For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of
soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Heb 4.12
By coming to Israel as the living 'word’ (1.1-2), Christ was the nation’s ultimate prophet after it had rejected previous warnings about judgment. A message delivered not only in words but by His exemplary life and the many miracles confirming the testimony. Unfortunately, the nation (as a whole) refused to respond in repentance to this unprecedented declaration of the will of God and divine judgment ensued.
When this call to repentance was also heard from the lips of John the Baptist and the apostles the same miraculous testimony (Heb 2.4), none could claim there was not an
'apostolic' witness with news about a spiritual Kingdom or warning of judgment if they failed to repent.
To hear this message of salvation, the nation did not even have to stand before Mt Sinai as their forefathers did, terrified and begging the 'trumpet sounds' to cease (12.19). The 'voice of words’ (12.18) they heard from ‘Mount Zion’ were those of the promised Messiah (12.22), spoken not to make them afraid but in mercy to commence the fulfillment of the ‘Feast of Trumpets’. And there is no better metaphor than the 'trumpet'
for this mission Christ had to sound the alarm and wake up a backslidden nation. Something I found out as a boy scout when the piercing tone of the bugle sounding early morning reveille would wake me up no matter how deep a sleep I was in.
Let's now recap the details of this Feast of Tabernacles. It began with the blowing of two silver trumpets on the first day
of the last month (seventh) in Israel’s ‘sacred year’ (summer months); both to announce the beginning of a new civil year (winter months) and signal the nation to prepare for the ‘Day of Atonement’ ten days later. Every fifty years, these trumpets sounded extra blasts to herald the ‘Year of Jubilee’ for reparations and release of slaves. It is why Christ ‘trumpeted’,
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me…He has anointed Me to proclaim the Gospel to the poor…to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and new sight to the blind, to set at liberty those having been crushed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:18-19). By announcing the ‘acceptable year of the Lord’ (i.e. the Jubilee), He offered the nation not only escape from judgment by the Roman forces some forty years later but also their deliverance at the divine ‘judgment seat’. Sadly, the nation and its leaders (overall) ignored what was spoken in mercy, and one million souls perished in the judgment of Jerusalem.
Throughout its history, the church has heard similar divine
‘alarms’, sounded either to rouse it when asleep or nearly at
'death's door'. ‘Wake up’ calls trumpeting the word of God from the lips of chosen vessels like Wycliffe, Hus, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Wesley, and Booth. As Heaven seeks to rouse from the sleepy torpor of the modern church, these alarms, beginning in the 20th century have once again begun to sound.
Those with ‘ears to hear’ recognize them as the ‘voice of the bridegroom’ calling out to His bride (Jhn 3.29). As the end draws closer, vessels anointed with the ‘spirit of Elijah’ will sound even louder ‘alarms’ and with more urgency; to declare the word of the Lord to, ‘turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord’ (Lk1.17). On the fateful day of judgment, no believer will be able to claim they were not given full warning.
Several of these 'alarms' over the past century have been notable, including the call to receive the ‘Baptism in the Holy Spirit’, the call to praise and worship, the call for the ‘fivefold’ to equip the saints for ministry (Eph 4.1-12), and the call to prayer for revival and the final harvest of souls. No doubt believers will hear other ‘alarms’ before this age ends, the one calling the church to unity and love for all brethren and the final one alerting them to the extreme lateness of the hour.
Sounded with greater urgency to give the disobedient (in particular) their final warning of the danger of not repenting.
Heaven has always sought to rouse those slumbering or ‘hard of hearing’ before sending judgment; it is why the trumpets sounded ten days before the ‘Day of Atonement’ alerting all Israelites to 'afflict their soul'.
These ‘alarms’ will also challenge the church to ‘have an ear that hears what the Spirit says’ (Rev 2.11), which means punishment for those refusing to listen and obey what they declare. Heaven rarely overrules to save from the consequences of bad choices made as free agents. Right to the very end, then, prophets, preachers, and teachers will ‘blow the trumpet in Zion’ to wake up those apathetic or backslidden. If you relate to this, please listen carefully to what these voices relay as deafness to the ‘voice of the Lord’ can only invite this judgment. Do not close your ears and stubbornly refuse to heed the warnings. (False prophets will also be heard, but the sheep know the voice of the ‘Good Shepherd’.)
Still wanting confirmation punishment awaits those failing to heed what Heaven speaks? It is here, ‘ For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?' (2.2, 3 NIV). The import of these words is unmistakable; hardening the heart to the voice of God not only incurs the penalty of martyrdom in the ‘Great
Tribulation’, it can also result in the loss of one’s salvation.
(See Ps 81.11, Jer 7.14, Zech 7.11)
THE WORD OF GOD AND TRIALS
In times of trial, the ‘word of God’ should become more precious, not less so. For these times are when the divine promises get burnt into the soul, the ‘great and precious promises’, Peter reminds us, that ‘through these you may be partakers of the divine nature’ (2Pet 1.4). Promises largely theoretical and dormant until the catalyst of tribulation activates them. Surely, you recognize trials often are the divine goads making you desperate enough to take hold of these ‘life-buoys’ and find them to be 'spirit and life' (Jhn 6.63).
It matters not whether the trial is disappointment, grief, deprivation, opposition, or rejection; in such times, the 'word of God' becomes a rich source of encouragement, strength, and peace. A well of fresh life, but also the sharp 'two-edged sword'
able to pierce the 'thoughts and intents of the heart' (4.12). As the ‘living word’, the instrument used by Heaven to plant fresh
‘seeds’ within us (Cf.Jam 1.21); but when the heart is deceitful and its state unknowable (Jer 17.9), also the sharp ‘scalpel’ to expose the carnal cravings, bad attitudes, and rotten reactions needing removal. Sharp enough, thankfully, to also cut out any
‘cancers’ it finds.
Rejoice in your trials, then, and allow the word of God to perform the ‘surgery’ it alone can do. To have a facade of
‘loveliness and sweetness’ may be popular but God is not interested in His children remaining ‘nice’. He desires ‘truth in the inward parts' (Ps 51.6) with genuine authenticity so any
‘fruits of the Spirit’ manifested are not the plastic imitations often on display. We are 'naked before him' (4.13) anyway, so wise up and submit to these divine ‘dealings’.
NOT A TIME TO DRAW BACK
Tribulation can make us better or bitter. The pain and distress (especially from persecution) should spur us to draw closer to God to find 'grace to help in time of need' (4.16), but it can do the opposite, making stronger the temptation to ‘draw back’ (10.39) from full commitment to the Lord. These Jewish believers were tempted to desert Christ and the way of the Cross so as to be ‘safe’ from persecution and why Hebrews, in a major way, addresses the sin of apostasy. The warnings about the temptation to 'draw back' (10.38-39) form an important sub-theme of the book.
Now, as the evidence for apostasy being a feature of the endtimes, it is found in Christ saying, ‘ because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold’ (Matt 24.12) and His rhetorical question, ‘ when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth’ (Lk 18.8). And when Paul states Christ will not return until there is a 'falling away first' (2Thes 2.3). In fact, almost all the last nine books of the canon indicate, either directly or indirectly, the end of the age will see a disastrous lapse in faith. With the apostle Peter stating it will be akin to a,
' dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire’ ( 2Pet 2.22 ). Sadly, many professing to follow the Lord now will not necessarily do so at the close of the age. I imagine this number will not be small, leaving little support for the ‘once saved always saved’
doctrinal position held by many.
The reality is this: the suffering and trials at the end will severely test the commitment and faithfulness of every believer. Almost certainly, leaving more than a few fearful, hurt, and discouraged, with some even in disgrace. Those ruled by a craving for pleasure, comfort, and acceptance will find these trials extra hard to accept, especially if the deprivation and persecution can't be escaped. And once carnal appetites are thwarted, resentment easily sets in, particularly when demonic
forces will influence such troubled thoughts with flawed reasoning. It will not be hard to imagine God has abandoned them, or worse still, He is unjust and merciless. To withdraw allegiance to Christ in such a state of mind will be easy.
HARDENING THE HEART
Others, angry and resentful but afraid to deny the Lord in ways attracting attention, will be tempted to ‘close their ears’
to the voice of God. Only, like the Israelites, become
‘hardened in…their hearts’ (3.15) and ‘ because of (the) unbelief' (3.19) which follows, thereafter struggle to remain faithful to the Lord. If you have a problem with ‘hearing’, please don’t do as Israel did, or what many children do—
develop a sudden ‘deafness’ to ‘tune out’ the voice of their parents. Of course, they claim it's not rebellion, just inattentiveness!
To sum up: before their unbelief and inability to trust God, rebellion lurked in the hearts of Israel. When faith comes from
'hearing the...word of God' (Rom 10.17), this stubborn refusal to listen to the ‘voice of God’ undermined their existing faith.
Deafness starves faith of the nourishment it needs, making it not only unwise but dangerous to resist any ‘word’ God speaks in a time of private bible reading and prayer, or when delivered by a prophet, preacher, or teacher. If unbelief is a problem, ask yourself if disobedience is the root issue, and if so, turn away from it; otherwise, it will be difficult to trust when it counts.
Now, if you imagine resistance to the voice of God cannot take hold, think again. When the 'days of Noah' (Lk 17.26) and
‘Lot’ (Lk 17.28) resurface as Jesus predicted, rebellion against God’s voice will be an attractive option. The resulting decay in morals and restraint from a world again, ‘ corrupt and filled with violence’ (Gen 6.11 -13), will challenge all, believers included. This, then, is the reality: the ungodly and godly both have to endure the earlier 'perilous' (2Tim 3.1) time identified as the ‘beginning of the birth pangs’ (Matt 24.8 NIV) for the
new age. And when the greek for ‘perilous’ is the word for the
‘fierceness’ (Matt 8.28) the demoniacs demonstrated, this suggests psychotic violence and indecency will also resurface.
Expect, then, to see more and not less violence, especially as stronger demons are commissioned to wreak havoc upon the earth. What is witnessed now could seem tame to what evil will eventually ‘metastasize’ into—leaving many fearful, even terrified at what they behold. Of course, these dark forces will also seek to take advantage of the chaos much as they did with
Peter and the other apostles during the dark ‘hour’ of Christ’s passion (Lk 22.31). Believers unable to cope with this time known as the ‘distress of the nations' (Lk 21.25), could well end up seriously disappointed and bitter, sufficiently disillusioned to even ‘drawback’ into apostasy.
In this time of upheaval, some lukewarm believers may listen to what God is saying, but their attempts to obey the
‘word of the Lord’ are likely to be feeble, at best. And if the suffering continues or is severe, their slide into serious disenchantment becomes much easier. It is always dangerous when ‘half-hearted’ commitment leads to carelessness in responding to what God says through His servants—words of correction in particular. And once disenchantment spirals downward into outright rejection of what Heaven is saying, now their eternal destiny is under threat. Even more so if it leads to plummeting commitment to godly moral standards, followed by disobedience to other biblical commands. As to the number who go further to regard themselves as agnostic and discard all adherence to Christ’s commands, this is unknown. As is the number who fully ‘drawback’ to end up antagonistic to the cause of Christ, with some of these ending up involved in the occult or religious cults.
The coming trials, then, will test every believer, especially if the trial is the bitter 'waters of Marah’ (Ex 15.23). To stop a
‘hardness of heart’ taking root after drinking those ‘waters’
will require eternal vigilance. Bitterness and lawlessness—two reactions to suffering—will be a special threat to the eternal destiny of believers, especially if they already struggle with them. Those pursuing fame, fortune, and pleasure may not descend into outright apostasy but will certainly be tempted (like Esau) to settle for a ‘morsel of meat’ (12.15-16); the current ‘ love of pleasure’ (2Tim 3.4) already has many believers dabbling with immoral escapades (possibly to relieve distress and unhappiness). But whatever the reason, seeking to numb the pain with decadent pleasure can only entrap. Now, the self-indulgent will not be the only ones who struggle to remain faithful; for instance, so will believers seeing as harsh and unjust the need to 'suffer affliction with the people of God'
(11.25). If anyone is in doubt about such a scenario, then the author’s warning not to ‘fail’ to take hold of ‘grace’ (12.15) to counter this threat bitterness poses should remove it. A warning which has this caveat; if not overcome, it can then infect our children and other descendants. (12.15). '
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith...let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering' (10.22-23). If believers will ‘draw near’ to the throne of grace for wounds suffered during this time of trial, this temptation to turn away from the Lord does not have to entrap. Indeed, this must be the first line of defense, especially when it is clear tribulation works certain traits in the heart as nothing else can. In particular, the determination to hold on in faith.