GYC 2014: At The Cross

The Cross in Hebrews

Clinton Wahlen

Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

5. The Cross Connects Heaven and Earth (Hebrews 9-10)

This is the fifth of 6 seminars on Hebrews, and I believe of the 6 it's the most important.

Father in heaven, thank you so much for the message of the book of Hebrews and for Jesus, our high priest, interceding for us.

And I pray, Lord, that heaven will draw very near during this time.

Thank you for the ladder that stretches from earth to heaven that Jesus established.

May our prayers reach right into your presence and may our words and thoughts be acceptable in your sight.

Maybe I will just briefly review the first 4 because we had a long and profitable day yesterday.

But very briefly, Hebrews chapters 1 and 2 speaks of the fact that were Jesus not fully God and fully human, he could not have saved us by his death on the cross.

Only 1 who is really fully God, which our early pioneers, some of them had a hard time really accepting, and fully man, which some now Adventists have a hard time really accepting, only really by those 2 very impossible truths that are put together in the mystery of godliness as Paul describes it could save us really on the cross.

Seminar number 2, we looked at the experience of Israel and why the Sabbath is so important.

They couldn't enter into the promised land because they did not keep the Sabbath in the way it was meant to be kept.

Their hearts were hardened through unbelief.

We're told that Jesus could have come ere this, and yet he did not, has not.

We're following the same path Israel followed of unbelief, hardness of heart, and the message of the Sabbath, proclaiming it more fully, includes receiving it fully with our hearts and really resting in the work Jesus does for us, has done on the cross, does for us today, not only in heaven but here in our hearts and our lives.

The third seminar dealt with the cross and leadership.

And 1 of the most important things about that is that We do not select ourselves.

Even Jesus himself, he's the apostle sent by the father.

He did not appoint himself or choose himself.

And we may not always agree with his choices, but this is the choices they are and they're clear qualifications for leadership even for the high priesthood of Jesus.

And 1 of the most important of course is that he can sympathize with our weaknesses, which is why he became human and was tempted in all points like as we are, so he could be a faithful and merciful high priest for us in heaven.

And we've talked about many other things, but we'll leave it at that.

The fourth dealt with Jesus as, according to the order of Melchizedek, a high priesthood, how it's different from the Levitical priesthood, chapter 7.

And that because he lives forever for us, has the power of an endless life, is so much better than earthly priests that were limited, weak, and had to pass on their priestly duties to the next generation.

So this fifth seminar, dealing with the cross that connects heaven and earth, is a topic that I think we at Advent are still another 1 that we do not understand, maybe 1 of the most important ones.

It was just 1 year and 2 months after I turned from atheism to faith in Jesus and was baptized in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, my second year at Pacific Union College, sitting in Erwin Hall Chapel where Ellen White had sometimes preached.

And the air was electric with excitement.

We all anticipated the presentation that Desmond Ford was going to make on 1844 as to whether it was a theological milestone or historical necessity.

The address was widely reported by the news media and its ripples were felt worldwide.

1 sentence in particular I remember very well to this day.

He said, in 1844, the Lord drew the attention of this people to the torn veil on Calvary.

And he made a number of assertions in that speech, which we do not have time to discuss in detail and would not be helpful to repeat.

Being a new Christian at the time, I resolved that if I had been deceived, I wanted to know it.

And so began my journey of reinvestigation.

My study focused on the book of Hebrews because it seemed to me this was where Ford's strongest arguments were found.

Whenever we examine a particular view, it is important for us to focus on the weightiest arguments and the strongest evidence rather than picking away at the edges.

It doesn't take much effort to assail someone's weak points.

And that's important to remember in every controversy, including the present 1 on women's ordination.

It doesn't take much effort to assail weak points.

If the strongest reasons given are shown to be false, then something valuable and important has been learned.

And I am convinced that the evidence for the Adventist position is overwhelming.

My purpose here is not to refute the various points which Desmond Ford tried to establish.

Many studies over the past 30 plus years have done that, some of which can be found on our website at the Biblical Research Institute.

The address is Adventistbiblicalresearch.org, So I encourage you to look at the materials that are there.

Rather I would like to get at what seems to be the heart of the matter, the reference to the sanctuary in Hebrews 9.8.

This verse is in some respects the crux of the whole chapter because it's too often been studied in isolation from the larger message of Hebrews, which portrays the Christian life as a journey from earth to heaven, the pathway for which has already been blazed by Jesus himself.

This pathway, mentioned already in previous chapters, becomes the focus of Hebrews 9.

And it's at this point of the book that the picture gets more complicated.

After discussion of the 2 apartments of the earthly sanctuary and their associated furniture in Hebrews 9, 1 to 5, the writer describes the ministry of each apartment culminating with the comment in verse 9 that the sanctuary rituals are symbolic.

So let's just look quickly at the first 5 verses.

Indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service in the earthly sanctuary.

For a tabernacle was prepared, the first, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary.

Behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, which had the golden censer and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.

And above it were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat.

Of these things we cannot now speak in detail." And I agree with that.

There are some things we could talk about related to the 2 apartments, but we won't get into it right now.

We hopefully will have time for questions.

If you're interested, you can ask about it.

So how the symbolism is understood depends on the interpretation of the preceding verse, that is verse 8.

And That has been understood in very different ways.

Notice the 2 different ways in which it's translated.

First by the NIV, which understands the pathway as a horizontal 1, and I'll explain that later.

And the NEB, which understands the pathway as a vertical 1.

First horizontal pathway, the Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.

So here you've got a set of comparisons between the holy place and the most holy place.

So it's horizontal, you're going, and the holy place obstructs entrance in the most holy place, that's the view.

For the vertical pathway, in the NAB it translates it this way, by this the Holy Spirit signifies that so long as the earlier tent, which would be the earthly sanctuary, still stands, the way into the sanctuary, tahagia, that is heavenly sanctuary, remains unrevealed.

So therefore it's the whole earthly sanctuary and its existence and continuance that precludes and obscures entrance into the heavenly sanctuary, so the vertical pathway.

In the first column, a spatial metaphor is given a temporal meaning, while in the second temporal metaphor is given a spatial meaning.

Don't worry, you don't quite understand all of what that means.

In the first column, the holy place blocks the way into the most holy place, while in the second column, the earthly sanctuary blocks the way into the heavenly sanctuary.

So which option we choose makes a huge difference as to how we understand Jesus' ministry in the heavenly sanctuary.

You see at the bottom on the left side, if you take the idea that it's really contrasting holy place and most holy place, it means at his ascension Jesus began a ministry of forgiveness and judgment symbolized by the most holy place, right from the beginning, right at his ascension, 31.

And if you understand this as a vertical pathway, it means that at his ascension Jesus began a ministry of forgiveness symbolized by both the holy place and the most holy place.

And it doesn't make a distinction at this point between them, although there were aspects of course that continued on the Day of Atonement, even in the early sanctuary, that were part of the daily or the continual service, such as the morning, evening burnt offering.

So According to this view, 2 areas are being symbolized according to the first view, horizontal pathway.

The holy place stands metaphorically for all of the old covenant ceremonies, while the most holy place stands for the new covenant ministry of Christ symbolized by the Day of Atonement.

How the Day of Atonement could be implicated with the rest of the old covenant ceremonies as meaningless and yet still somehow epitomize Christ's heavenly ministry is never explained.

The New English Bible interprets verse 8, that's the right side, to mean that the way into the heavenly sanctuary with its heavenly ministry is not possible while the earthly sanctuary with its earthly ministry still has validity.

So the question is, what ministry did Jesus inaugurate at his ascension?

A most holy place ministry, this horizontal pathway, or a holy place ministry, vertical pathway.

4. Stumbling or Standing at the Cross? (Hebrews 8)

This message was presented at the GYC 2014 conference at the Cross in Phoenix, Arizona.

For other resources like this, visit us online at www.gycweb.org.

Sorry for getting started a few minutes late.

But, you know, this interaction we did, It's been difficult to have time for questions.

There's so much material, but I'm determined that we will have time for questions.

And if others, you know, if you come to, I come to a point that you have a question, please raise your hand and I'll try to recognize you.

Hopefully we'll have some time at the end.

I didn't quite finish seminar number 3, the cross and leadership.

And so I'd like to just finish that off and just very quickly as, you know, kind of a synopsis in seconds of what I spent almost an hour covering.

In Hebrews chapter 5, Jesus is called Apostle and High Priest.

He is the Apostle in the sense that he was sent from the Father.

And as he was sent, he established, ordained 12 apostles and sent them out on a mission.

And there are specific leadership principles that we looked at that even Jesus himself was not self-appointed, that it was the Father who appointed him and sent him.

It was also, he does not bear witness of himself, but the Father, the Scriptures, John the Baptist, and the works themselves that he did bore witness that he was who he said he was to come from God.

And we looked at some principles of leadership also in connection with the Old Testament and the challenge to the leadership of Moses and Aaron and how God dealt with that and that we can learn from those lessons.

As we've seen in previous seminars as well, that God has written this history so that we might learn from it despite the fact that it's unusual for that to happen.

But before we begin again, let's bow our heads for prayer.

Father in heaven, thank you for your word.

Thank you for Jesus, for all that he means to us, all he has done for us.

And as we open your word again, we ask for your guidance and teach us, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

0.3, how is the gift of leadership recognized?

Just by way of summary again, Jesus of the 12, he prayed all night for guidance and ordained them.

Replacement for Judas, they prayed, they cast lots and they ordained a replacement as the 12th apostle.

The 7 deacons, as they're known, selected by the church, They prayed and were ordained.

Barnabas and Saul or Paul, through the gift of prophecy, fasting and prayer were ordained.

And Timothy was, through the gift of prophecy, ordained also by the hands of Paul and the elders, Paul says.

So in other words, the principle is from these examples, a divine indication is needed that someone is called to leadership position.

Maybe that also to some extent answers the question you had.

We see that in terms of prophecy and seeking God's clear will through prayer and sometimes fasting.

God calls the person and will make that clear if we seek his will.

Through the scriptures and God's providential working.

We're told in 1 Timothy 5.22 not to lay hands on anyone suddenly or hastily.

We must beware of those who claim to be called by God but do not submit to his word.

Second Corinthians 11, 12 to 15 talks about false apostles, deceitful workers transforming themselves into apostles of Christ and no wonder for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.

Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness.

Of course, they're not anything like that.

Whose end will be according to their works.

So the deceptions then would persist and We're warned against them.

Jesus said that if it were possible, the very elect would be deceived.

So we know them by their fruit and by the scriptures, by providential workings.

Number 4, we should look at issues of power and control.

It's human nature to want to be in control, but spiritual power and control is not centered in us or even in the church.

Christ surrendered control of his life completely to the Father, to the 1 who sent him.

If we're followers of Christ, actually we're not in control.

Even church leaders are not really in control.

This is the safest position of all because God knows the future.

It's not our church or your church or my church.

He is its head and he will see it through.

I like this statement found in the seventh volume of the Bible commentary, page 956.

Christ is in the middle of the 7 golden candlesticks, walking from church to church, from congregation to congregation, from heart to heart.

He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.

If the candlesticks were left to the care of human beings, how often the light would flicker and go out.

But God has not given his church into the hands of men.

Christ, the 1 who gave his life for the world, that all who believe in him may not perish but have everlasting life, is the watchman of the house.

He is the warder, faithful and true, of the temple courts of the Lord." So as we saw in Seminar 1 and also in seminar, this last seminar, it was Jesus' surrender of control to his father that led him to the cross.

He did not want to go there, but for the joy that was set before him, he endured it.

Let's skip to the conclusion of Seminar Number 3 because we didn't have time to finish it.

Jesus as Apostle and High priest illustrates in his own life what true spiritual leadership in the Church involves.

Spiritual leadership is based on the qualifications that God has set forth in his Word, and all spiritual leadership is based not on natural gifts and talents or even educational qualifications as important as these are, but on the gifts given by the Holy Spirit.

4, the bottom line is that leadership in the Church is based on self-sacrificial service, Service to God and man, not on self-seeking or striving for position.

5, having the mind and attitude of Christ, who though equal with God, humbled himself and became obedient even to the point of death on the cross, is the attitude that all will have who are called by God to serve his church.

It is this attitude that connects us with God and enables us to be his hands and feet in the world and to go where he sends us.

We will go to seminar number 4, stumbling or standing at the cross, look at Hebrews 7 and 8, but before we do that I just want to give the opportunity, we've covered a lot of material, the first, you know, 6 chapters of the book of Hebrews basically and if any there are any questions Now is the time to raise them.

Maybe you've had some questions before You know there were things that I didn't make so clear If you've if you don't have any questions we can move straight on to this, but I want to give that opportunity because I've wanted and wanted and haven't had a chance.

I love the opportunity to ask, hear questions asked and to answer them.

Well, I will take the silence to mean you wanted to come to this seminar number 4, Stumbling or Standing at the cross, so let's move on.

I think with this topic we need to put ourselves in Israel's place.

Actually, we've had to do that already quite a bit in this seminar, to think about what it must have been like.

It's much easier for us from our standpoint looking back to believe in Jesus because we have the witness of the entire New Testament.

We see the significance of the torn veil in the temple.

We see the prophecy of Jesus about Jerusalem's destruction that was fulfilled in AD 70 when Rome invaded and destroyed the temple and the city.

But remember that even at the time Hebrews was written, I believe it was written by Paul, too many correspondences between his other writings and this 1 to think of another author.

Really, there's no good candidate anyway.

So Paul is the logical option for authorship.

Even at the time this was written, probably in the 60s, mid-60s maybe, just before Paul was killed, martyred in Rome.

The temple was standing, even more glorious than in the time of Jesus.

As the sons of Herod the Great continued Herod's building plans on the temple.

And ironically, the temple was only completed very, very shortly before it was soundly destroyed by Rome.

Just a year or 2 before it was destroyed, They finished construction.

Hebrews chapter 8 verses 3 to 5 we read, For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices.

Therefore it is necessary that this 1 also, speaking of Jesus, have something to offer.

For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law." Again, another example that the temple seems to still be in use.

Who served the copy and shadow of the heavenly things as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle.

For he said, see that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." The gifts and sacrifices being offered were offered in accordance with the laws of Moses.

3. The Cross in Leadership (Hebrews 5-7)

As I said to the first seminar group this morning, happy new year.

Those of you who are, how many have not been to the first or second seminar?

So, well, welcome to seminar number 3, the cross and leadership.

Just a very quick synopsis of seminar 1, we looked at why Jesus had to be both fully God and fully human in order to save us, and this is the burden of Hebrews 1 and 2.

In Hebrews 3 and 4, we saw that real rest of the Sabbath is a spiritual rest from our works and some of the details that are brought out there in terms of the necessity of faith rather than unbelief expressed in Israel's history in order to enter the promised land and how that applies to us who believe we are on the borders of the heavenly Canaan.

And now, so chapter 5 then, we're going further in Hebrews and we will deal with leadership issues, which I think they seemed pretty significant to me and I hope you'll find the same way.

Let's bow our heads for prayer before we begin.

Loving Father, thank you for your word and the light that it brings us as we study deeply, seek to know you better and your will for us.

So we ask for your Holy Spirit, without whom we can learn nothing, but through whom we can learn more than anyone of the great men of the earth can teach us.

May you be our teacher and guide in this time together, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Before we actually look at Hebrews 5, I think it's helpful for us to review what, a few verses in Hebrews chapter 3, because, especially since so many of you were not in the second seminar where we covered this, it's a foundation really for all spiritual leadership that is Jesus himself.

And it speaks about Jesus in Hebrews 3 verses 1 and 2.

And so let's just read these verses together.

Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him who appointed him as Moses also was faithful in all his house.

It's interesting that Jesus is called not only high priest, but apostle.

And we will look at these 2 offices, Apostle and High Priest, in detail in order to understand better how Jesus exemplifies what it means to be the leader of Israel.

So I ask a question, when did Jesus become an an apostle?

It's interesting to me that he was not self-appointed.

In order to answer this question, we need to look actually somewhat carefully at the Gospels.

So we're going to take a little excursion back to the Gospels for a little bit of time here because what Hebrews, what Paul writes in Hebrews here is really predicated upon Jesus teaching about himself and also about his setting apart of the apostles.

So let's first mention that the word apostle in Greek is apostolos and it comes from the verb apostello which means to send on a mission and examples of the verb apostello to be sent on a mission in connection with Jesus in the gospels, 1 is in Matthew 21, 37, the parable of the vineyard.

You know, the Lord of the vineyard sent servants and they beat some and stoned 1, another killed another.

And then finally he said in verse 37, but last of all, he sent unto them his son saying, they will reverence, they will respect my son.

And Jesus points this out in detail in John chapter 5.

The early chapters of John deal with the Judean ministry of Jesus, which we actually don't see much, if any, at all of it in the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

But John in the early chapters deals a lot with Jesus' ministry in Judea and Jerusalem.

And so he is challenged by the Jewish leaders about his authority to heal and cause this man to bear his burden on Sabbath.

You know, he was sick for 38 years and healed by the pool of Bethesda.

And this ensues into a great controversy of Jesus and his authority.

And beginning in verse 31, notice what he says, if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

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All Teachings

5. The Cross Connects Heaven and Earth (Hebrews 9-10)

52m

4. Stumbling or Standing at the Cross? (Hebrews 8)

47m

3. The Cross in Leadership (Hebrews 5-7)

47m

2. Really Resting in the Cross (Hebrews 3-4)

53m

1. Why Only a Cross Could Save Us (Hebrews 1-2)

52m

6. The People of the Church

46m

5. The Experience of the Church

54m

4. The Dangers of the Church

1h

3. The Purpose of the Church

56m

2. The Focus of the Church

55m

1. The Nature of the Church

55m

4. Competition, Part 2

46m

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