Hebrews Chapter Four, Profitable Hearing

 

Hebrews 4:2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

 

For those among us that believe the gospel is entirely a New Testament, church-era doctrine, we would be mistaken. Of course we would be. God has only, and will only, save those who believe the message of salvation. The gospel was preached to us: an inclusive catch-all indicating the church, and them: Israel in the days prior to Christ, a particular nation chosen by God as His revelatory vessel until the hour of the fulfillment of the times.

The gospel in embryo began in Eden, right after our first parents sinned. If the Edenic account is mythology and not accurate history, we have an entirely different problem to contend with. Adam and Eve dwelt in a literal garden, Eden by name, walked with God who apparently came to them in a pre-incarnate theophany (Genesis 3:8) and ate a literal piece of fruit from a tree they had been commanded not to eat from. Here we see the parallel between hardened Israel and innocent Eve. Faith in God manifest through Eve’s actions would have found her resisting the serpent’s lies and rejecting his counter claims. Instead she indulged them, added to them (Genesis 3:3) and chose of her own volition whom to place her trust in. Eve, like Israel, turned to self rather than God, and Satan was her coaching instructor on how to attain this deity and autonomy.

 

Yet when Adam and Eve fell, God administered this promise, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel,” Genesis 3:15. The woman, first represented by Eve, is of the lineage that would bring forth the One to bruise the serpent’s head, culminating in Israel, and the tribe of Judah, and finally the house of David. We know that this is specifically Israel God has in mind since we learn in Revelation that the woman, “Bore a male Child…who was caught up to God and His throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred sixty days,” Revelation 12:5, 6. I’ll linger on this only a little. The woman gave birth to a male child. Eve, when she birthed Cain, seemed to believe him the Savior they were promised. Cain’s name means “acquire,” and Eve said that she acquired a man from the Lord, as apparently promised.

 

This passage in Revelation has nothing to do with the church. The church, begun on Pentecost, did not “give birth” to Christ. Mary, His human mother, begot Him in the flesh and BECAME a part of the church after His glorification in Heaven. If taken figuratively this suggests that the true head of the church is Mary. But if this passage is in regard to Israel, all becomes very clear. We know from Zechariah that Christ will save the Jews from violent persecution during the Great Tribulation, coming visibly in the clouds with great glory. Israel, whom Satan has persecuted through the Roman government, the Church of Rome, Nazi Germany, et al., begot Jesus in the flesh, Matthew 1:16, Luke 3:23. God spoke of the time of Jacob’s trouble that he will be delivered from. Revelation 12:13, 14 expands upon the previously quoted verses to demonstrate God’s superintendence of His earthly people, from whom Christ came, Romans 9:5.

 

The gospel, begun in Eden, was expounded upon for thousands of years through the voices of the prophets. Even shortly after Cain and Abel’s birth we see the ceremony of blood sacrifice for the atonement of sin, which the Antediluvian people clearly knew and practiced in anticipation of the Messiah mentioned in Eden. The prophet Habakkuk taught and understood well enough when he wrote, “but the just shall live by his faith,” Habakkuk 2:4. Those that trusted in God’s revelation conducted their lives accordingly. The Law for Israel became not an instrument for terror but a revelation of God’s perfect character, compelling the saints to perform that which was good out of love for the God who revealed His will to them. This is the crux of what James meant when he wrote of Abraham, “Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?” James 2:22. Abraham was justified by God’s grace, and his life, while not perfect, reflected that salvation God gifted him with. Likewise, Noah found grace, and once saved, conducted his life in obedience to the revealed will of the Lord, preserving his life and those of his family. The gospel we read in 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4 is the culmination of divine revelation. Someone has done something for us. The essence of the gospel is just that. We (that is, self) are nowhere to be found or mentioned. The person being focused upon is our Lord. The works being focused upon are what He did on our behalf, to reconcile us to God.