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The meat of the word, part 8

The book of Hebrews provides us with the meat of the word that was most important in the early church. The main focus is upon the differences between Old Covenant religious practice and that of the New Covenant. The Old Covenant had failed in the case of Israel, resulting in their exile among the nations. It was about to fail again in the case of the remnant of Judah which had returned from Babylon 500 years earlier.

The imminent destruction of Jerusalem and Judah’s exile from the land was soon to be the final failure of that covenant. Up to this time, the Jews assumed that God would never allow Jerusalem to be destroyed, nor its temple razed to the ground. Many also assumed that Judah was the inheritor of the birthright that Israel had possessed, although most of the rabbis believed that the Israelites would eventually be reunited with Judah in the old land.

This belief, of course, was complicated when Judah too was cast out by the Romans. Even so, the Jews continued to pray for their reunification, presumably at the coming of the Messiah.

Meanwhile, many of the Christians themselves had already been exiled on account persecution directed at them by the temple authorities. The church in Jerusalem appears to be small, even though Acts 6:7 says,

⁷ The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.

No doubt many of these were among those “scattered” (Acts 8:1). The book of Hebrews filled the most pressing need in those days, for it sought to prevent the Jewish Christians from being re-absorbed into Judaism. In fact, it was not until the destruction of the temple that the meat of the word was proven not only to be true but a practical necessity as well. If one could no longer worship at the temple in Jerusalem, and if the daily sacrifices had ceased, then how was God to be worshiped?

The Jews themselves faced the same dilemma and had to modify their worship, modeling it after that which had been done in the synagogues, where animal sacrifice was not done. After a brief and final attempt to reestablish the nation of Judah in the Bar Kochba revolt (132-135 A.D.), the rabbis settled on the view that they should not try to return to the land until the coming of the Messiah. Of course, they looked for a messiah other than Jesus.

Christians and Jews alike had to adjust to the new reality, and Christians, I think, were better prepared to make those adjustments with the help of the book of Hebrews.

In difficult times, it would take strong faith to survive. Those who failed to understand the meat of the word would be most vulnerable. Today, having seen the rise of Zionism, we face similar circumstances once again, and so it is important that we too digest the meat in the book of Hebrews.

Modern Types and Shadows

There are spiritual events that take place without the knowledge of the general public. God deals with both individuals and nations. In dealing with a nation, however, the question is how God determines the overall heart of the nation. Better yet, how are we to know? In my early years of training, I learned that God often presents us with local situations involving individuals who are raised up as spokesmen for a larger group, whether this be the church or the nation. Such people can be seen as prophetic types in the same way that men and women in the Old Testament are types of something greater than themselves.

Such types did not cease when Jesus died on the cross. If we discern such types by revelation, we may again get glimpses into the spiritual realm that clarify prophecies of judgment and blessing. I saw many cases where an individual pastor was called to be a spokesman for the church. God would raise him up, for instance, when the church as a whole was called to respond to the word of the Lord. His decision, God said, would not merely be his own but would reflect the heart of the church as a whole.

The Parable of the Nobleman

The parable of the nobleman in Luke 19:12-27 shows this.

¹² So He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. ¹³ And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, “Do business with this until I come back.” ¹⁴ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, “We do not want this man to reign over us.”

The nobleman is Jesus Christ, who ascended to heaven “to receive a kingdom for himself and then return.” His slaves, or servants, were given responsibilities to conduct normal business until He returned at the end of the age. The “citizens,” however, filed their case in the divine court objecting to His right to be the King of the kingdom. The citizens, obviously, were the citizens of Judea who rejected Jesus as the Messiah-King.

Did the Jews formally appeal to God after Jesus ascended to heaven? It is not likely, because they were unaware of these things. Yet perhaps there was an unknown individual who had the authority to pray and appeal the case to the divine court. We cannot say for sure, but we know that God often does such things. As Christians, we know about this dispute during Jesus’ earthly ministry, but we know about the divine court case only because Jesus told this parable.

About 70 years earlier, Herod had gone to Rome to get Caesar’s approval for him to be the king of Galilee. There were delegations sent after him to object to his desire for the throne, but eventually, he received the approval and backing of Rome. He then returned but had to fight to obtain the crown. This is the origin of the Herodian dynasty.

When Jesus told this parable, the people were familiar with this legal process. Jesus applied it to Himself and to His claim to the throne of the Kingdom. The parable includes those citizens who objected to His claim to be the Messiah. When he returned, the nobleman’s slaves received rewards according to the manner in which they did business with the money entrusted to them. The parable ends like this in Luke 19:27,

²⁷ But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.

This is a prophecy for the end of the age in which we now live. His “enemies” were to be brought “here” to the old land, where they were to be slain. Here we see a prophecy of Zionism and its purpose. The Zionist Jews themselves had their own reasons for immigrating to that land, but God had a different purpose.

Those Jews who remain true to the rabbinical decision centuries ago, saying that they should not return prior to the coming of the Messiah, will be spared this catastrophe. Those who return to that land under Zionism are of a number sufficient to fulfill the prophecy of destruction.

Since October 2023, we are now seeing events building up toward this climactic destruction.

Jerusalem’s Destruction

I have often written about this, because it is one of the most important prophecies for our day. In my view, such biblical teaching is part of the meat of the word that is hard for many to digest.

Jeremiah prophesied of Israel and Judah in Jeremiah 18 and 19. In Jeremiah 18:1-10 God compared Israel to a piece of wet clay that was in the hand of a potter. The potter’s first attempt created a defective clay jar, but because the clay was yet pliable, he was able to beat it down and start over.

Then God, through the prophet, turned his attention to Judah and Jerusalem, beginning with Jeremiah 18:11,

¹¹ So now, then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you’”….

What follows in the rest of chapter 18 is a long list of sins that they had been committing. Then the prophet was told to find an old jar—not wet clay—that would serve as a type of Judah and Jerusalem. Jeremiah 19:1, 2 says,

¹ Thus says the Lord, “Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jar, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests. ² Then go out to the valley of Ben-hinnom [or Gehenna in Greek], which is by the entrance of the potsherd gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you.”

After condemning the city, we read in Jeremiah 19:10, 11,

¹⁰ Then you are to break the jar in the sight of the men who accompany you ¹¹ and say to them, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Just so will I break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired’”….

This is God’s declaration and verdict. When a jar is smashed, it is fit only to be cast into Gehenna near the potsherd gate. (Potsherds are pieces of broken pottery.) God promises to break this jar in such a way that it “cannot again be repaired.”

Jerusalem was destroyed in Jeremiah’s day, but it was rebuilt after the Babylonian captivity. The city was again destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., but it was rebuilt afterward. Therefore, Jeremiah’s prophecy has yet to be fulfilled in a final way. That brings us to the present day at the end of the age, and this corresponds to Jesus’ prophetic parable about slaying the citizens who had sought to keep Him from His rightful place as the King.

To many, this is strong meat that they cannot digest because they are still drinking milk. But we who love the meat of the word will not be surprised when these prophecies are fulfilled. Neither will we be caught supporting those citizens who hate the true King. We see, then, how important it is to understand the changes in the law in regard to the worship that was being conducted in Jerusalem. It was important to the early church, and it is important to us today.