“Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.
In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’
And he says in another place, ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.” -Hebrews 5:1-10
The theme of Jesus as our great high priest is one of the main themes of the book of Hebrews, and it’s one that’s only found in this book - nowhere else in the Scriptures. This topic was introduced in last week’s passage of Hebrews 4:14-16 and continues through today’s passage.
Though the concept of a high priest would have been very familiar to the author’s original audience, he still explains it for the reader’s benefit and to make sure everyone is on the same page with what that role looked like. His description points to the ideal high priest, not one of his contemporary high priests who were likely falling short of this ideal.
We see in verse 1 that the office of the high priest has a component of mankind and a component of God. He is selected from the people and represents the people. He is their link to God. He is the one who is able to offer sacrifices for the people’s sins – something that only God can do, but the high priest is His appointed earthly mediator for that role.
Verse 2 describes some of the moral qualities of this ideal high priest. When dealing with those who do not obey God and His rules for them, he does not have an uncaring attitude of indifference but rather he “deals gently” with them. This word in the Greek refers to a middle ground between being angry and being apathetic. He recognizes that is not the perfect model of obedience, so he’s able to use his own weakness to relate to the people. He, too, needs God’s forgiveness for his own disobedience, just as the people do.
Similarly, verse 3 explains how he is in need of sacrifices for his own sins, just like the rest of the people. The high priest was chosen from among the people and is still one of them in standing before God. Leviticus 16 provides the detailed guidelines that the people were supposed to follow for the annual Day of Atonement, and Leviticus 16:11 tells how Aaron (the first high priest) also needed that atonement: “Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering.”
No person can choose to be the high priest; he must be appointed by God (verse 4). The pattern for this appointment was set by Aaron in Exodus 28:1-3. Aaron’s appointment is the only specific one recorded in Scripture, but his calling also included his sons and their descendents. There are examples in Scripture of people who were punished for trying to appoint themselves to this office; see Korah in Numbers 16, Saul in 1 Samuel 13, and Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26:16-23.
Now that the author has established what the earthly office of the high priest looks like, he turns his attention to Jesus Christ in verses 5-10 and how He fulfills that same office. Jesus goes way beyond the human qualifications for high priest because He is also God.
Jesus Christ, of course, has the qualification of being called and appointed by God. In verse 5, the author references Psalm 2:7, which was a messianic prophecy that had not been fulfilled when that psalm was written. We see this being fulfilled in the life of Jesus both at His baptism (Matthew 3:13-17) and at His transfiguration (Mark 9:2-13). In both of those situations, God verbally declared Jesus as His Son.
The next Old Testament quote, in verse 6, is from Psalm 110:4. You may be wondering who Melchizedek is; that’s a very good question, and we’ll get to him more in Hebrews 7, so stay tuned. It’s important to note here that this prophecy refers to Christ as a priest “forever.” Every earthly priest was limited by his lifespan, but Christ lives forever, so He is a priest forever.
Remember how the office of the high priest has a component of mankind and a component of God? We just saw how Jesus fulfills the God components, and now in verse 7 we see the mankind component. We see how Jesus was a genuine human; He prayed, He cried, and He was heard. Jesus lived a life in the flesh, just as we do.
Just as we humans need to learn obedience through discipline and suffering, Jesus did too (verse 8). This does not mean that Jesus was ever disobedient; He wasn’t. But He learned obedience by actually obeying God, and He did suffer in the process of being obedient even unto His death on the cross. Similarly, verse 9’s phrase of “once made perfect” does not imply that Jesus was ever imperfect; rather, His perfection was manifested in the suffering and obedience that He accomplished. Because of that perfection, He is the source of eternal salvation for all.
Verse 10 concludes this passage by wrapping it all up. Jesus shared our human life with us. He was qualified to be a high priest because of His calling by God. Because of His perfect life, He is qualified to not only be A high priest but THE high priest - the one who lives forever and perfectly fulfills the requirements of the high priest’s office.
What does this mean for us? It means that the system of annual sacrifices that the high priests of Israel had to perform is completely unnecessary. Jesus was the one perfect sacrifice, the only one that is ever needed for full repayment of the sins of all people at all times and in all places. He is the perfect high priest, and He has already fulfilled His duties. All we need to do is put our faith and trust in Him!
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"To be an effective warrior in the battle for truth today, several old fashioned, Christlike virtues are absolutely essential: biblical discernment, wisdom, fortitude, determination, endurance, skill in handling Scripture, strong convictions, the ability to speak candidly without waffling, and a willingness to enter a conflict."
~John MacArthur: The Truth War, page 146
When we deal with apologetics, there is nothing more important in terms of your knowledge than skill in Scripture. The rest of the virtues have to deal with character and mindset. This one is the only of MacArthur’s list that deals with actual content. When I opened this series, one of the statements I made is that apologetics must have one of two goals if not both: 1) to proclaim from Scripture or 2) to show the reliability of Scripture, then in all that to reveal Christ. If we aren’t doing these two things, we may be able to present truth about the existence of God or good political talk, but we’ve completely missed the point of doing apologetics. If our apologetics point to and praise the works of men over God, we preach a false position. As much as I love listening to men who preach the truth, I must be careful about idolizing them. While I can learn truth from those who speak it, the only value they have is when they speak the truth of Scripture. The same is true about me. The only thing of true value that I know is that which has its source in Scripture, in the words of God. As much as I love science and I love to talk about science, that is a very weak source when compared to the Holy Scriptures.
Voddie Baucham gives an excellent analogy for this issue. He describes two knights going head-to-head in a duel. Knight 1 draws his sword. Knight 2 proclaims, “I don’t believe in your sword.” Knight 1 has three options: 1) put his sword away and don’t use it b) put his sword down and explain why his sword is dangerous to the other knight, or c) hit Knight 2 anyway and ask, “Do you believe in it now?” What is Baucham addressing here? He is answering the ludicrous idea that if someone doesn’t believe in the Bible, you can’t use it as your authority. Why? Why let them dictate the “rules”? I reject the principles of naturalism and uniformitarianism. I reject the premise that “science” is the only valid way to know if something is true. I reject the premise that ANY authority that man has discovered or contrived has any influential say on what Scripture states nor can it override what Scripture states.
So, what does that say about the person who rejects these things? If someone rejects the Bible, perhaps we should throw their own argument back at them. “I don’t believe in your ‘scientism.’” Make them answer for their own standards. In all, the Bible is our authority as Christians and it saddens me how few actually use it as such, especially in apologetics. When I first tried my hand at apologetics, I thought I could prove a young earth without the Bible (and I parroted Kent Hovind’s presentations). Needless to say, I didn’t get far because I didn’t understand how the arguments or authorities worked. The Christian apologist needs the Bible as their primary authority, and then they need skill in using it.
As I’ve written about the Armor of God, when I talk about the “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace,” I describe how in any sport or activity, footwork, proper footwear, and having grip of the ground are the most important thing. If your feet are in the wrong place, if you don’t have traction, if they are heavy and don’t move, you are toast. The same is true in the spiritual battle field. You must know the Scriptures, and you must be able to “rightly divide” the Word of God. No one on this planet today is ever going to get it 100% correct, nor will anyone ever exhaust the mine of truth it contains, but we must know what it says and how to use it.
We must have proper exegesis. The Bible is not a book you “interpret” based on what you think or what you know. The true Christian doesn’t “read the Bible.” The Bible reads the true Christian. It’s the instruction manual for life. It’s the mirror that shows you who you truly are. It’s the lens through which we can see reality. If you want me to tune out of anything you have to say about the Bible, open with “I think.” The Christian is not to operate that way regarding the Bible. When we put our opinions about things to the Bible, we are putting our intellect and our ideas and our thinking as the authority over Scripture; enabling us to pick and choose what we like, and what we don’t like. Instead, we must submit to Scripture. We don’t dictate what it says; it tells us what it says.
We must have more than mere surface level understanding of Scripture. I need to make this clear: different does NOT mean deeper. In a debate between Kent Hovind and Hugh Ross, someone in the audience suggested that “day” meaning ordinary day is the initial meaning, but then meaning long period of time is a “deeper meaning” and offered that as a solution to the YEC/OEC debate. The true answer to this suggestion is that any deeper meaning MUST be in perfect agreement to the initial meaning. Just as calculus is a deeper level of math than addition and subtraction, if the calculus denies basic arithmetic, it’s not math. Likewise, ANY model that suggests “day” is not a normal day (as the language commands) is not a deeper understanding of anything. It’s an entirely different construct.
I have had conversations with some people who proclaim Christ, but their knowledge of the Gospel is very superficial and surface-level at best, and they are trying to “educate” me about theology and tell me that I need to listen to the Holy Spirit. If someone picking your brain on a topic can only get to the surface level and not get further, then you don’t know it well enough. My former pastor told me after hearing me speak that if someone were to pick my brain, they would not be able to hit the bottom in Bible knowledge and general apologetics. But there are fields where I am not afraid to admit that my knowledge doesn’t go very deep on that field. I also don’t talk about those fields very much. On the other hand, I have had people tell me that their theology is far more important than their studies of geology, yet when they talk, they are extremely articulate in geology and can’t or won’t dig into the theology of their claims. Which one have they really studied?
We must be skilled in Scripture. Jesus was a master of it. He didn’t merely have it memorized; He knew precisely what it said, what it meant, and how to use it. We should learn from His model. Study Scripture and keep studying Scripture. Get to know the author through Scripture. It will not merely help you through defending your faith; it will help you live your life. Next week, I will conclude my study of this MacArthur quote with the last phrase: “having strong convictions, speaking candidly, and being willing to enter a conflict.” After that, we’ll take a thorough examination of 2 Timothy 2:24-26 and the surrounding context.
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“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” ~Romans 8:28
Near the end of 2017, I had a massive life-threatening stroke and was given life-saving brain surgery. The dead part of my brain was removed in an emergency surgery, and after about 8 days in the Neuro ICU, I was moved to a step-down unit for 2 days, and then I went home. Even though the doctors would not use the term miracle to explain my incredible recovery, they would use terms like “remarkable,” “incredible,” or “better than average.” One nurse, seemingly from fear of being ridiculed, leaned over my bed before my final test and whispered in my ear, “You know you're a miracle, right?”
If my memory serves me correctly, I believe I did around 5 or so sessions of physical therapy and 2 sessions of occupational therapy, with one of those sessions being a test to see about how much occupational therapy I would need to do to help my recovery. The person giving me the test said, “Well Jason, I'm going to send out these test results to be confirmed, but I can tell you before sending them out that I can't help you out with your recovery any more than you already are.” It was quite an incredible time for me, my wife, and my whole family. Family and friends were astonished as well. To this day, we are still thankful and amazed at my miraculous recovery. Plus, many people helped our family in so many ways. I know we are all thankful for that. Before I move on, please note that I am still healing and recovering to this day, and I still deal with things from this whole ordeal. In our current society, one of those things that is I cannot wear a mask over my mouth and nose.
I choose not to go into all of the gory details of why I cannot wear a mask. Suffice it to say that back in the spring of 2020, God allowed me to see what was coming around the corner in society. At the beginning of all of this craziness, my wife and I needed to get somethings at a local store, so like “good citizens” we both masked up and we went on our way to get what we needed. In less than 5 minutes it was obvious that the lack of oxygen I was receiving was affecting my body and my brain. I told my wife at the time that I wasn't sure I could do that again. So, I went to my primary doctor, an MD who was in practice for over 20 years, and I told him what took place. One of the main types of patients he dealt with were patients like me who have had strokes. It was one of the main reasons I chose him to be my primary doctor.
He told me, “Oh, that doesn't surprise me at all. In fact, it makes sense that this happened to you.” This was very early on in this “pandemic.” So, I chose very early on that I would not mask up; not because I was mean or selfish but because I needed to live the life God had given to me in liberty and freedom. It became quite apparent to me by about June or July 2020 at how “crazy” masking up was going to become. So, in September of 2020, I was able to secure a medical mask exemption from my primary doctor, even though some of the nurses in the office thought I was being over the top in trying to get this piece of paper.
This is the part of the story I really want to convey to the public and just one of many reasons why I was done with this whole situation back in September of 2020. What happened made me realize how non concerning this whole thing really was. Please bear with me. After going into the office and asking to get this medical mask exemption, one of the nurses, well-meaning as she could be (I do not fault this person at all and truly love her as a person made in the image of God), looked at me as serious as could be and made the suggestion, “Oh Jason, you can wear a mask. Can't you just ‘cheat a little’ by just twisting the elastic that goes around your ears to make a little pocket here on the side of your face so you can get a little more oxygen in through here?” As she pointed to the sides where an obvious gap was made on both sides of her face to allow the mask to be basically rendered useless because the “seal” that was to be made by the mask against this virus was truly broken. Now, this is a medical professional and not some “wanna be” or novice saying to do this.
That was the day I truly realized what was happening in our nation and world. Now, before anyone attacks me, I am not, in the least, saying this virus isn't real or that people are not dying. They are, but like it or not, death, disease, and dying have been here since Adam sinned against Almighty God. It is a part of this world. If your immune system is compromised, by all means, take the necessary precautions to live the life God has given to you. But don't expect to force those who are healthy or are not affected by this virus to stop living their lives or change what they are doing because you don't like it or might be scared. God Almighty does not call us to that. He calls us to live in this world without fear and worry.
As I started out this post, God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose. My family and I had no idea how much that verse was true until we experienced how God could take an absolutely horrible situation of a massive life-threatening stroke and use it for good to help set people free in their mindset. My wife and I have already spoken many times before 2020 in public about what took place in 2017; praise God that many people have been encouraged in their faith in Jesus Christ and in their situations by the account. It amazes me how even 4 years later, God is still using this for His good and for His glory to help set people free in Christ. God works all things together for the good for those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose!
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“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are —yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” -Hebrews 4:14-16
Because the word of God is what it is as discussed last week in Hebrews 4:12-13, the author now moves to discussing Jesus as our high priest, which we’ll look at for the next few weeks. This is one of the primary themes of the book of Hebrews, and it’s the only book in the Bible that addresses this specific topic.
But first, since this is a topic many of us today don’t think about regularly, what exactly is a high priest? The first person appointed as the high priest was Moses’ brother Aaron (see Exodus 29). The high priest wore certain clothing, and he was the only person permitted into the Holy of Holies in the temple (where the presence of God dwelt), which would only happen once a year on the Day of Atonement. On that day, the high priest would wear all of his priestly garments when entering the temple, then in secret he’d take most of them off until he only wore a simple linen garment. He would enter the Holy of Holies alone, make expiation (reparation, making amends) for the sins of the people, sprinkle the blood of the sin offering on the mercy seat, and offer incense. When done, he would put his priestly garments back on and go back out in front of the people (Leviticus 16). Other than that one special day of the year, the high priest would serve in the same temple duties as the other priests.
To summarize this, in the culture of the people of Israel, the Day of Atonement was the one day each year when their sins would be forgiven. It was the work of the high priest to make this happen according to the instructions God had given.
Hebrews 4:14 specifically calls out Jesus as our great high priest. The title of “great” singles Jesus out as being greater and superior to all of the high priests that the nation of Israel had for generations. Jesus was not just an earthly priest, but He had ascended into heaven as well, again noting Him as superior to the other high priests who had lived.
It is because of this role that Jesus holds that we can “hold firmly to the faith we profess.” We can have confidence in our faith because of who Jesus is and the work that He has done. Remember how the regular high priests had to perform their work every year on the Day of Atonement? Jesus is greater than those high priests because His work only needed to be performed ONCE. Period. The high priest’s work would remove the sins from the nation of Israel for the past year. Jesus’ work on the cross removed the sins from all people, everywhere, past, present, and future – forever! This work is so much greater than what the high priests did each year, and because of that, we should hold firmly to our faith in Jesus.
Verse 15 tells us more about Jesus and why He can be given this title of the great high priest. He was tempted to sin in every way, just like we are all the time. All of the high priests of the nation of Israel were also tempted to sin, too. The difference is that Jesus did not sin – not even once, ever! He can relate to us and empathize with our weaknesses, but He also lived the perfect life that was required so that His sacrifice would be worthy to forgive the sins of all people. He entered into our sinful weakness, yet He remained without sin. It’s easy to think that Jesus living a perfect life was easy for Him since He is God, but the author of Hebrews makes it clear that wasn’t the case. Jesus was still tempted in every way, just as we are, but He resisted each and every one of those temptations. His sinlessness was hard-earned.
So what does the sinless life of Jesus mean for us? Verse 16 tells us: “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Earlier in Israel’s history, only the high priest could enter the presence of God in the Holy of Holies, and even then, only once a year. But because of the work of Jesus the great high priest, we can approach God with confidence! God has extended His grace to us because of the work that Jesus did. Jesus’ life and death paid the penalty for our sins, so that we are now able to approach God with confidence.
While we may feel unworthy to approach the Almighty God of the universe, we must remember that He does not see our sinfulness when we approach Him; rather, He sees Jesus’ perfect life. We know that we need God’s mercy and grace, because by ourselves and in our sinfulness, we are not worthy to be anywhere near Him. But because of Jesus the great high priest, we may approach God whenever we find ourselves in a time of need, and His grace and mercy will always cover us.
Jesus was fully successful in His work as the great high priest, and then He approached God’s throne in heaven so that we, too, may have the opportunity once we put our faith in Him. Hold fast to that faith and approach God with confidence, thanking and praising Him for the work of Jesus, the great high priest!
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
"To be an effective warrior in the battle for truth today, several old fashioned, Christlike virtues are absolutely essential: biblical discernment, wisdom, fortitude, determination, endurance, skill in handling Scripture, strong convictions, the ability to speak candidly without waffling, and a willingness to enter a conflict."
~John MacArthur: The Truth War, page 146
Last week, we looked two of these critical virtues in the defense of the faith: discernment and wisdom. Today, we will look at fortitude, determination, and endurance. All three of these work together. Fortitude is an old-fashioned word for strength. It’s the noun form of the verb “to fortify.” The verb means to make strong; the noun means to have strength. Determination is a mindset – it’s the heart, interest, and focus on the task at hand. Endurance is the ability to stay with it for the long haul. Let’s take a look at how these play a role in apologetics and being an effective warrior in the battle for truth.
If someone has “fortitude,” it means they have a position of strength. It’s the “high ground.” Unfortunately, Christians have long surrendered this position in the face of those who think they have “educated” themselves out of the necessity of belief in God. There are many atheists and quasi-believers who are quick to challenge a Christian on any topic (doesn’t matter what it is), and they are just waiting for you for bring the Bible into the discussion. Their response is often, “I don’t believe in the Bible, so you can’t use it.” Or they will say, “The Bible is what is making that claim, therefore you can’t use it as evidence.” It doesn’t matter what the topic is. Their target is to get you to remove the Bible from the discussion. Voddie Baucham compares this to two knights going to duel and one knight says, “I don’t believe in your sword,” expecting the other knight to set it down. It’s foolish in a duel, yet it has succeeded so many times with the Bible. Baucham continues to show what should be done. You can either set the sword down and explain how swords work, or you can hit him with the sword anyway.
To the Christian, the Bible is our ultimate authority. It’s our high ground. It’s our position of strength. We don’t need to defend it. It can defend itself better than any of us ever could. (Check out this resource for more on that.) Instead, we need to attack with it. The Bible is more than a shield; it’s a sword. But let us remember that our war is not against flesh and blood, but against ideas and arguments and spiritual forces. A Christian who has fortitude knows his Bible and knows what it says and knows its strength. There are many verses in Scripture which tells the believer to stand firm, hold your ground, be strong and courageous. The Hebrew word for this is chazak, and it’s part of the Israelite War Cry that I wrote about way back in 2014. Be strong! When you engage with lies from the enemy, hold your ground. Don’t let them advance. Don’t let them pull you aside for a “discussion.” Nehemiah saw that tactic and would not let a discussion with an unbeliever that had no chance of getting that unbeliever saved detract him from his mission. Nehemiah had fortitude, and he needed every bit of it.
We must be determined. The Christian must not have “quit” as an option. Now, there is a difference between being stubborn and trying to force something to happen and determination. Determination is the other part of the Israelite War Cry: amats. It’s the unwavering, unyielding, relentless charge that refuses to say no. Determination in this war sees that teaching is a lie and it is destroying us. It must be exposed and brought down. It also sees that the truth must be defended, and we must not allow our walls to be compromised. Determination refuses to stop or slow down until the objective is complete. Determination may back off when pressing forward in one direction proves to be futile, but determination always comes back from another angle or approach.
We better have determination in our stance for truth because the enemy has the determination to tear it down. And he is relentless. One of the enemy’s goals is to wear us down so we quit fighting. So we have to be as Eleazar, one of David’s mighty men, who fought so hard to the point where his hand stuck to his sword. Eleazar physically could not let go of it after the battle was won. That’s the kind of determination we need to have. Or that of Jashobeam who single-handedly fought off 800 men in one battle. That’s determination. In our apologetics and our defense of the faith, it doesn’t matter how many people come at us, it doesn’t matter how many credentials they have, and it doesn’t matter what arguments they have; we are to stand firm and not quit. The truth is worth fighting for. Without truth, we lose everything. We need tireless, unrelenting determination to fight for it until the battle is won.
This also calls for endurance. As I mentioned, the enemy is determined, too. And the enemy does not relent and does not quit. So, we need endurance. I heard a statistic that the average pastor only lasts a few years before quitting. Why? Because he lacks endurance (among many other reasons). Endurance means we are in it for the long haul. To defend the truth is not a quick sprint; it’s a super marathon. MacArthur gives a case of who had this from The Truth War: Athanasius. Athanasius led the charge against Arius and his heresy of Jesus not being the actual son of God. Much of the church bought into his lies, and Athanasius refused to give this up. He was so determined and so strong on his point that Constantine called him saying, “The whole world is against you.” Constantine was talking about the church. Athanasius said, “If they be all against me, then I am against them.” The phrase Athanasius Contra Mundo came from that encounter. This battle raged on for decades and because of Athanasius’ determination and his fortitude, he built up the endurance to the end. In the end, Aruis’ teachings fell away, primarily because truth had a soldier who would not let go and would not quit.
We need such soldiers today. But unlike Athanasius’ day, I don’t believe some of these false teachings are going away until Christ returns. The lies have proven to be false and weak, but they aren’t going way. I do wonder if Athanasius thought the same thing. After the Council of Nicaea when Arius was proved a heretic, he still went about teaching his lies, all the while proclaiming the same truths as everyone else, even agreeing with the very council that refuted him. All he did differently was redouble his efforts in making his language and terminology closer to the sound doctrines. Arius didn’t quit teaching his lies after being refuted. Likewise, we should never quit speaking the truth and refuting the lies. Next week, I’ll have a full post on how we must have skill in Scripture to defend the truth.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
by Eric Hansen
Editor's Note: The following post is not a pro or con position regarding the Covid-19 vaccine. What we are hoping happens with this post is that Christians will not only be objective in their research of this situation but to make certain they are reading God's Word, listening for the Holy Spirit's leading, and following that leading.
It’s been many months now since the vaccine for COVID-19 became publicly available. Since the start of that, there is no shortage of (mis)information, opinions, etc. about it. This post isn’t looking to tell you to get it or not to get it, but instead it will tackle this issue from the perspective of Christianity without fear.
Should I Get It?
It is a good thing to constantly ask this question. With much about the virus and the shot being new, there will be new information coming at you from every which way. No one but God can tell you to get it, but there are some ways to help navigate this question healthily.
Ignore the Noise
One thing, especially if your social media experience has been like mine, is to remove yourself from it. Take a step away from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. and just give your brain some time to relax. The decision to get it or not is not simple, and the more influence you get from either side of the fence is only going to impact your health. If you don’t get the shot, but then get the virus and tell your Facebook “friends” you listened to them and now you’re in the hospital, what is the likelihood they will take responsibility for it?
The fact of the matter is that even if we want to point the finger, it’s our own decisions that lead us to where we go. All anyone else can do is influence you. If this wasn’t the case, then we would also be responsible for others’ salvation. So take time away from the platforms. If you have to, even take time away from friends and family to just collect yourself.
For me, I realized I needed to do this if I wanted to think about what was best for my family and me, and not just what I thought was right because people whose opinion I value said so. I’ve gone to the extreme of deleting my Facebook completely, but I would only suggest this if you find yourself constantly slipping back to it. Otherwise, just give yourself even a week or two of no social media.
Read the Bible
Most people will tell you to pray (myself included) when it comes to making any sort of big decision. That is only part of the solution, however. Often, we already look at prayer when we’re asking ourselves if we should get the vaccination. The more important piece now is what the answer is. This is where we need to keep ourselves quiet and let God speak out of His authority over us.
If we look at the situation literally, then we won’t find many verses that center around man-made chemical warfare viruses. We do have stories from the Old Testament, however, talking about how God gave plagues to the Israelites for their rebellion, but also how God gave them the cure as well (see Numbers 21:4-9). What we can gather from this is that our focus needs to be on God. That’s it. We don’t need to look at our news feeds, TV, etc. to know that God is the answer to this situation. Really, we just need to trust in His sovereignty. To know this requires us to read the Bible with a softened heart, opened eyes, and a real desire to know the truth.
When I started just focusing on the Bible, everything slowly became more clear. But I also had to remember that God doesn’t always speak to me directly. There were other things that happened during this time of me asking God for His guidance. One of the biggest things I can say was this: when the vaccine first came out, my wife and I agreed that until her aunt (who is a respected nurse) gives confidence one way or another, we won’t be getting it. During the time of reading the Bible, her aunt told us what her answer was.
We also need to consider if we feel peace with a certain decision. This is a sort of peace you know once you have it, because there’s a confidence that God is telling you so. It was through much conversation and discussion that we really started realizing what God was telling us to do. During this time, we also both agreed that if we were to get it and die, that we were confident in our salvation.
Feedback
By this point if you feel comfortable with separating fact from opinion, it wouldn’t hurt in the slightest to get others’ opinions. I asked a few friends who got the shot about why they got it, and I asked myself why would I ever get it. I still stayed away from YouTube videos about it as much as possible, and I kept trying to keep my focus on Christ. There were days that I slipped, but there were also days I rebounded with grace holding onto me.
Conclusion
I don’t see the shot being something everyone should get. I also don’t want to be part of that influence either way. What I do want is for people to look at the situation with objective lenses and understand the impact it has solely on them. If you have a partner, then feel free to get their feedback as well, it’s an important decision, but ultimately it impacts only you.
Ultimately my wife and I decided to get the vaccine, and here’s why:
- After weeks of prayer and time with God, it slowly started bringing more peace to me.
- We are looking to serve God overseas in the coming years, and this will likely be mandatory by then (we already see this happening now).
- After realizing my decisions had been fueled more by the voices around me instead of the voice inside (the Holy Spirit), I took a big step back.
- God is in control of everything. I’m going to die regardless, and if it’s something God wasn’t wanting me to get personally, then the experiences I went through wouldn’t have happened.
If you would’ve asked me even 3 months ago, my opinion would be “no, never” to the shot. But that was fueled by man, not by God. Again, I’m not saying God is going to tell everyone to get it. This post is written more so to help people understand how to approach this from a Biblical Christian view. Above all else, please put God first!
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“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” -Hebrews 4:12-13
While I wrote last week on Hebrews 4:6-11, verse 11 is really a transition verse between the following section and these important verses we’ll discuss today. Verse 11 says, “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.” This summarizes the previous section, where the author instructs us that our main goal as believers is to obey God with our lives.
Why should we obey God? Because of the description we get of His word in today’s verses. It has been said that a person is only as good as his or her word, and that is true of God as well. God’s Word in the Bible and Jesus as the living form of that Word are how God has specifically revealed Himself to us. While there is more to God than what we can comprehend from His word with our simple human brains, if His word is not valid, then neither is God.
While our English version quoted above splits verse 12 into two sentences, it’s really all one sentence in the original Greek. The structure of the verse has the word of God as the subject, and then the rest of the clauses describe it. The word of God is alive, active, sharper than every double-edged sword, penetrates to dividing, and able to judge. All of those phrases are equally joined into one sentence. That would make for a long sentence to read in English, but it’s important to note that each of those attributes of the word of God are portrayed equally in one grammatical piece, rather than a little more separated like we see in English.
Does the word of God here refer to the written word of the Bible, or the person of Jesus (as in John 1? Yes. Some scholars believe that this phrase in this context means anything that God has spoken, which would include the Bible and the words spoken by Jesus. Other scholars believe this refers to the person of Jesus also. However, the specific distinction is not very important, as the whole Bible points to the person and work of Jesus, so they are essentially one in the same.
The idea of the word being “alive and active” means that the revealed word of God is actually doing things, not just passively sitting there in a book gathering dust. Have you ever had the experience where you re-read a passage of the Bible, and it almost feels like you’ve never read it before? That’s the dynamic, living, and active essence of God’s word; when we give it the opportunity to work in our lives, transform us, and help us to mature as believers, it will definitely do so!
What specifically does the word do? It is sharper (literally “more cutting” in the Greek) than a double-edged sword, and it penetrates to our inmost being. The word of God is unique, and nothing else can do what it does. The author is not referring to the sword as dividing or splitting our body apart by saying “even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow.” Rather, that refers to it being able to reach deep inside of us where nothing else can. We have absolutely no secrets from God, and there is nothing that we can keep to ourselves; His word will be able to reach there! Our whole person is open to God, and there’s nothing we can do to prevent that.
The word of God “judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Again, we see that the word can see fully inside us, even to our very intentions. No one can fully discern our thoughts and attitudes except God. Not only does God know them, but his word judges them. We cannot keep any secrets from God; everything we think and even our very attitudes are scrutinized by God.
Verse 13 echoes this same idea but with a different metaphor. Rather than a double-edged sword digging into the core of our very being, we now see that it is impossible to hide anything from God. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before Him. There is nothing in all of creation that can ever hide from God’s knowledge and presence! Even our thoughts and our attitudes cannot hide from Him, and they will be exposed to Him.
The last phrase of this verse, translated in the NIV as, “before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” makes sense in context and is a good translation. But, it causes us to miss that the final Greek words in this verse are ha logos, which means “the word” - it’s the same phrase used at the start. The word essentially bookends these two verses, at the start and the end. This further shows the all-encompassing nature of the word of God.
Is the word of God active and alive in your life? It will be active and alive no matter what our thoughts or opinions of it are, because we do not control the word. But we do control our attitudes and the thoughts of our hearts; are those aligning with the alive and active word of God? Or are we disobeying God even with our innermost beings?
How does it make you feel that the word of God penetrates to your inmost being, and that even your thoughts and attitudes are exposed to God? If we recognize the evil nature of our ways as fallen humans, then that will likely make us feel pretty uncomfortable and anxious, knowing that the perfect God of the universe knows every evil little detail about us. But, that is why Jesus is so important! The sacrificial death of Jesus and His resurrection have covered all of our sinful thoughts and attitudes when we put our faith in Him. What was uncovered and exposed to God has been covered by the blood of Jesus, so we need not worry.
As a follower of Jesus Christ, seeing the word of God in this way is a comfort and not a threat. If you feel uncomfortable about the word of God knowing and judging every little detail about your life, it’s time to put your faith, hope, and trust fully in Jesus Christ today!
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
