FROM EARTH TO HEAVEN -AN OUTLINE OF THE RACE IN HEBREWS
Paul, the author of the epistle to the Hebrews *1 was a most remarkable man. He was perhaps the greatest man in the New Testament as Moses was the greatest man in the Old Testament. What constituted their greatness? Paul, through a superlative theological education, became a rabbi of rabbis Moses, educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, had a great future before him in Pharaoh's court. Was this what made Paul and Moses great then? No. They were great because they gave up all this world had to offer its religion and its politics and served God. Because they acted in faith God re-educated them in the desert. It was a divine education to prepare them for the fall of everything in which they had once trusted and to offer them something better. Moses lived to see the end of Pharaoh's power at the Red Sea Paul's life ended just before the destruction of the temple and the religious system of the Jews.
At the time Hebrews was written the Jewish Christians in the land of Israel were clinging to the law of Moses and the religious customs centering around the temple in Jerusalem. They did not understand that Moses' ministry was the shadow of things to come Paul's, because he wrote of Christ, the substance. God permitted this, but it was His mind that eventually His people should break with the system of Judaism and come on to Christian ground. God therefore chose Paul, a man versed in the religion of the Jews more than others of his time, to address this question. Hebrews reflects this, for it is really a treatise. It was badly needed, for the Christian Jews, particularly in Jerusalem, were almost indistinguishable from other Jews. They had their own synagogues, circumcised their sons, and attended the temple services. Indeed many believers were priests in the temple *2. Paul knew that it was incongruous for Christians to offer an animal in sacrifice at the temple and then go to their synagogues for the Lord's Supper. So the timing of the epistle was of God. Christ had come and gone and the memory of His life, death and resurrection was still fresh to many of Paul's readers. The epistle was written in 63 A.D., four years before Paul's death and seven years before the temple in Jerusalem was razed by Titus. Paul knew that the destruction of the temple would be an irreparable blow to the Jewish religion. He also knew this was soon to happen from the Lord's own words "Verily I say to you there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down" Matt. 24:22And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. (Matthew 24:2).
Knowing that the temple must soon fall Paul wrote to those in Israel who professed Christ so they might cut off their ancient Jewish moorings and transfer their affections to their absent Messiah in glory. To do this he takes them back, not to the temple, but to their spiritual beginning the tabernacle in the desert where their fathers worshipped God. His purpose in doing this was to draw their attention to a spiritual tabernacle and Christ's services for them in it as their great high priest. Their ancient religion was based on the principle of sight. The house of God was visible to them. So was their high priest. Christianity however has a contrasting principle, faith, because it attracts the heart to unseen things. Hebrews is full of contrasts between the old and the new. In the tabernacle, for example, there were no seats for the priests. That was because the sacrifices offered there could not put away sins, so the work of the priests never ended. But in Hebrews we see Christ sitting down, not only because of the glory of His Person, but because of His finished work 3. Our rest is in Him and His work.
Moses begins Genesis with the words "in the beginning, God" Paul simply begins Hebrews with "God." Paul is writing to the Hebrews, a people to whom God has made Himself known and to whom He links Himself by claiming that God has spoken to "us." It is "our" sins which are purged. Thus the opening words fail to identify either the writer or his readers, but begin a process of suggesting who both are. As we advance in the epistle we will be able to establish both to our satisfaction. For the present we simply state our belief that this treatise was written by Paul to the Hebrews as a nation but more specifically to those in the nation who had made a profession of belief in Christ. This profession could be true or false. A false profession was based on the old Jewish principle of sight they saw the miracles which Jesus did, they ate the loaves and fishes. But this did not last, for many walked no more with Him John 6:6666From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. (John 6:66). In the same nation there were other people "born of water and the spirit." It is to this mixed company of false professors and true believers Paul is writing, and it is critical to the understanding of Hebrews to see this. It is a key to some of the otherwise obscure passages in this book, warning of the danger of not continuing to the end and the numerous clauses beginning with "if." These are warnings to hold the readers responsible for the truth Christ communicated to them when He taught Israel. They are warnings of the consequences of letting the truth slip away. Paul's readers then are viewed as the congregation of God but a mixed congregation. So neither Church truth nor Israel's temple are subjects in Hebrews. Rather the Hebrews are looked at like Israel gathered around the tabernacle in the desert. At that time the congregation had been saved by the Passover lamb's bloodshed in Egypt, but rebels arose who preferred to walk in their own ways.
Their fathers had rebelled at God's goodness. In the desert they wanted to return to the iron furnace of Egypt out of which He had redeemed them, rather than marching on to the promised land. In spite of this the people went into the Red Sea and out of the Jordan, fulfilling the purposes of God for them. He made known His ways for them between these events during their stay in the desert. God appointed the desert as a school for them so they could learn both their evil hearts and the goodness of the heart of God. Paul wants his readers to think of their position as analogous to their fathers in the desert. They left it behind and marched on to the Promised Land. Let the Hebrews then, leave the desert of this world behind for a better goal a heavenly land. This prize is so much better than the promised earthly land, that getting to it is not to be a march like Israel's, but a race. A race implies urgency, a keen desire to reach the finishing line, and a reward at the end. The race from earth to heaven is the theme of the epistle to the Hebrews.