THEOSISCyrill of Alexandria
Yet alongside the remnant, a new and faithful community was ushered in; through Caleb, the Almighty pledged to include all of the younger generation. This was also indicated by the divine David, who proclaimed concerning the heritage of the saints, “It shall be written of these things for the generation to come, and the generation to come shall praise the Lord” (Psalm 101:19). The inheritance is not reserved for the children of the law but for another generation. What does this other generation signify? It represents a fresh and believing community: for we are recreated in Christ unto newness of life, having cast off the old self with its desires and lusts.
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In fact, Christ is described as having made “both” peoples “one new man, making peace, and in one body reconciling both to God...having access to the Father, in one Spirit” (Eph. 2:15-16, 18). Therefore, let the children who are brought into this new nation also be the true Caleb. The God-inspired disciple (Christ) wrote to them in his letter, saying, “As newborn babes, love the pure milk of the word, that ye may grow up from it unto salvation: for ye have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Pet. 2:2-3). Furthermore, the God-revealing Paul, having grasped the essence of the law, transforms the archetype found in the scriptures into truth, as evidenced in his Epistle to the Hebrews, where he states: “Why, as the Holy Spirit says, now when you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the time of murmuring, in the day of temptation in the wilderness, where your fathers tempted Me, tested Me, and saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with this generation, and said, ‘They are continually astray in heart, they have not learnt My ways; therefore I swore in My wrath that they shall not enter into My rest’” (Hebrews 3:7-11).
To ensure that we, by casting aside the cursed doubt and distancing it as much as possible from our souls, become heirs of the promise, he cautioned again: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil and unfaithful heart, lest you depart from the living God. But admonish one another daily, as long as it is possible to say, ‘Now,’ lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if only we hold fast the life we have begun to the end, as long as it is said, ‘Now when you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when you murmured.’ For some of them that heard murmured; but not all that came out of Egypt with Moses. Against whom did He grumble for forty years? Was it not against those who sinned, whose bones fell in the wilderness? Against whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but against the disobedient? Therefore we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:12-19).
Their lack of restraint and defiance against God's will led to their loss of hope, despite the hopes they once held. The same Apostle compellingly reassures us when he asserts: “Therefore let us beware lest, when the promise to enter into His rest still remains, any of you should be too late. For it was proclaimed to us also, as it was to those who heard it; but the word which they heard was of no avail to them, and was not effective due to the lack of faith in them that heard it. But we who have believed enter into rest” (Hebrews 4:1-3) unto the Saviour of us all and the Redeemer, Christ; through Him and with Him be glory to God the Father, with the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.