself as divisive all throughout history, and there are no exceptions. In our consideration of Hebrews, it must be recognized that Israel is no exception to this rule — nor is America, for that matter. The fleshly mind only creates an illusion of unity, and those who join together under the banner of that union will always find themselves struggling to keep it together. Maybe that’s why our attempts to follow that so-called Biblical command to keep the unity of the Spirit have so utterly failed.

Consider the destructiveness behind these opinions or choices: “even denying the Master who bought them.” The destructive heresies (aka. opinions, choices, factions) always target the head, that is, the very authority upon which the unity is made. The false prophets who challenged Moses were, in fact, challenging God himself because God had him head over His house.

Differences of viewpoint or differences in interpretation that challenge an institution created by man or the doctrines formulated by those who have set themselves up as authorities in place of Christ cannot be automatically assumed as challenges against God. If so, Jesus himself would have to be considered God’s ultimate destructive heretic. However, because he wasn’t afraid to challenge the men who set themselves up in Moses’ seat, he was put to death for having taught against the authority of man under the premise that he taught against the authority of God. But he could do no such thing. It was impossible for him to speak apart from his father or against his father’s will — for they were ONE.

Let’s consider the false prophets of Israel, the ones every Hebrew would have heard about in any synagogue when the Scriptures spoken in various ways through the prophets were read every Sabbath (Remember Hebrews 1:1). Now, as we approach any given instance where a false prophet emerged, we really need to find out what was really going on behind the scenes. What made a person a false prophet? Who or what was being challenged? In what way was the wisdom of man being put above the wisdom of God?

The false prophets continually crept in and found their way among Israel, and it didn’t take very long after Moses led them out of Egypt before a major confrontation regarding God’s authority came to a head.

Korah: Numbers 16 Korah’s rejection of Moses’ authority and his demand for priesthood, along with the subsequent murmuring among the people. Korah, and his people, despised the Lord, Numbers 16:30 Although Korah was a descendant of Levi, the priesthood had been given to Aaron and his sons. Behind the words many Christians might find compelling — Numbers 16:3 “You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” — Korah actually despised the Lord’s choice and wanted to be recognized as a priest before the Lord as well. Korah’s claim that Moses had exalted himself above the assembly might sound similar to things Jesus said about the Pharisees, but the truth of the matter is that Moses had in fact been chosen by God despite his own objections. In claiming that all were holy, Korah was not testifying to an equality of those who have been made holy through Christ, rather that through his persuasive speech, he had rejected the true priesthood of God, which ultimately rejected the only real high priest who could ever take away sins. That the Hebrew believers were made holy in Christ was a reality only brought about because of God’s chosen high priest through Melchizedek (Hebrews 7). Moses told Korah and his followers to gather the next morning to see who God would choose — “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who is His, and who is holy…” (Numbers 16:11) — and God definitely revealed his choice by causing the ground to open up and swallow Korah and his 250 followers who had gathered against the Lord.

They shall not enter my rest: Hebrews 3 Israel’s rejection of the promised rest of God led to 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. The testimony of God’s faithfulness and promise to Israel was declared by Joshua and Caleb at the entrance to which Moses had brought them. Israel rejected it when they heard the warnings of the other 8 spies as to the impossibility of victory. The letter of Hebrews pictures Israel as still waiting at the entrance

Elijah and the false prophets of Baal:1 Kings 18 “How long will you hesitate between two opinions?” 1 Kings 18:21 . The 2 opinions: There is the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and then there is everything else. Now, how do you explain that without coming across as merely one religious viewpoint or belief being professed as the right one? You see, the God of Israel made no such attempt to explain it, he merely demonstrated it through the people he called as his own possession. The people had allowed 450 prophets of Baal (as well 400 prophets of the Asherah) to set up shop in their midst — as if there was no real contradiction, as if it didn’t fundamentally destroy Israel’s confidence and the boast of their hope. The wisdom of God versus the wisdom of man. Israel’s hesitation between two opinions continues to play out in today’s Christianity. In our religious fervor to increase “the kingdom”, we have given in and have adopted the wisdom of the world in order to appeal to the masses. We may assume that we have gotten more people saved by the techniques of the fleshly mind, but what we’ve really done may be closer to the kind of situation Israel found itself in during Elijah’s time. It was that way in Israel when they were confronted by the letter of Hebrews. No, they hadn’t brought back the false gods of Baal and the Asherah, instead they had gotten caught between the sufficiency of the new covenant brought about in Christ through the once and for all sacrifice and the insufficiency of the old covenant that had been brought about through the ministry of angels to Moses.

but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house–whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end. Hebrews 3:6 NASB

For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, Hebrews 3:14 NASB

“His house” is singular, and that singular identity is defined or understood according to the oneness of the group.

I want to revisit the word hold fast, κατέχω, because hy? Because it underlines the same twisted shift in perspective as found in the word if. Now, I’m not going to offer some radically different meaning here, however there is a radically different focus I think we should consider. And guess what? It’s the exact same distinction you’re going to hear me bring up time and time again: viewing the subject matter according to the logic of man versus the logic of God. κατέχω comes from two Greek words: κατά, having several possible meanings; and έχω, meaning to have or to hold. What I find particularly interesting about this word has to do with how the various meanings applied to the very few NT occurrences of katecho (like 16) seem to overlook the most used meaning to its often used root, kata. The overwhelmingly applied meaning of kata is some form of according (like 154 times in the NASB) and then 52 times as against. To hold fast has erroneously come to be viewed as some kind of strength of will on our part, and this totally goes against the overall flow of the passage in Hebrews.

The Greek ἔχω is translated mostly (like way mostly) as have. In fact, forms of hold only show up 15 times, while forms of have total over 550 occurrences. This is what leads me to regard a meaning closer to this: to have according to.