Irene In Christ

As we read Heb 3 and 4, it is natural to ponder a few questions.  Can we enter into this rest of God? Sounds so mysterious, is it even possible? Source: Internet Perhaps it is worthwhile and helpful to ask the other question instead: "Why some could not enter God's rest?"  Heb 3:16-19 gives us a glimpse. For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses. Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?  And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?  So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. The key words are in verse 18 and 19: "Did not obey" (disobedience) and "unbelief".  (Heb 4:6 also tells us that th ose to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience. ) There is a process leading up to this unbelief and disobedience. It doesn't happen just like that. From He...

Source: Internet Rest.  A word that has eluded me for a long time.  Years ago, I set out to find out what God has to say about rest in the Bible. And I found myself repeatedly drawn back to this topic or truth ever since.  To say that I have felt as though I had been playing hide and seek with 'rest' would not be an understatement. Each time I felt like I had found her, I doubted if it really was 'rest' that I had found. And most of the time, I would lose her again not long after.  It wasn't so much that rest was hiding from me, rather it was that I didn't recognise her. Or didn't know how to keep/ retain her. Do you, perhaps, feel that way too sometime?  In the OT, a lot of time, when the Bible speaks of rest, it speaks about a place, a time or a state/condition of rest.  Usually signifying an absence of turmoil or adversary. Most of the time, the Hebrew word translated as rest were nuah, menuha, manoah, which means to rest, repose (verb) or resting place,...

Son of Man (Dan 7:13, Mark 10:45) Son of God (Isa 9:6, Luke 1:35) Man’s brethren (Heb 2:11, 12, 17) Man’s captain of salvation (Heb 2:10) He is Jesus The One who took on (2:16 KJV) The form of a bondservant (Phil 2:7) The seed of Abraham (Heb 2:16, KJV) Coming in the likeness of men (Phil 2:7) He is Jesus Given unto us (Isa 9:6) Born unto us (Isa 9:6) Made like us (Heb 2:17) One with us (2:11) He is Jesus Alpha and Omega (Rev 22:13) Beginning and End (Rev 22:13) First and Last (Rev 22:13) Outside of time He is Jesus Yet for a little while (Heb 2:9 NLT) He took not on Him the nature of angels (Heb 2:16 KJV) He was made a little lower than them (Heb 2:9) He did not cling to equality with God (Phil 2:6 NLT) He is Jesus He became flesh and blood (Heb 2:14) For it was only so that He could die (Heb 2:14) He became obedient to the point of death (Phil 2:8) For it was only so that He could destroy the devil (Heb 2:14) He is Jesus Yes, He suffered (Heb 2:10) He tasted death (Heb 2:9) Even the ...

The book of Hebrews was written to a group of Jewish Christians. A group who were originally deeply rooted in Judaism, but had now believed in Jesus Christ. Picture a Jew who grew up in the old covenant. Who has heard, learned and lived the old covenant all of his life. Up until the moment he believed in Christ and chose to follow after Him.  Now, the book of Hebrews was written to a people who were eagerly anticipating Christ' return and had, perhaps, grown a little discouraged.  Waiting does that to us sometimes, doesn't it? The author wrote Hebrews to remind this group of people in waiting of one truth - what they have is far better than what they had - and to urge them not to go back.  In short, the author was appealing to these Christians not to go back to Judaisam.  And I thought of how someone could have written the same to us: Do not neglect the salvation and turn back to buddhism, hinduism, taoism... (Even atheism, for that matter.)  Do not neglect nor...

This blog entry is also titled "The 2nd Veil - The World". (If you can recall, the first veil is our logic. I wrote about it  here .) As I was in a Bible study with a group of brothers and sisters studying Heb 1, our teacher urged us to take time until we can know with certainty in our inner man that Jesus is God.  As I read that urging, I I asked myself (and the Holy Spirit): 'What is hindering us from this knowing?'  'A little lower' was what I heard. At the first instance, I thought of 'a little lower than the angels', which is from Psa 8 and Heb 2. But I instinctively knew that that's not it. What the Holy Spirit was trying to tell me, was that one of the veils hindering us from seeing Jesus (as who He is, for who He is) is that we have, sadly, deemed the Son to be a little lower than the Father.  Jesus the Son a little lower than God the Father. Could it be that we have been so used to the world's ways of hierarchy that we have come to see...

O, seed of Abraham (2:16), partakers of flesh and blood (2:14) made a little lower than the aggelos messenger (2:7) a little lower than Elohīm (Psa 8:5) You are on God’s mind (2:6) You are in His loving care (2:6) How could this be? I could not fathom. You are enosh, ben adam (Psa 8:5) On your head, a crown of glory and honor (2:7) Under your feet, all things in subjection (2:7, 8) (Gen 1:28) Yet alas, we do not yet see it so (2:8) Tempted (2:18), fearing death (2:17) You subject yourself to bondage (2:15) You are not free (2:15) To be over the works of God’s hands (2:7) You needed propitiation (2:17) for your sins (2:17) Who will release you? Who will set you free? Could it be Jesus? Who was made a little lower than the angels (2:9) Who shared in the same, of flesh and blood (2:14) Who was made like you and I (2:17) He who is the sacrifice (2:17) Tasted death like you and I (2:9) He who took on Abraham (2:16) Helped you and I (2:18) He who sanctifies (2:11) Is He who sets free (2:15) ...

I wrote about our Bible study on Hebrews, expounding on 'Jesus is God' and my reflection on the 'wedding veil' over our hearts in my earlier post   here .  Not exactly the kind of veil that the Apostle Paul wrote about to the Corinthians Church in 2 Cor.  2 Cor 3:13-16  Unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Truly that veil has been taken away and lifted in Christ.  The veil I was talking about was the veil of flesh, worldly thinking, pride, traditions, religion...Things which hinder us from receiving revelation from the Lord and from fully knowing Him.  I went jogging with ...