In today’s verses, Paul turns from describing our great position of security in Christ where nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:39) to expressing his deep concern for his own people, the Jews, God’s chosen ones. The depths of Paul’s love for them seemingly have no limits to the point he says he would see himself accursed for their sake. He goes on to explain the heritage of the house of Israel, giving a brief history of their relationship with God. He wants people to realize the Jews have been in the constant line of God’s blessing. They have received the divine glory. God made covenants with them and gave them the law. They are the ones who have gone to the temple to worship God and believed in his promises. All of the patriarchs of old were blessed by God as well as the prophets who looked for the coming Messiah, who is God over all. Now Paul’s heart breaks for them, for they, who should be first in the family of believers, are outside of the sheepfold, believing Christ is not their long awaited King. They have rejected God’s gift and his plan for salvation, just as they failed to enter the Promised Land so long ago through hearts of unbelief. When the writer of Hebrews discusses the need to fully embrace Christ, he describes the children of Israel and says, So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. (Hebrews 3:19) Now, Paul see that this same lack of faith is keeping most of the Jewish people from entering the rest of God sent to them through his Son, Jesus. He is the One who looked upon his beloved people and said, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30) Such love and compassion poured out to a hurting people, yet they did not turn wholeheartedly to him, did not enter into his rest.
The nation of Israel was not looking for a Savior who would provide peace and rest. The discussion in Hebrews of the Jews’ failure to enter the Promised Land goes on to tell the people not to harden their hearts but to listen to God’s voice: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. (Hebrews 4:7) With the coming of Christ, the same thing was happening. People were not receiving what God had provided. They wanted a king who would deliver them from bondage to the Romans. They desired a strong leader who would take control of their lives and improve their situation. When Jesus performed the miracle of feeding the people, they went looking for him on the other side of the lake. He told them, Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. (John 6:26-27) He goes on to tell then that God wants them to believe in him, but Jesus knew they were not willing to take up the cross and follow him. They were looking for earthly satisfaction—to have their fleshly needs met. They did not recognize the Messiah because He did not fulfill their preconceived ideas. He was not the warrior deliverer they expected. He was the Son of God who opened the scroll in the temple and read, He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18-19) Jesus was always about doing the Father’s business. He said, Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. (John 14:9) He came in the name of the Father to do the Father’s will, but the people did not understand or accept him. Only those who called upon his name and received him found the freedom that He offered. He did not come to war against the Romans, but He came to defeat sin and death. After Christ’s resurrection from the grave, every believer can declare, Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? (1 Corinthians 15:55) This is where Christ fought his battle; this is where He won the victory over our enemies. Jesus paid no heed to Rome except to say, pay Caesar his due at tax time. He told the people, Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28) Jesus died to save souls from hell, to rescue the perishing. This is our message, our anthem, our praise forever.
Paul was able to preface his declaration of love for his people with this phrase: I speak the truth in Christ. He probably felt compelled to profess the honesty of his thoughts because his profession of love for his brethren was so strong. How many of us could say that we willingly would be cursed and cut off from the family of God so that someone else could be saved? This might be easier said than done: an eternity in hell to save another? Yet Paul says, I am not lying. Set aside giving your life for another, and just think about loving others for a moment. What is it to really love one another? Last week we used the scripture where Jesus said that people would know we are his disciples by our love for each other. Is our love so obvious, so apparent, that people recognize us as Christians? John wrote, We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Then he goes on to say, This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. (1 John 3:14 & 16) John is speaking of a total commitment, a total giving of ourselves to the wellbeing of others. Is this a thought that is constantly before us or a desire we ask God to place in our hearts? When we were raising our five children, we told them that the guideline for our family was to treat each other as we wanted to be treated. This was a statement that we could have prefaced with Paul’s statement. We could have said: I speak the truth in Christ that I want to treat my brother or sister as I want to be treated. This statement covered just about everything that came up in our family. God worked on our hearts as we considered each other’s needs. We desired to treat our children as we wanted to be treated. We tried to do to them what we hoped they would do to us and to others. We might say, “I am sorry you felt so angry, but is that how you want to be treated? How could you have done that differently? Why don’t you think about what happened and pray about it. The Lord will help you do better next time.” Of course there was more than that involved. Grace centered parenting takes time and effort. But Jesus is the center and his Word is our guide. We have seen a harvest of the fruit of the Spirit in our children’s lives and now in our grandchildren. Jesus is our peace, and entering into his rest provides what we need in every situation. When we come to him by faith, He is our Promised Land, our resting place, all we will ever need. We leave you with these powerful words: There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:9-11) As the Jews had a great inheritance and history before Christ, so do all who claim Jesus as Savior and Lord. We trace our lineage from him when He gave his life for us at the cross. He made us part of his family. May we all enter in today.
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