Today if you hear His voice…
Filed in Devotions & Studies, General |Journal,
As far as I know tomorrow is kick off day for our studies in Hebrews.
Just wanted to remind my readers that I am preparing a series of studies on the book of Hebrews. These studies will be offered to our Hebraic-Foundations study group. (We presently have 180 subscribers.) To any of my journal readers who would like to participate in these studies, you can subscribe at the HF web site. As a Christian based study group we do require the completion of a questionnaire.
To subscribe go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hebraic-Foundations/
A prelude to the studies…
The book of Hebrews was written as a final warning to the Jewish peoples concerning Jesus Christ. It is an inspiring book that deals with the earliest vestiges of Jewish Christianity. In 70 a.d., both Jerusalem and the temple would be set ablaze. Old Testament Judaism will no longer exist.
Hebrews has a view to an overlapping of covenants. The former covenant is about to disappear with all its physical characteristics. It was a dead covenant. Only the body was left to be buried.
What’s this about ‘if you hear His voice’….
I want to lift one portion of Scriptures out of Hebrews to give an idea of what will be included in the studies. Hebrews 4:7, says,
“Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it [God's rest in Christ], and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, ‘Today,’ saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, ‘Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.’”(Heb 6:6,7 nasb)
With regard to the new covenant in Christ, ‘hearing His voice’ is the cardinal sign that a person has come to know the Lord. Jesus said, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” (John 10:16)
How would this apply to the Jewish peoples? Let’s consider something in the ancient Jewish writings.
An interesting story from the Talmud… 
The ancient Jewish writings (Talmud; compiled many years after Jesus) contain a myth-story about the Messiah that includes the Scripture, ‘Today, if you hear His voice…’ Here it is:
“When R. Joshua ben Levi found the prophet Elijah standing by the entrance to the cave in which R. Simeon ben Yohai was buried, he asked Him, ‘Will I be allowed to enter the world-to-come?’
Elijah answered, ‘If this master here desires it.’
R. Joshua later said, ‘I saw two [Elijah and myself] but I heard the voice of a third.’ He then asked Elijah, ‘When will the Messiah come?’
‘Go and ask him yourself,’ was his reply.
‘Where is he sitting?’ ‘At the entrance to the city [of Rome].’
‘And by what sign may I recognize him?’
‘He is sitting among the poor who are stricken with illnesses; all of whom untie and retie all the bandages over their sores at the same time, whereas he unties and reties each bandage separately, saying to himself: Should I be wanted, I must not be delayed.”
So R. Joshua went to the Messiah and greeted him: ‘Peace be upon you, my master and teacher.’
‘Peace be upon you, son of Levi,’ the Messiah replied.
R. Joshua: ‘When will you come, O master?’
‘Today,’ was the Messiah’s answer.
When R. Joshua came back to Elijah, the latter asked him, ‘What did he say to you?’
R. Joshua: ‘Peace be upon you, son of Levi.’
Elijah observed, ‘By that he assured you and your father of a portion in the world-to-come.‘
R. Joshua: [How can I believe him, seeing that] he spoke falsely to me, for he told me that he would come today, yet he has not.
Elijah: ‘When he told you, ‘Today,’ he was quoting the first word of a verse that goes on to say, ‘If you will hear His voice.’”
In this mythological story is an element of prophecy…
Will the Jewish peoples hear the voice of Jesus again? After all, He spoke in their streets, and in their temple. He healed their sick and raised their dead. Knowing that the Jewish leaders would reject Him, we hear Jesus say,
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.
“Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (Matt23:37-39)
When Jesus said, ‘Your house,’ this term was commonly used for the temple, although it could also speak of Israel as a people group. In any event the temple would be left desolate and empty. The word ‘desolate’ speaks of loneliness and a waste.
In another place, Jesus says,
“If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.
“For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another,
“… because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:43-44)
Yes, God Himself had paid a personal visit to the people of the covenant. He walked among them. He loved them and healed them. Yet they turned from Him. They closed their ears to His voice.
It is like the weeping prophet, weeping once again,
“Harvest is past, summer is ended, and we are not saved. For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken; I mourn, dismay has taken ahold of me.” (Jeremiah 8:20,21)
And so, will the Jewish people hear the voice of Jesus again?
You will find out this and much more in the studies to come.
So where does that leave us? Here is the Scripture again. Think about it. 
“He again fixes a certain day, ‘Today,’ saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, ‘TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.’” (Hebrews 4:7)
And again we hear this,
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” (Rev3:20)
How goes it? Is Jesus knocking at the door of your heart? If so, it is because He loves you much more than you’ll ever know.
In Christ,
Buddy
