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Hebrews 2- ‘Entering the Land of Shalom’
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Hebrews 3 speaks to us about trusting God…trusting Him to lead us through the valley of the shadow of death… trusting God through this uncertain journey of life; when we don’t know the future, and when the road gets rocky and the way seems treacherous. Trusting God through the difficult journey of suffering and death!
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The Journey of Becoming
Sermon 2- ‘Entering the Land of Shalom’
Passages: Hebrews 3: 7-19
Mark 11:12-14, 20-25
I was called to St. George Hospital on Thursday, around noon. An 88 year old woman was about to die and her daughter and granddaughter wanted an Anglican minister to come in and pray. (It seems the old woman was a regularly attended Dapto Anglican Church, although neither her daughter nor granddaughter had much time for church.) Well, right in the middle of me reading Psalm 23, (‘The Lord’s My Shepherd’) the old woman stopped breathing! It was as if she heard me and knew it was time to let go! It was as if this Psalm was the word she needed to trust Jesus completely to take her “through the valley of the shadow of death”. And so, it was quiet departure. In prayer, she was able to let go and trust God completely.
Soon after, I walked over to see Robert Mawer in St. George Private. I found him in the Intensive Care Unit, having had his third operation on his brain tumour the evening before. He was about to go back to his room on the first floor, but I had a chance to chat and pray with him. The operation was successful, as far as it goes…but we know the prognosis is not very promising. It’s possible that he may not make it to Christmas. Rob is only 63. Nevertheless, Rob is in good spirits…cheerful to know that the Triune God walks with him “through the valley of the shadow of death.” (Amazingly, Rob’s favourite expression right now is made up of 3 words: “That’s lovely!”.)
Today, we come to our second study in the Book of Hebrews. And what is so encouraging to me is the fact that today’s passage from Hebrews 3 speaks to us about the very thing that I saw twice on Thursday—namely, trusting God…trusting Him to lead us through the valley of the shadow of death… trusting God through this uncertain journey of life; when we don’t know the future, and when the road gets rocky and the way seems treacherous. Trusting God through the difficult journey of suffering and death!
This is exactly what our passage in Hebrews is on about.
But before we go any further, let’s pray.
You know, death can be a frightening thing to many people. In fact, I would have to say that most people fear death to some degree. The basic reason, I guess, is that they’re afraid of what they do not know!
Of course, there are different ways that people use to allay their fears of death. One involves the use of (what I would call) extreme optimism.
Every Friday morning, I try to visit a man who is dying of lung cancer. This Friday, he got to talking about all the modern breakthroughs in medicine. He turned to me and said, “You know, if only I can hold on a bit longer, maybe they’ll find a cure for my illness.” People use this ‘extreme optimism’ to push death out of their minds…at least for a moment. It’s funny because, towards the end of our discussion, my friend agreed that science probably wouldn’t solve his problem and that he needed to trust God as he walked “through the valley of the shadow of death.” Then he asked me to pray for him.
The point is, however, that, at the threat of death or suffering, so many people turn to science for the solution. In the end, however, we all have to face the fact that science can’t stop death. It is nothing less than a form of extreme optimism.
But another way of approaching suffering and death is through, what I call, escapism.
Plato was one of the world’s most influential philosophers. But for Plato, this world of space, time and matter was nothing more than an illusion! He had a very pessimistic view of life on earth! Indeed, for Plato, the goal of life was to escape this world by focusing all one’s attentions on a place beyond this world—what most people call ‘heaven’. Death, for Plato, was not to be resisted for, in the end, it was your salvation-- the only way to escape this world.
This escapist attitude about life on this earth is found in a variety of religions and cults. Even Christians fall into this trap, sometimes preaching that the only goal of life is to die and go to heaven! This view is not supported by the Bible.
For you see, the Bible cuts a third path…a path that goes directly through the issues of suffering and death. It doesn’t speak with extreme optimism about how human beings can fix our sicknesses or find the cure for our diseases, but neither does it avoid the issues of suffering and death with some dualistic, “pie in the sky when you die”, philosophy.
What the Bible talks about is how, as human beings, we can acknowledge, and even embrace, the reality of suffering and death. How? Through the knowledge that there is a Triune God who has walked (and even still walks) with us through the valley of the shadow of death!
Turn with me to Hebrews 2:14.
If you remember from chapter 1, the author of Hebrews first acclaims Jesus as God’s final Word and the perfect revelation of His divine glory, the One through whom the world was made and who currently upholds all of creation. But then, in chapter 2, the author speaks of Jesus in a new way…as the God who became a man; the God who stooped down to our level and took on flesh in order that God Himself might experience firsthand what it means to suffer and to die!
(Hebrews 2:14-15)
“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil-- and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”
The point is clear: God needed to become like us in every way…even in our suffering and death. Why? So that He might liberate us from all the lies that we have swallowed about suffering and death. I mean, think about it: Ever since the day when Adam and Eve sinned, the human race began to unravel and the decaying influences of disease and death were set loose on this earth. And since that day, humankind has lived in the fear of suffering and death. Death, in particular, has been the great unknown. (Even the Old Testament doesn’t really help in clarifying death and what happens after we die. All it tells us is the fact that it has a name: “Sheol”, ‘the place of the dead’!)
Now, due to this lack of information about death, the devil has gained a great deal of power over the human race! I mean, all the religions of the world have tried to make sense of death by imagining a variety of possibilities: whether it be reincarnation, nirvana, soul sleep, purgatory. But, in the end, all these things were mere guesses, human speculation about the reality of death.
But that’s what makes Jesus so unique! When the Book of Hebrews says that Jesus, by His death, has set “free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death...” it means that Jesus’ death has revealed to us the final truth about death. We no longer have to imagine what happens after death, for Jesus has gone through it for us and come out the other side! He personally has been there and knows, once and for all, that there is nothing to fear!
I think it was Franklin D. Roosevelt who, in reflecting on the WW2, said, “There’s nothing to fear but fear itself!” How right he was! Fear is a beat-up! It gets everyone worked up and anxious. But Jesus said, “Fear not, I am with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Sadly, it was this same fear of death that caused a great number of the Israelites in the Old Testament to turn away from God. Remember, as Moses was leading them out of Egypt and towards the Promised Land of Canaan, many of them said, “God can’t be trusted! He’s leading us into the desert so that we might die of hunger and thirst. God wants to wipe us out. He doesn’t love us. Hey, Moses, take us back to Egypt!”
All those complaints were based in the fear of death. All these groaning in the wilderness came because the people of God could not trust the Good Shepherd to walk with them! In the end, they were held captive by the lies of the devil who deceived them into being more concerned about death than about life…enticing them to look back to their death in ‘the land of slavery’ rather than ahead to ‘new life in the Land of ‘shalom’’.
Of course, God never promised it would be easy—indeed, it was never guaranteed that they would all come out of the wilderness alive. And God still doesn’t make that sort of promise today. Ask Rob Mawer! Every day is a step of faith, in the belief that God walks by our side. In fact, even Moses died before he made it into the Promised Land! Nevertheless, the beauty of the Old Testament story lies in the fact that, whether people lived or died, that would not be the end, for God had promised that He would walk every step with them. Psalm 23 says it all: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff comfort them!”
These are the exact same sentiments expressed by the author of the Letter to the Hebrews…but with one major difference: He has the story of Jesus, His death and resurrection, as his central reference points. Here is the God who has physically joined Himself to us by taking on our flesh, going down into death, and being raised by His Father on the third day. In fact, amazing as it may sound, it was this very journey through suffering and death that served to perfect (or complete) Jesus. Look at verse 10 of chapter 2. “In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.” Jesus was not to avoid the inevitable forces of suffering and death but to face them ‘front on’.
And because of this, the Scriptures can now boldly declare: “Death, where is your sting? Death where is you victory?” In Christ’s death and resurrection, “we are now more than conquerors through Him who loved and gave Himself for us.” The reason is that Jesus has proved to us, once and for all, that death makes no ultimate difference to our personhood. Rather than harming us, suffering and death actually perfect us!
Furthermore, as it says in the last verse of chapter 2- “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” Jesus walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death!
It’s no wonder, therefore, why the author of Hebrews goes on, in chapter 3, to encourage us to press on in faith and not to be like the Israelites who, out of fear, turned back towards Egypt. Don’t let the lies of the devil concerning death to cause us to harden our hearts against God.
(vv12-15) “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."
You know, I admire people like Rob Mawer and the 88 year old lady over whom I prayed on Thursday. The beauty is not in the fact that some scientific breakthrough has, or will, heal them. Nor is the beauty found in some form of method of escape from their suffering and death. No, the beauty is found in the fact that Jesus has calmed their spirits and given them peace even while they walk “through that valley of the shadow of death”. They have realized that there is no reason to fear death…for Jesus has walked that road before them… and now walks that road with them towards the promised land of ‘shalom’.
And Jesus says to us all, “Fear not little flock. For I am with you…even to the ends of the earth!”
Let’s pray.
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