Erhard Gallos

GYC Conference 2022: Break Forth

The Sabbath

Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Rest in Hebrews 4:9. What Rest is This?

Good morning, my name is Erhard Gallus as you know, and it is nice to see some of our former students from Andrews and some of our current students.

You should not make a statement like that right now here.

Good, So this seminar talks about the Sabbath and I have been asked to speak about the Sabbath in the context of Hebrews as I announced yesterday evening, last night in the context of Hebrews 4, right?

The text there says there remains a rest for the people of God.

So what I want to do with you today, so just to give you an overview, I want to briefly go over chapter 3, Hebrews chapter 3, 4 and then do chapter 10 and see does the Sabbath play somewhere in?

What are the consequences of it, and what does it mean for us today?

Anybody looked over Hebrews 3 or 4 recently?

I see that you are about to say something, sir.

Pose your question right now, and I might address it as I go, or I might address it as I go about yes the nature of Christ okay oh yeah yeah yeah which which pertains to you before right there after after the the rest verses 14 to 16, and then it's picked up again in chapter 5 where Christ was made perfect through suffering.

If I have some time, I'll address that issue as well, no problem.

I mean, we can do a seminar on the book of Hebrews, but then we need a little bit more time.

The person from recent discussions from Manhattan.

The point he made is that it's not mentioned that we have a team in the New Testament.

Reality is, friends, and let's face it, and it's a trist reality that some of our Adventist theologians say we cannot defend the Sabbath from the New Testament, which I think is completely wrong.

Because if we can defend anything from scripture, from the New Testament, but it plays a little bit into what our brother here just said, that we cannot defend the Sabbath from, I mean with other people, right?

Not amongst ourselves, but with other people from the New Testament.

Let's try and see if that is true or not.

All right, so before we do that, let's have a short word of prayer.

We will start and I'll divide it up after I've done with Hebrews 3 and 4 I'll have a session of questions if you guys need something to write down here are pencils come and help yourself or signal me and I throw some pencils out I see somebody comes there and Put your questions down if you think you cannot keep them as long, or raise your hands immediately and I'll take it this way.

But I'll have a break after 3 and 4 and then we'll have the second session on Hebrews chapter 10.

And how does 3 and 4 relate to 10 as well?

So everybody understands what we're going to do, kind of how we break it down and what the purpose of this presentation is, yeah?

So it's basically what I want to do with you today is a little bit of a Bible study.

And I thought, OK, at GYC, it would be appropriate to do Bible studies, right?

Let's have a word of prayer, and then we'll go.

Gracious Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for everybody who is here.

You have brought us safely here, and we thank you for that.

In spite of all the transportation issues that we are facing these days, we give you thanks that we are safely here, that we are in an environment where we can open your world.

We give you thanks, Father, for the peace and freedom we are living in.

We realize it has not always been like that and it most likely will not always be like that.

But for the time being we thank you and we ask that you help us make the most out of it.

To prepare for times that are not as good, as not as favorable towards us, towards Sabbath keepers.

Father, we ask that you guide our spirit with the spirit that inspired those words that are written down in the book of Hebrews, the same spirit to guide us today in the understanding of your word.

We thank you that you will be present, that you guide us, that you lead us, that you help us understand your word, so that we can honor you and we can serve you more faithfully.

We ask and thank you in Christ's name we pray, Amen.

All right, so let's open the Book of Hebrews.

So the Book of Hebrews is the first Catholic.

Some students of mine don't like if I say Catholic epistle.

They say, don't say that, it sounds very Catholic, Catholic in the sense of general epistles.

And the general epistles, like the Pauline epistles, are arranged in the New Testament according to size, to volume, right?

Romans the first, then the Pauline epistles all the way to Philemon, and then the general epistles, Hebrews, the longest, all the way down to Jude.

Yeah, So if you skim over Chapter 1, that's quickly so that I'll give a little bit of context before we go into 3.

So I will do this presentation more in a dialogue, because I don't like the lecture to you because you have eaten well and then I don't want the presentation to be a sleeping pill to put you to sleep yeah I want it to be with me yes sir I saw you yeah yeah go ahead It starts off speaking about the Son and His superiority to the angels.

And to which of the angels did God ever say, sit to my right hand?

Because Christ is superior to the angels.

So in chapter 1 Christ is superior to the angels.

Chapter 2 Christ was made lower than the angels for a while.

And right there in chapter 3, He starts with Moses, a comparison with Moses.

Due to time reasons, I'm not going to go there.

And let's pick it up in verse 7 chapter 3 verse 7 and the question that we want to ask in chapter 3 is what is the rest in chapter 3 because obviously the rest in chapter 3 and in chapter 4 are different.

We want to define first of all what the rest in 3 is before we define what the rest in 4 is.

In chapter 3 it says, and I would have read you but because they are recording it I'll try to read so that they don't have too many gaps in the recordings, yeah?

So, therefore as the Holy Spirit says, and then you probably have a quote where does the quote come from?

Psalm of David the first part is an exhortation to come and worship make a joyful noise to the Lord, and then the second part of this Psalm 95 is a warning, do not harden your hearts as those people in the desert.

And that's where the author of Hebrews picks up and quotes here.

Therefore as the Holy Spirit says, verse 7, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion as On the day of testing in the wilderness Where your ancestors put me to the test though they had seen my works for 40 years therefore I was angry with a generation and I said they always go astray in their hearts and they have not known my ways as In my anger I swore they will not enter my rest end quote new Revised Standard Version for those of you who might wonder what Bible I'm using, New Revised Standard Version.

What is the background to this story, to this Psalm 95?

GYC 2025: Seeing the Invisible

Faith Heroes Persevered as Though They Saw the Invisible

Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac

So we went this morning over who the author, the audience, the different faces the audience encounters.

We went over the context, why Hebrews 11 talks about faith, perseverance at the beginning, perseverance at the end.

We went over what the definition of faith we went over verse 3 create a snehal oh yes or no and then we went over Abel Enoch and Noah and we came all the way to Abram right is that correct do I recall that properly good so before we go on this afternoon we should have a word of prayer again.

So I always see a student of mine from here and there, and that's always good to see some of my students.

I usually remember faces with a seat but you switched.

Anything specific we should pray for and then we'll dive right into Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and then see how far we can go all the way to Moses.

So we just had just talked with somebody and they asked me on Hebrews 4.

So because I wrote my dissertation on Hebrews 4, they were all over the place with Hebrews 4.

Anything else besides the ability to share?

So if that's the case let's pray together and then we'll go into Hebrews chapter 11.

Gracious Heavenly Father we thank you for another opportunity this afternoon to come together to study your work.

Father, after lunch it's not easy to stay awake but we give you thanks that your spirit can work in our minds and in our lives.

We thank you Father for the great hope that you have given us, the encouragement of perseverance, the encouragement of not throwing back, but having faith so that we can be saved.

Father, this afternoon as we are studying your Word, We ask for illumination for ourselves so that we understand what we are talking about.

But we also want to ask for the Holy Spirit to give us the ability so that we can communicate what we just learned here with other people.

Father, at the same time our minds are torn because we have loved ones back home our brother here 2 daughters back home sick and his mind and is with the children and we ask father that you draw close to them that you lay your healing hands upon them you restore their faith as well as their physical health we ask father that you be with each 1 of us with our loved ones wherever they are we entrust them into your care and we give you thanks that you will do much more than we can ask for we ask in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen all right good so Anything else that comes to your mind when it comes to Abraham?

What was his reaction when he was told that he is supposed to have a son?

What does Sarah do when the angels came, remember?

And then of course went with Abram to see Sodom and Gomorrah.

And the angels said, hey, next year by this time you guys are going to have a kiddo.

And they start laughing too behind the tent.

And right and when the angel confronted what did you say?

And the angel said yeah yeah you did you did laugh.

So what do we get out of that when we see Abram kind of laughs it off, Sarah laughs it off.

You see, faith doesn't come full-blown at once.

We need to understand sometimes we grow in our faith, we grow in our trust, because God does something and we say, okay if God came through last time we put our faith and our trust in him that he comes through this time as well now of course for Sarah and for Abram it is kind of late right why they were old right Eugene Peterson in his translation says he was kind of a dead man and his loins were shriveled So it's kind of he puts it nicely right so he's 100 years old when Isaac is born and Sarah is 90 right 90 so it's kind of a little bit late for procreation, but And that's why both Sarah as well as Abram they kind of laugh it off.

So what does Abram do that doesn't show much trust both in Egypt as well as in Gerar when he comes back to the land of Canaan There's this fear of his wife being taken so he says, oh she's my sister.

Which is a technicality but you know it's not.

Walter Ray when he wrote that book in 1980, The White Lie?

Because they did have different mothers, but they had the same father.

So, it is true that Sara was his half-sister.

We go down to Egypt, they see that you are a beautiful lady and they say let's get rid of the guy so that we take the lady.

So why don't we sell you as my sister, right?

And Abram doesn't do it once, he does it twice.

So, and it's amazing to me how God works.

Because remember, who is punished in all of it?

In the case of Abram in Egypt as well as Abram with Abimelech in Gerar.

So if I would be God I would say, Brother Abram, hopefully you learned the lesson by now.

And he sells Sarah once again as his wife when he comes back to Canaan, right?

So Yes, all these heroes of faith Noah drinks get drunk remember he's naked there that all that kind of stuff So all of these guys were not perfect people.

And that's why I want when we are talking about Sarah and Abraham, to make sure that we are getting a little bit of a picture of what we are told between Genesis chapter 12 all the way to 27.

So when we read Hebrew we see okay what what emphasis does the author of Hebrews do with both Abraham as well as Sarah.

He has a son named Isaac but he has also son Ishmael right?

Ishmael has no place in being the heir, right?

Remember Sarah is kind of upset about Hagar and then forces Abraham to send him away.

The angel promises that he'll go with him.

Where does Ishmael show up again in the Old Testament?

In 27, chapter 20, Genesis 27, at the funeral of Abraham.

So, faith grows, but faith is also very patient.

How does faith, How is faith patient in the life of Abram and Sarah?

And what does he see by the end of his life?

1 son and the other 1 with the concubine.

Abel, Enoch, and Noah

Welcome to the second presentation, Here's Our Faith.

So the question is also, what is our role in all of this?

Now that the author of Hebrews has said, hey, faith is the reality of things hoped for, faith is the proof of things not seen.

Indeed by faith our ancestors received approval.

So, when did God praise the, or On what basis did he praise the ancestors?

Because they trusted, they took his word as a reality.

What is so strange about Noah building an ark?

And he says, hey this zoo is going to float 1 day.

A bunker because it's going to rain a concrete bunker because it's raining fire.

It's not the rain fire never rained fire.

So this is what the ancestors were approved of.

If you go also into verse 5, look what verse 5 says.

By faith Enoch was taken da da da da da for it was testified, attested before he was taken away that he had pleased God.

I don't know why my students complain about it.

They complain that Greek is so difficult.

So, God testified, approved of the ancestors.

And this is kind of a little bit of a what does this text really say?

What does it say about creation and all the rest?

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Okay, things that are seen were made of things that were not seen.

So, how have people interpreted this verse?

Did you guys ever hear of the Latin phrase, hopefully those of you are in college or those of you have gone to college, Creatio ex nihilo.

What does that mean when you read this verse?

What is seen was made of what was unseen.

So many people say, hey, you see here is the proof that God created the universe, he created this earth out of things non-existent this is the proof for a creation ex nihilo a creation out of nothing right and then they read chapter 11 verse 3 which says by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the Word of God so what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

Now remember I said in the first presentation that the author of Hebrews is familiar with Jewish rabbinic techniques.

So, if this author was indeed a Jewish author, if indeed the author is Paul, as I personally believe the author is, he talks about here most likely not about the kriyācya ekaśnihilo.

Now could, can God create out of nothing?

Yes, because His words are not seen, right?

A little bit of bread multiplies in a ton of bread a little bit of fish multiplies at 5.

Yeah, you see Something that is not seen can produce can God create out of nothing?

Yes, of course I don't doubt it I don't think that this text talks about the creatio ex nihilo and See with me and see if this makes sense to you.

If we divide the first sentence by faith, we understand that the worlds were prepared by the Word of God.

And then so that the causal phrase afterwards, if you separate that, see how the different elements come together.

We understand that the worlds, what are the worlds?

So you see The worlds correspond to what?

So we understand that the world, what is seen, what is prepared, what corresponds to what is prepared in the second phrase?

And then the Word of God corresponds to what?

So what is the author of Hebrews basically saying here?

We understand that the worlds, what is seen, were prepared, were made by the Word of God that is not visible.

God made this world out of invisible words.

Because God's word has creative power You see when God speaks things happen So he doesn't speak so much of hey did God create out of nothing was this earth because remember when we talk about geology and geologists are saying hey but you know what this dating and the other dating and the rocks and the age and da da da da da and we are saying but Hebrews says creatio ex nihilo so it means that the earth must have been created 6, 000 years ago.

Maybe we misread this verse a little bit.

And the verse basically says, look, the invisible words of God created the visible existence of what you see in this world.

Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah and the Prophets

Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you very much for this day of preparation, second day of a new year.

We thank you Father that you have guided us thus far, that you have helped us transition this new year.

We do not know what the future holds, but we know that you hold the future.

And we thank you, Father, that you have guided us in the past and we trust, we believe, we have faith that you are going to do that in the future as well.

That's why we put our lives into your hands.

Please protect us from the temptations of the evil 1 and help us to be faithful to you.

Father where we have faltered, where we have failed, where we have disappointed you and others, we ask that you forgive us.

That your cleansing blood covers all the stains that we have caused, and may the Holy Spirit repair the damage that we have done.

Father, we thank you that in Jesus Christ we have a Saviour and a friend.

We have somebody who intercedes on our behalf this very day.

We thank you Father that we can place the time we spend in Scripture into your care and ask for that spirit that inspired the writers of the Bible to write down your words so that we can better understand it and apply it into our lives.

We ask this day that you guide and lead us in the study of Scripture for direction, for clarity, we pray that you help us to understand your word.

We ask Father when this afternoon many of us will go out to reach the community, please go ahead of us.

And those people who knock on doors, they might find receptive people, people who are searching for you, that they might find them, that they share the good news of salvation so that many people can be saved.

We ask that you use us, Father, in such a manner that your name may be glorified and people can be saved.

We also want to ask for those we love, we care.

We work together for Jeannie in a special way.

As she is battling brain cancer, as she is taking care of her son.

We ask Father that you be close to her, that you restore, that you heal, that you are the 1 who reveals himself in her life.

Father we ask that you will be done and we give you thanks for it in Christ's name we pray amen.

So last time yesterday before we left you remember that we I gave you a little bit of homework it's kind of unfair that's kind of not nice to have homework right at GYC.

So the homework was what did Chet GPT or Gemini, what was the Gemini called?

The question was, those of you who were not here last night at our fourth session, the question was in Exodus 2, verse 14, it says, Moses left Egypt because of the fear of the king.

The book of Hebrews tells us that Moses in chapter 11, verse 27, Moses left Egypt unfearful, unafraid of the king.

This is how politicians, they try to unite everyone.

And then they will have this slalom scheme that they are doing.

So how did he, how was he fearful and how was he not fearful?

To me I think that he was fearful when he first left, but then when he was in Midian he had that relationship with God and then when he left the second time with Pharaoh he wasn't afraid at all because he knew God was with him the first time he wasn't so sure maybe.

I mean he left the first time because of what?

I mean the stutter is okay but because of the Achilles.

Okay so the first time remember we parted the life of Moses into 3 parts.

40 years in Egypt right killing the Egyptian, leaving.

40 years in Midian, the revelation, burning bush, coming back to Egypt and then taking the Israelites out the second time when he went with them at the age of 80 into the wilderness towards the promised land.

So what the book of Hebrews tells us is that the first time and that's what is recorded in Exodus chapter 2 verse 14.

Because he had killed an Egyptian, right?

But a second time, and I think you are perfectly right, some scholars try to combine the 2 and they are saying, yeah by faith he overcame fear.

I think it's a little bit forced It makes more sense to say the first time when he left after 40 years in Egypt He was afraid that his killing would have consequences for him.

So he said whoop out in the desert so nobody's going to find me the second time when at the revelation of God at the burning bush and God says go back go to Egypt in the meantime the Pharaoh is gone and all and he I mean he is bold right He goes to Pharaoh and in a crescendo comes all the way there to kill Pharaoh's son.

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Presenter

Erhard Gallos

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