HIDDEN TREASURE

HIDDEN TREASURE

                “You are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. Not that we are adequate  in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God who also made us adequate as servants of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” 2 Cor. 3:3-6 parts

                I have often pondered this subject of the Law. Paul wrestles with it throughout his writings often distancing himself from it and anathematizing it on one hand, while on the other hand admitting that it is holy and righteous and good. So just what is it that Paul is wrestling with and why is it that so many Christians fall on one side of the argument or the other and only a few  arrive in the middle where the truth actually lies?

                I believe that the kingpin of the whole issue lies in the issue of the Sabbath, or at least this is the easiest way to explain Paul’s struggle. Hebrews chapter 4 deals with this very issue and it is one that is often misunderstood both by Sabbath keepers and non-Sabbath keepers alike. Paul says:

                “Therefore, let us fear lest while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.  For indeed we have had good news (the Gospel) preached to us just as they also; (Those who came out of Egypt Heb. 3:16) but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.” Heb. 4:1-2.

                In order to rightly understand this passage of scripture in Hebrews 4, we have to rightly understand the context in which it was written… who Paul was writing to and what His argument really was:

1.       Paul is here writing to the Hebrews. They were Sabbath keepers and well acquainted with all Jewish laws, but evidently they were among those that kept pushing Old Covenant laws upon New Covenant saints and Paul wants them to understand the difference between the Old Covenant and the New.

2.       Here in these verses Paul wants us to know that God wanted to give them REST there at Mt. Sinai, but they failed to enter into that REST. They had accepted the Law written on stone, but they had rejected the voice of God that could have given them the REST that the law could only point to. It was a REST from their own works and trust in His work.

3.       But Israel rejected His voice (that could have come with His Spirit and power) and they left Sinai, having made promises to Him. (“All that the Lord has said we will do”) rather than His promises to them. (“Come unto Me and I will give you rest.”)

                Then Paul in verse 3 goes on to explain saying “For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said.” In other words, those who embraced the Good News of the Gospel have entered that REST as God had intended it. That is to say, they listened to God’s voice and they received His Spirit and they trusted in God’s works rather than their own works and they have entered into the REST that the Law could only point to.

                In verse 4 Paul refers to this failure on their part saying: “For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day, “And God rested on the seventy day from all His works” and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.” Heb. 4:4, 5.

                Do we really get what Paul is saying here? They ended up with a Sabbath day written on stone, but they had rejected His voice, therefore Sabbath or not, they would not enter His REST.

                Now in verse 6 Paul assures us that the REST remains for those who will enter it by faith, but many who had the good news formerly preached to them failed because of disobedience. (They had the Law but refused to listen to His voice.)

                Next in verse 7 Paul introduces a new opportunity for those who failed to enter that REST saying: “He again fixes a certain day, “Today.”…”Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.

                Here Paul deals with two things:

1.       This time they must not refuse to hear God’s voice as they did at Sinai.

2.       This time God offers them REST in the ever present NOW. In other words, REST is not in a certain day, but in a relationship with God. We live in that REST all the time. When we enter into Christ, we enter into the REST that the Law was pointing to. It is an omnipresent REST… a state of being that is entered into by faith in God’s works through Jesus Christ and not our own.

3.       Paul explains just this in verses 8- 10 saying. “For if Joshua had given them REST he would not have spoken of another day after that. There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. (And what is that rest?) “For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that REST, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience.” Heb. 4:8-11.

                This then is not over an issue of what day you keep, but whether or not you have entered that REST of which the Law Speaks. If we get it wrong, then the Letter of the Law will kill us… but why?

                It is because in keeping the Sabbath of the letter of the Law we have the illusion that we have entered into the REST that the Law Talks about, but the Sabbath of the letter cannot give you REST. True REST in fact comes only as we enter into Christ and there we rest from our own works as God did from His. It is not Christ plus Sabbath… it is Christ alone. It is not Christ plus our works… It is Christ alone. But again we must understand the dynamics of that REST or we will surely fall into false grace as we are seeing it today.

                Then Paul goes on to tell us to be diligent about entering into that rest. Isn’t it sort of strange to tell someone to be diligent about entering into rest? Do you rest at night by diligently entering into bed? Don’t you enter into rest simply by falling back and resting? Yes and no. But this is where Romans 8 comes into play. This kind of REST must be entered into diligently.

                “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was in the flesh, God did; sending His own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not WALK according to the flesh, but (WALK) according to the Spirit.

                So the issue is not about which day we keep. The issue is about whether or not we have entered the REST. But it is not a passive REST. We must actively die to the Law and to the flesh in order that we might live by the Spirit. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the surpassing power might be of God and not of ourselves.” 2 Cor. 4:7. That “Treasure” become our new source of power.

                There is one thing that a truly born again and Spirit filled person comes to understand: When we live in the Spirit and not in the flesh, this is not some part- time gig. We don’t live in the Spirit one day a week and in the flesh the rest of the week. In Christ all of life has become holy. “In Him we live and move and have our being.” In Him we now live in the ever present “Today.”

                This is not a Sabbath verses Sunday issue. The question is this: Has your life become holy? Have you entered that REST? Do you have that “Treasure in you earthen vessel? If so then you have entered into the REST. If not then you have not entered that REST regardless of what day you keep.

                “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” Rom. 8:8, 9

                Those who put their faith in the Sabbath: Are you holding that up before God as your ticket to heaven? It will mean nothing to Him unless you have entered the REST that the Sabbath points to. The Jews of old kept the Sabbath as strictly as can be imagined and yet they never entered His REST.

                The REST is not in a DAY, but in a PERSON. “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” Rom. 8:14 “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren. And whom He; predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Romans 8:29, 30.

                I come across people on the internet who seem completely obsessed with the Sabbath.  It has become their supreme point of focus and adoration. I sometimes wonder if they have had their encounter with the Holy Spirit.

                Paul said: “for I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” 2 Cor. 11:2, 3. Here Paul has been talking about the war we wage and that the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but of the Spirit. (See 2 Cor. 10:3-5) That is to say that life in the Spirit is not passive, but a battle in which we are learning to wage war in the Spirit rather than in the flesh.

                So, unless we enter into His Sabbath in the right way, by the Spirit and not by the letter, it will become a stumbling block to us, for we will hold up our own works before God, rather than His works.

                The Sabbath day of creation was the only day that was not bracketed by the saying: “And the evening and the morning was the seventh day.” Why. It is because the Sabbath REST of the Lord is not a finite Day, but an omnipresent ”TODAY.” We are either in Christ and therefore in His REST in the ever present TODAY, or we are not… “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” Rom. 8:14 and “The anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.” Rom. 8:19.

                Have you entered that REST? ARE you living by the Spirit of God or by the flesh? Are you pressing forward in Christ in order to be conformed to His image? Or are you hoping that a certain formula of rituals and doctrines will qualify you for sonship?

                 It is a frightful thing to twist scriptures to fit our doctrines, because in doing so, people will innocently place their faith in the wrong things for salvation.  Our REST is not a passive state, but an active putting to death the deeds of the flesh in order to live by His Spirit. We are in a battle in which we must take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and it is an obedience that can only be produced in us by His very Spirit. This is the kind of REST that we have entered, for when Israel finally entered Canaan, their biggest battles were yet ahead and they needed the Lord more than ever.

                The hidden treasure is this: “We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves…” 2 Cor. 4:7 Think on these things.