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CHURCH LETTER
'Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith '
With these words from the Letter to the Hebrews, chapter 12, the writer is urging us to look away from the `great clouds of witnesses' he has just referred to and look, fix our eyes on, (as one translation puts it) to the One who had inspired them, to Jesus the Author and Finisher of their faith. There is absolute truth in that exhortation and therefore we need to look at the faith of those `clouds of witnesses' for our own encouragement as we too journey on our path of faith. So we turn our thoughts back to chapter 11, which opens with the words: `Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen'. In emphasising three words of this great Statement of Faith, those of substance, hope and evidence, our attention is drawn to the fact of something promised - such words as these are used in the Title Deeds of Covenants or Wills! The Beneficiaries of these Wills can, with certain hope, know they will receive the substance of the promise given because they have the evidence of the promised substance. The writer of this Letter to the Hebrews now exhorts his readers to turn from this cloud of witnesses and look upon Jesus, the Substance of the evidence they with certainty hoped for.
The actual writer of this Letter is unknown, and any attempt by us to identify the author would draw attention away from the Author. It is generally accepted that this Letter was written during times of great anxiety and uncertainty leading to the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple by the Legions of Rome. At this time many disciples of the Lord, who were facing great persecution from the Jews and certain death from the coming conflict with the Romans, were doubting the truth of the evidence of the substance they had hoped for - `Better a life now than the hope of one to come' . . . `At least we are surrounded by our own kind'. `Not so', said the writer, `since you are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses of your own kind who once faced what you are facing now'! (11:39-40)
" These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received (the substance of the evidence) what had been promised. God had planned something better (the substance of the evidence) for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.",
`Therefore . . .' This is a strong, forceful emphatic word inferring a conclusion to a discussion based on evidence and substance - look not only to the witnesses but to the Author and Finisher of their faith, Jesus, our Evidence and Substance, so that the past cloud of witnesses together with us will be made perfect in Him! Reading through the names of those written of in chapter 11 we can see that those witnesses all had their own unique but different paths on which their faith was tested - even to the point of not receiving the promise they had walked so faithfullly towards! But one thing they knew . . . they had heard from God, and here in chapter 11 which is, so to speak, the `Title Deed of the Covenant' there is an `Appendix' to that Title Deed, a listing of those who have been commended for their faith, not yet seen by them but certain in their hope. Little wonder, then, that after the writer to the Hebrews had listed their names he wrote, `Therefore!
We turn now to Psalm 68 and will spend time looking at those `unique but different paths' of the cloud of witnesses, and whilst considering their different paths consider their gift of faith they outworked during their journey. Psalm 68 is set in the Second Book of Psalms, which reminds us that the Psalms in this Book are concerning an `exodus', a deliverance, saving them from slavery. Throughout this collection of Psalms we find that not only do they speak propheticaly of salvation but they all speak of Salvation through a Messiah. Furthermore we see in the concluding inscription of this Psalm the words `entrusted to the Chief Musician on Shoshannim (or Lilies)', which confirms this Psalm to be concerned with salvation through a coming Messiah on Passover - which the Lilies pointed to. The Lily, a Spring flower, and the pomegranate, an Autumn fruit, were seen everywhere in the Temple in Jerusalem, a reminder of the Substance of the Evidence of the Promise - a (Spring) Passover and an (Autumn) Tabernacles. There is a most beautiful prayer of Esdras from the Book of Esdras in the Apocrypha - which although not inspired Scripture is certainly inspired through deep emotional trust in the Covenant of God. It reads:
" O LORD, Who rules over all the woods of the earth, and the trees in them. You have chosen Your One Vine and of all the lands of the world You have chosen one country, and of all the flowers of the world, one Lily, and amongst all the peoples You have called one people. Now, O LORD, why have You given this one people over to the many?"
This prayer is seen in essence in the inspired Psalm 68, and the substance of the evidence of those witnesses is seen in the exhortation of Hebrews 12: `Therefore . . . . looking unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith'.
Within this Second Book of Psalms there is a collection of eight Psalms - Psalm 61 to Psalm 68 - which numbering gives us the understanding of Resurrection Life through Redemption. Psalm 61 opens up the collection with the words `A Psalm of David'. In Hebrew the word `Psalm' is written as `Mizmor' which has a meaning of `deep meditation upon what follows' and this concerns David: (KJV)
" Hear my cry, O God. Attend to my prayer. From the ends of the earth
will I cry to You. Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I. "
David's cry and his meditation leads him to David's Greater Son, the Messiah, the Salvation of Israel, and he continues that he will wait for Him: (v4)
" I will abide in Your Tabernacle for ever (the Tent that David had built on Mount Zion whilst waiting for salvation from Absoloms' rebellion). I will trust in the shelter of your wings. Selah "
Psalms 62 though to Psalm 68 have this same sense of waiting with certainty of the promise of salvation. This now brings us to Psalm 68, where we see that to the Inscription there has been added the word `song' - in Hebrew `shur' with the meaning that David's meditation had given him the assurance of salvation to come. This leads to a joyful song, a `shur': `Let God arise, may His enemies be scattered'. Furthermore, his words are entrusted `to the Chief Musician' to be sung at a future Passover through the Messiah of Israel, David's Greater Son!
We can see the depth of that joyful song which has yet to be sung when the LORD saves His people who will be waiting for Him at the `Time of Jacob's Trouble': (v 24-26)
" They (God's enemies) have seen Your procession;
O God, even the procession of my God, my King in the Sanctuary.
The singers went before, the players on instruments;
following and amongst them are the damsels playing timbrels.
Bless God in the congregation, even the LORD in the assembly of Israel. "
This refers to the promises given to Abraham, the outpouring of all the promises given to Israel through the faithful witness of Abraham. `By faith', says the writer to the Hebrews, `Abraham when called . . . went out not knowing where he was to go . . . . for he looked for a city with foundations whose builder and maker is God' (Hebrews 11). In verse 18 of Psalm 68 we see the promises for which Israel was waiting:
" You have ascended on high; You have made captivity
captive. You have received gifts for men. "
The remainder of the verse points to the rebellious Israelites and priests who would not accept David as king over all Israel, and it reveals David's gracious heart towards them and pointing forward to the Gentile people who would later be called into the commonwealth of Israel by God's Grace and Mercy: `Yes, from the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell amongst them' - and so draw from the Fountain of the Promises given to Abraham. However we need to return to the first part of verse 18:
" You have ascended on high; You have made captivity
captive. You have received gifts for men. "
Here this is a direct reference to David who ascended on high, up onto the high mountain, to Zion, taking the Ark of the Covenant and placing it in his `Tent', but it also points forward to David's Greater Son's ascension into Heaven to sprinkle His Blood on the Mercy Seat which covered the Ark of the Covenant (as seen in Hebrews 9). `You have made captivity captive' is an expression, a `metonymy', a literary word where in the use of words one is of secondary importance to the other and emphasises the importance of the other. In the case of Psalm 68 the prime word is `captivity', and as it is used here in the Second Book of Psalms it speaks of those who have been set free by the `ascension on high'. The remainder of the first part of this verse now tells of the `who' and the `why'.
First the `why': It is because He has `ascended on high'. As to the `who': It is the LORD Who is amongst them as He once was in Sinai - the Hebrews, now freed from slavery in Egypt have received their deliverance, their salvation. This points to the `Old Testament' saints (as shown in Hebrews 11) for `You have received gifts for men'. Here there is the use of the Hebrew word `Lakeh', which can either mean `to receive' or `to give' - that is, to receive a gift from a giver, or to give a gift to someone - the context of the writing determines the meaning. Here in Psalm 68 the Israelites have received their gift of `salvation' . . .they have been freed from `captivity' through their acceptance of David as king, all pointing forward to David's Greater Son, Jesus. This is seen in the Letter to the Hebrews where we read: (Hebrews 9:15)
" For this reason (the sprinkled blood of Christ on the Mercy Seat) Christ is the Mediator of the New Covenant, that by means of His death for the redemption of sins that were committed under the first Covenant, they who are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. "
This is also seen in the closing verses of Hebrews chapter 11: (verse 39)
" And these all (the people listed) having received a good report, through faith did not (at that time) receive the Promise, God having provided something better for us that they together with us should be made perfect. Therefore . . . ".
As we have said previously `therefore' is a strong emphatic word inferring a conclusion of a discussion raised on evidence and substance. The Psalms in the Second Book of Psalms all refer to deliverance, that is, salvation through a Messiah. The Israelites who have received their gift of `salvation' through their trust in David - again pointing forward to the Messiah Jesus - and who are waiting for what they have by faith received, will be made perfect with us who have followed and trusted in David's Greater Son, our Lord Jesus. We ask your thoughtful forbrearance on the rather lengthy and wordy exergesis of this one verse of Psalm 68 and we shall now turn to chapter 4 of Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians where we find again this verse recorded.
The Epistle of Ephesians corresponds with the second of the three great Pilgrim Feasts of Leviticus 23 which all Israelite men were commanded to attend, the Feast of Pentecost, which in Jewish understanding is the closing Feast of Passover. Therefore the two Pilgrim Feasts of Passover and Pentecost and the Pauline Epistles of Romans and Ephesians are compounded into one, which lead on to the third Feast of Tabernacles and Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians. (This `Ephesian' Feast of Pentecost leads us immediately to the Acts of the Apostles where on that day the disciples and those who responded to Peter's proclamation received the gift of the Holy Spirit.) And so to Ephesians chapter 4 where we find that the wording in verse 8 corresponds to what is recorded in Psalm 68, with one small significant alteration. Psalm 68 records `You have received gifts (of salvation) for men', whereas Ephesians 4 records this as `He gave gifts to men (for service) until all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God' - New Testament saints have received their salvation and are `partakers' of His (Christ's) Divine Nature'. Verse 9:
" And He (David's Greater Son) Who ascended first, descended to the lower parts of the earth (and became man). He that descended is the same also that ascended up far beyond the heavens that He might fill all things (and now gives His gifts to men for them to continue His work amongst His ancient people, and since that Pentecost to the Gentiles also)" Ephesians 4 opens with an exhortation from Paul, a prisoner of the Lord, beseeching that after receiving our salvation and having been given gifts to continue His work, `we walk worthy of the vocation to which we were called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, forebearing one another in love'. Verse 11 continues with the Gifts given by the Lord Jesus `for the perfecting of the saints'. These gifts are not titles for men to use but gifts for service. The gift of Apostle is not, as is so often said, for planting new churches for Paul's primary work was to pass on to the Assemblies of Believers the revelation given him by Jesus and to pass this on to reliable men to teach the true faith. The gift to evangelise was for the proclamation that salvation was through Jesus alone. The gift of shepherd was for the care of the whole Flock and the prophet would speak the prophetic Word for correction and encouragement.
That unity is seen in verses 4 to 6 where Paul lists seven `ones' (seven being a sacred number in Hebrew, for `on the seventh day God ended his work . . . and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it'). The verses begin with three `ones' - one Body, one Spirit and one Hope, all centered on the fourth One Lord. These are followed by three ones - one Faith, one Baptism, all compounded into the final one, `One God and Father of us all, Who is above all and through all and in all'. Make what you will of such deliberate words of Scripture, but as we read with `Greek' eyes and minds we must remember that Paul, who wrote this Epistle under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was totally writing with the mind of a Jewish Rabbi and steeped in Hebraic thought - his part of the `New Covenant'.
We have `travelled far' in this short Letter - from Hebrews to the Psalms and on into Ephesians, mentioning in passing Peter's Second Letter. We have seen in them all God's great Mercy and Grace for those who trusted Him without seeing the Promises given but who are waiting for their salvation to be made manifest together with us (Hebrews 11:40). However we see in the concluding verses of Hebrews 12 a reference to Haggai's prophecy: `Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but all heaven'. This verse, so beloved by modern-day prophets, refers of course to a tribulation, a judgement against wickedness. However as we have seen in this Letter, words of judgement need to be tempered with God's Mercy and Grace for many of His ancient people. The `144,000 from all the tribes of Israel' (Revelation 7) will bring to fulfillment those words seen in Psalm 68 as they give out the Good News of the salvation they have received and so complete the Messiah's work on earth.
The `times' of the Lord are not in accordance with man's time, neither is man's `grace and mercy' in accordance with God's Righteous acts, for in His Grace and Mercy `all Israel will be saved'.
Selah
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