The third stage of our salvation is salvation into our spirit. We must all leave the wilderness and cross the river into our spirit, where we enjoy Christ as our life (Rom. 8:10; 2 Tim. 4:22) and where we should live and walk (Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:16, 25). Here, in the spirit, we have God’s habitation, the heavenly ladder, and the gate of heaven. Therefore, in our spirit is the expression of God with the kingdom of God. Here we are enjoying the Sabbath of the heavenly rest.
Since the tabernacle and the temple are of three sections, the three stages of God’s salvation correspond to the experiences in the tabernacle and the temple. Firstly, we have the experiences in the outer court, where we are redeemed at the altar (Lev. 4:7) and washed at the laver (Exo. 30:18-21). The washing at the laver is the real crossing of the river. This corresponds to our salvation from the world.
Secondly, we have the experiences in the Holy Place, where we are fed with the showbread (Exo. 25:30), enlightened by the lampstand (Exo. 25:37), and accepted through the incense altar (Exo. 30:7). This corresponds to the transformation in our soul.
Thirdly, we have the experiences in the Holy of Holies, where we enjoy God’s presence (Exo. 25:22) and share God’s shekinah glory. Here, in the Holy of Holies, we are in God’s habitation. Here we are in the Sabbath rest. This corresponds to the salvation into our spirit.
The Hebrew believers had been saved in the first stage but were staggering in the second stage. They were wandering in the soul by wondering in the mind and were in danger of drifting back to the first stage. The book of Hebrews was written to warn them and to encourage them to go on and enter into the third stage—into the rest of the good land (Heb. 4:11) and into the Holy of Holies in the spirit (10:19-20). To enter into the rest of the good land is to enter into the church life with the expectation of being ushered into the coming kingdom. To enter into the Holy of Holies is to be in the spirit. Entering into the Sabbath rest and into the proper church life are altogether a matter of our spirit. Today the throne of God and the Holy of Holies, both of which are in the heavens, are joined to our spirit. Hence, our spirit is a most crucial spot. Here, in our spirit, we have God’s habitation, the heavenly ladder, the gate of heaven, the throne of God, and the Holy of Holies. Here, in the spirit, we enjoy the church life and are in the present Sabbath which will usher us into the Sabbath rest in the coming kingdom.
In 4:11 the writer said, “Let us therefore be diligent to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.” As the rest covered in this portion of the Word is the all-inclusive Christ, so to fall from it is to fall from Christ (Gal. 5:4, Gk. “you are severed from Christ”). In Galatians, the danger was that the Galatian believers would drift into the bondage of law from the liberty of grace (Gal. 5:1-4). Paul advised them to stand fast in the liberty of grace, that is, not to be severed from Christ. Here in Hebrews, the danger was that the Hebrew believers would not forsake their old religion which was according to the law and press on into the enjoyment of Christ as their rest. If they still staggered in their old religion, that is, in Judaism, they would come short of Christ, who is their rest. The writer of this book earnestly encouraged them to press on with Christ as His partners into the rest so that they, as His partakers, might enjoy Christ as their rest.
Hebrews 3:7 through 4:11 refers to the children of Israel falling away from entering into the rest of the good land. We have seen that with them there were three places—Egypt, the wilderness, and Canaan—that their history in these three places signifies the three stages of their participation in God’s full salvation, and that this is a type of us, the New Testament believers, in our participation in the full salvation of God. In the first stage we received Christ and were redeemed and delivered from the world. In the second stage we became wanderers in following the Lord. This wandering always transpires in our soul. In the third stage we partake of and enjoy Christ in a full way. This is experienced in our spirit. When we pursued the pleasures of material and sinful things, we were in the world, typified by Egypt. When we wander in our soul, we are in the wilderness. The wilderness in which the Israelites wandered signifies our soul. When we enjoy Christ in our spirit, we are in Canaan. When the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, they were always murmuring, reasoning, and chiding. That was surely in their soul, not in their spirit. But Joshua and Caleb believed in the word of God, obeyed the Lord, and pressed toward the goal. This was surely not in their soul but in their spirit. The receivers of this book, the Hebrew believers, were at that time wondering what they should do with their old Jewish religion. This wondering in their mind was a wandering in their soul, not an experience of Christ in their spirit. Thus, the writer of this book says that the word of God, that is, what has been quoted from the Old Testament, can pierce like a sharp two-edged sword into their wondering and divide their soul from their spirit.
As the marrow is concealed deep in the joints, so is the spirit concealed deep in the soul. The dividing of the marrow from the joints requires mostly the breaking of the joints. In the same principle, the dividing of the spirit from the soul requires the breaking of the soul. The Hebrew believers’ soul with its wondering mind, doubting concerning God’s way of salvation and considering its own interest, had to be broken by the living, operative, and piercing word of God that their soul might be divided from their spirit. Hence, the writer of this book advised the Hebrew believers not to stagger in the wandering of their soul, which soul they must deny, but to press on into their spirit to partake of and enjoy the heavenly Christ that they may participate in the kingdom rest of Christ’s reign in the millennium. If they staggered in the wandering of their soul, they would have missed God’s goal and suffered the loss of the full enjoyment of Christ and the kingdom rest.
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