Hebrews Chapter Nine, The Called

 

By this moment I mean the moment when the new covenant supplanted the old, and those waiting in faith for the fulfillment of the promise to be led by the Christ into Heaven and the Father’s presence, when He led captivity captive, Ephesians 4:8. Zechariah says of Messiah, “And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen (Gentiles): and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth,” Zechariah 9:10, KJV. 

The transgressions of Israel (as well as the entire world) are paid for in Christ; He did what we could not so we may have eternal life in His name. The Jew, as well, may come to Christ through faith, and God be praised, many find their Messiah every year and place their faith in Him, slowly fulfilling Paul’s prayer for Israel’s national deliverance. But the time of their complete fulfillment is coming, when the Jews not only realize they are not under the first covenant any longer, but accept and embrace this wonderful truth. Until then the Jewish mind tends to be adversarial toward Jesus Christ, Romans 11:28. That is because there is a veil on their heart, preventing them from understanding the words of Moses and the prophets; a veil only removed when one turns to the Lord, 2 Corinthians 3:14-16.

 

The conclusion of the verse leads us into what some construe as troubled waters. The lead off for the second portion of the verse is, “that those who are called.” When terminology such as “call” or “election” rears its head in Scripture, the Calvinist tends to be quick to seize on it and prove their point: that Calvin and Augustine taught the truth about man’s depravity and utter inability to respond to the gospel. Unless he is called, say they, man cannot believe. Worse, God supplies said faith, and then one may believe the gospel. Calvinism is a false gospel, which Paul condemns because it preaches another Christ: this one a despotic ruler who can only remain sovereign if no will apart from His own exists to contest Him.

 

But the Apostle Paul explains what it means to be called. He writes, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified,” Romans 8:29, 30. God’s predestination is predicated on His foreknowledge. Otherwise, His predestination would be entirely arbitrary, given solely to God’s whim without reason. But God is a God of order and reason. He says to Moses that He will have mercy on whom He has mercy, and compassion on whom He has compassion; and had mercy and compassion on all, by giving His Son to die on behalf of the world, John 3:16. Faith is the criteria by which God saves some and not others. All are drawn, we are told, John 12:32. Later we read that some, while drawn, draw back to destruction, Hebrews 10:39. Like unbelieving Israel long ago, the difference is not God’s sovereign elective will to save some and condemn others, “by the pleasure of His will,” but faith, or its absence, in those who are saved or lost.

 

But what of the notion to make our calling and election sure? This verse, found in 2 Peter 1:10, speaks of Christian qualities Peter expects to find in the men and women that profess Christ as Savior. For Peter, faith was a foundational stone, and more was to be built upon it. In 2 Peter 1:5 he begins listing numerous expressions of the new life in us that should become noticeable in someone living under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. The qualities are virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Seven such virtues to add to our faith, or rather to adorn or compliment it. These attributes, Peter writes, will prevent us from being barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ. The saint that lacks these attributes demonstrates a fatal shortsightedness, even forgetting that we have been cleansed from their old sins; and new sins unconfessed prevent that saint from reentering fellowship with the Lord. Peter is speaking James’ language right now. He, as a man, wants to see the fruit of the Spirit in those that profess Christ as Lord. James states barren faith is dead, or not genuine. He challenges such saints to demonstrate the reality of their faith apart from the works God promised would result from new life. Peter, a little more gently, commends due diligence to make our call and election sure. Our call was the answer of faith to the gospel message. Our election is the ministry the Holy Spirit intended for us; the good works prepared beforehand by God, that we should walk in them, Ephesians 2:10. Without that walk, fulfilling our ministry by the Spirit’s power and influence, James and Peter doubt the genuineness of our faith. But both in this matter speak from a human perspective, for neither sees the heart of the believer.

 

One thing is certain about being called. The Jews that are called—following the passage’s context—are those who receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. The writer is telling his Jewish audience that it was not Moses or the Law that vouchsafed the inheritance for the faithful Jewish forebears; it was Jesus Christ, and His meritorious sacrifice. The ones who heeded the call, as Jesus calls them His little flock or the remnant, receive an inheritance, “incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time,” 1 Peter 1:4, 5. Truly, when God spoke to Moses about mercy and graciousness, He understated the incredible nature and depth of His mercy. But to be called is not for an elect few, to the damnation of the greater portion of the world. And whoever teaches otherwise, I pray the Lord that He reveal the error of your thinking to you.