Hebrews
Originally Taught: Fall 2009 and Winter 2010
Introduction to the Letter to the Hebrews
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How
much could you endure? Would you endure in the faith for very long if
it meant that you could not keep your job or if it became difficult to
feed your family because you believed the teachings of an itinerant
preacher from Nazareth? Would you stay true to your faith in Christ
when authorities come to seize your car, home, and land? Would you
stand strong in the face of imprisonment for the mere fact that you
worship a Jewish carpenter who claims to be the Son of God? Would you
endure physical torture from strong-armed thugs because you refuse to
recant your faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Even worse,
could you endure the slaughter of your family before your very eyes
just because you refuse to renounce your faith in Jesus? These are the
questions that first-century Christians were asked and these questions
were no mere philosophical exercise. They awoke every day to the
question, “What are you willing to trade for Jesus Christ?”
Hebrews 1:1-4 Jesus: Superior to the Prophets
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In
America, Christ is tiny and He is getting smaller every day. What are
we to make of this Americanization of Christ? Michael Horton compares
the American religious scene to Aaron and the golden calf. He notes
that “It was not that Aaron was willing to have Israel worship a false
God, but that he was willing to let them worship the true God
falsely.” We dare not repeat the same mistake. Instead, we must come
to see and know Jesus in all His glory, supremacy, holiness, and
beauty. The book of Hebrews instructs us in how we may best do this as
the supremacy of Christ is the very theme of the entire book from the
very beginning and we begin our study there.
Hebrews 1:5-14 Jesus: Superior to the Angels in His Divinity
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When
we think of angels as they appear in novels, movies, television shows,
and art, we are prone to end up with a disjointed, inconsistent, and
unbiblical view of these creatures. The only true way to gain a proper
understanding of angels (and demons) is to study what the Bible reveals
about them. The author of Hebrews forces us to consider angels because
he mentions them repeatedly in the first two chapters of the letter.
So, considering the author’s inclusions of angels and remembering his
purpose in writing this letter – the supremacy of Christ - the most
important thing we can know about angels is where they stand in
relation to Jesus Christ. It is to this matter that the author of the
letter directs our attention next.
Hebrews 2:1-4 Jesus: Don't Drift from Him (Warning #1)
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Based on the theology
presented in the first chapter, the author makes his case that Jesus Christ is
worth following regardless of what perceived threats or actual persecution
might come into your life. Jesus is worth following no matter what happens to
you, your spouse, your children, or your possessions. People undergoing intense
oppression and internal struggles do not need religious platitudes. Instead, the
author’s love for his readers drives him to tell them the pointed truth – even
if that truth stings a little.
For the author, the truth is
written in the form of five strong warnings strategically placed throughout
this letter. These warnings are not hollow threats to arouse fears in his
readers. The warnings are not hypothetical scenarios that have no real impact
on the readers’ lives. The warnings are trumpet-blasts to awaken in his readers
the drive to understand, heed, apply, and live in the safety of what he has
just taught them and will continue to teach them in the rest of this letter.
Hebrews 2:5-18 Jesus: Superior to the Angels in His Humanity
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Disasters,
both natural and unnatural, create aftershocks of a different sort in
both survivors and witnesses. People are suddenly willing to think
about their faith and its relationship to the reality all around them.
In the aftermath, people wrestle with tough theological questions –
sometimes for the first time in their lives. Many see a tremendous
contradiction in the idea that God could coexist in a world with such
egregious evil and suffering. The problem of such evil is not a mere
intellectual exercise in philosophy. Among those who do not doubt His
existence, the question that is always asked in times such as these is,
“Where is God?” The author of Hebrews anticipates such questions and
reactions from his readers. It is the author’s pastoral affection for
his readers that compels him to write the letter in the first place. He
knows that his readers are almost surely thinking these thoughts as
they underwent persecution. If the author of Hebrews is correct and
Jesus is the supreme Being in the universe who now sits at the right
hand of God, reigning with all authority and dominion, then why are bad
things still happening?
Hebrews 3:1-6 Jesus: Superior to Moses
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To capture the prize, one must keep his eye on the prize. This is true in swimming, running, archery, and many other competitive sports. It is also true in the spiritual arena. As the second major section of the letter to the Hebrews begins, the author has this same truism in mind for his readers. He is fearful that some of his beloved readers will be tempted to take their eyes off the prize and will drift away. If they do this, he knows that they run the risk of losing the prize completely. The author knows the very real temptation these Jewish Christians faced to return to the religion of their fathers. Rome tolerated Judaism but there was more calling them back than cultural acceptance and social, political, and economic safety. Judaism was comfortable and one always knew where one stood and what had to be done to be right with God. Judaism was familiar with its thousands of years of well-known rituals and stories. Judaism was a source of personal and national pride with all the recorded acts of God for the sake of His chosen people Israel. It was only to Israel that God had revealed Himself in such a special way through such famous people as Noah, Abraham, David, Elijah, and Isaiah. However, in that pantheon of great religious leaders, one stood tall above the rest in the minds of Jews – Moses. The work before the author: convince his readers that Jesus is superior to Moses.
Hebrews 3:7-19 Jesus: Don't Stop Believing in Him (Warning #2)
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The 2007 New England Patriots are widely considered the best team in the history of professional football. They won every single game in the regular season. However, they lost in the Super Bowl and, therefore, they failed in their ultimate goal. Just like in the sports world, it is possible for people to “perform” well in the church and yet fail to cross the finish line. The author of Hebrews is concerned that some of his readers might be a “rocky soil” type that reveals his faith insufficient to withstand persecution and tribulation. The author knows that true faith is a faith that obviously has a beginning point but also one that endures to the very end of life. The gospel of Jesus Christ calls on believers not only to start the Christian life but also to finish well by the grace of God. In fact, the Bible declares that only those who do finish the race can properly be called believers. In this lesson, we see that unbelief is not a passive non-response to God but an active response that deserves punishment. Because of this, the readers are urged to keep on believing.
Hebrews 4:1-13 Jesus: Provider of the Superior Rest
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The author of Hebrews is not concerned with the size of the church to which he writes. His advice does not even touch on ideas of buildings and appearances and image. He does not write about new church growth methods or worship styles. The exhortations he provides do not address the subject of making the readers more comfortable, the church more accessible, or the ministries more relevant to the culture in which they live. In fact, the last thing the author would desire for this church is that they begin to look like the Roman culture around it. we also see that a healthy church is one that leaves no stragglers to lag behind or perish in unbelief. The kind of church the author is looking for is one where the discouraged are propelled forward by encouragement and where the strong take care of the weak. When one believer becomes discouraged in the race, others do what must be done to encourage, support, and assist one another. As a believer, I am obviously concerned about my walk with Christ and the eternal state of my soul. However, what we often fail to realize is that we are to be concerned with our fellow believers, as well. We do not want to enter God’s rest alone. To be sure, this is the goal of the writer of Hebrews.
Hebrews 4:14-16 Jesus: The Superior High Priest
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The author of Hebrews wrote his letter while the Temple was still standing. He did not know that the great building would be destroyed in just a matter of years. However, his letter to a group of Jewish Christians in Rome provided the answers to the questions that their Jewish family members would have been asking them repeatedly: “You have no priests in this new Christian religion. How do you have access to God?” Little did their Jewish friends and family know that they would face the same situation in a very short time. The desire for a “stand-in” or mediator between God and man is a real one and a good one. As Protestants, we rarely consider the importance of a priest. we do need a priest and we have the ultimate High Priest representing us before God – Jesus Christ. With Jesus as our Great High Priest, We have a great hope. That particular understanding is the goal of the author of Hebrews and that answer is the one he wanted his readers to be able to give to questioning Jews and pagans.
Hebrews 5:1-10 Jesus: The Superior Appointment to the Superior Priesthood
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The author has just completed a lengthy section filled with exhortation. He knows another similar exhortation is needed shortly. In between these two exhortations, he introduces a new image to his readers: the picture of the Jewish High Priest. This passage in Hebrews 5 serves as an introduction to an extended discussion of Christ as the Christian’s Great High Priest. In this brief introduction, the author does not intend to answer every question about this particular role or to even raise every issue he will later discuss. Instead, this passage serves to provide a broad sweep of Christ’s priestly ministry relative to the role of the Old Testaments priests. We will see that Jesus meets and exceeds every requirement to be a Great High Priest.
Hebrews 5:11-6:20 Jesus: Don't Stop Growing In Him (Warning #3)
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The writer of Hebrews is a pastor at heart and he will not engage in reckless pastoral care. He loves this particular flock too much to let some of them slowly drift away without telling them the painful truth. He writes harshly at times to fulfill his commission as a shepherd. In fact, this strong concern for his people motivated him to write the letter to the Hebrews and include several warnings, admonitions, and exhortations. He was not afraid to “get in their face” and speak the truth in love. This particular chapter, perhaps the most controversial in the entire letter, is one of those times.
Hebrews 7:1-28 Jesus: Superior Priest of the Superior Priesthood
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The author of Hebrews wrote his book to encourage his readers to endure persecution and remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ. His readers needed to hear this because they were being tempted to leave Christianity to return to the safety and familiarity of their former faith, Judaism. The author’s only plan was to write of the superiority of Christ to all things Jewish while presenting the glory of Christ and His work on the cross in all its theological splendor. His readers’ families surely told the new Jewish Christians that Jesus was a failed Jewish rabbi, shamed with the cursed death of crucifixion. The writer of Hebrews wrote to counter such arguments by showing that Christ was successful in what He came to do – save sinners and keep them saved forever. Jesus does this in his role of High Priest – a new High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 8:1-13 Jesus: Superior Priest of the Superior Covenant
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Suppose you had previously traveled to Orlando's "Holy Land Experience" and later you were invited to travel to Israel. Suppose further that you replied, “I think I’ll pass. I’ve already been to the Holy Land Experience. There’s no need for me to go to Israel.” What would people think of that decision? It is ludicrous to think that seeing a few replicas in Florida would be the equivalent of actually traveling to Israel to see those same objects in reality. The author of Hebrews asks the same question to his readers in the eighth chapter of his letter. He asks, “Are you going to give up on the real thing to chase after a replica?” The rites and rituals of Judaism are shadows of the real thing that is in heaven.
Hebrews 9:1-14 Jesus: Superior Priest in the Superior Tent
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If you have ever gotten blood on your clothes, you know how difficult it is to remove that stain. Because of this, we would never think of blood as a cleansing agent. We know that blood stains; it does not clean. Blood is something we try to scrub off, not scrub with! Yet the Bible speaks often of the cleaning power of blood. It is certain that the ancient Israelites knew nothing of the cleansing nature of blood. However, in his infinite wisdom and as part of his eternal plan, God gave to them a practice that would serve as a metaphor or type to explain his ability to cleanse his people from the greatest of stains: sin. In the previous chapter of Hebrews, we discovered that the Lord initiated a new covenant with his people to replace the old covenant established under Moses and the Law. Jeremiah’s declaration of the new covenant revealed all that God would do in this unconditional covenant but the prophet did not mention anything about blood. However, six hundred years later, Christ instituted the new covenant in the Last Supper and proclaimed as he shared the wine, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:27-29).
Hebrews 9:15-28 Jesus: Superior Sacrifice of Superior Blood
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My grandfather died during my sophomore year in high school. He did not have much in the way of material possessions. Therefore, when he died, each member of the family received certain items that do not amount to much in financial terms but are priceless in an emotional sense. The only bad side to receiving an inheritance, no matter how large or little, is that someone must die first. The author of Hebrews labors to make this point in the passage we study next. In the latter half of chapter nine, the author mentions a “promised eternal inheritance” that is set aside for “those who are called” (9:15). However, the only way these individuals can receive this incredible prize is for a certain death to occur.
Hebrews 10:1-18 Jesus is Superior: Case Closed
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In the tenth chapter of Hebrews, the author concludes his lengthy argument for the superiority of Christ to everything in the old covenant. However, he does not stoop to sheer emotional manipulation like today’s televised jurists. He does not even praise the Lord for the greatness of the sacrifice of Christ’s sacrifice. Instead, he presses on and repeats his primary point once more: the glory of the superior sacrificial offering of the superior high priest operating within the superior covenant. There is nothing new here. If fact, much of what he says in the first eighteen verses of the tenth chapter will be very familiar to the reader. He does not say anything new but the way that he says what he says here is new. In doing so, the author highlights for us what he deems to be the central issues in his argument.
Hebrews 10:19-25 Jesus is Superior: Live Like You Believe It
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In our study of the book of Hebrews, we have learned that true believers in Christ have been granted benefits that make the perks enjoyed by presidents and billionaires pale in comparison. For the author of Hebrews, it is unthinkable that anyone could understand the great benefits of being a Christian and then turn his or her back on such incredible riches. It would be like watching President Obama sit in a traffic jam in Chicago while driving his own Toyota Camry or standing in line at the airport to buy a coach ticket to London. The image is preposterous yet we should have the same reaction when a Christian refuses to enjoy all that has been given him in Christ. In this next section of his letter (10:19-25), the author writes that our manner of living must be consistent with our professed faith.
Hebrews 10:26-39 Jesus: Don't Lose Confidence in Him
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The only true and foolproof test of the validity of one’s profession of faith is whether one perseveres in their faith for the duration of his or her life. To put it simply, genuine faith endures. Genuine faith lasts. A “faith” that does not endure to the end of life was not a genuine faith from the beginning. One of the means that God has provided for the perseverance of his children is the issuance of severe warnings and encouraging exhortations. The entire letter of Hebrews was written for this purpose. The timeless nature of this text jumps from the pages of the Bible. Every Christian in every age has needed both warning and encouragement. We need to be challenged to live in the light of God’s wrath and encouraged to live in the strength of God’s promises. We need reminders of the past, promises for the future, and warnings and exhortations for the present. These will carry us through the Christian life.
Hebrews 11:1-3 Jesus: Believe In Him With a Faith that Endures
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Chapter and verse divisions were inserted into our Bibles about 500 years ago. These relatively recent additions do provide a certain level of convenience. However, because of these numbers, many believers now view the Bible not as a continuous flow of thought but as a collection of sentences that we can cobble together or break apart according to our own whims. It is far too easy for Christians to focus on a single verse within a book of the Bible with no thought of the context for that verse. Though not as frequent as reading a single verse out of context, some entire chapters are divorced from their contexts. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is a prime example. There is no doubt that this chapter is able to stand alone but the reader does miss something in divorcing the words from their surrounding context. Hebrews 11 is often called the “faith chapter” or the Bible’s “Hall of Faith” and rightly so. The chapter is famous for its list of great men and women of faith from the pages of Scripture. However, readers must never forget that this list of heroes of the faith is not disconnected from what has just been written and what follows. To be sure, we can profit from reading this chapter in isolation from the book of Hebrews but we profit even more from understanding the intent of the author in writing these words at this particular point in the letter.
Hebrews 11:4-7 The Enduring Faith of the Pre-Patriarchs
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The men and women described in Hebrews 11 are used as illustrations for the type of saving faith that actually perseveres. Christians often study this chapter and come to the conclusion that the faith of these men and women has nothing to do with them and their ordinary, everyday lives. This is a seriously misguided and misinformed understanding of what the author of Hebrews is attempting to do at this point in his letter. The author understands what is at stake and he has warned them multiple times of the spiritual dangers of forsaking faith in Christ for faith in the old covenant laws and sacrifices. To fail to endure in the Christian faith is not to travel some less desirable path to God but to travel on a path that does not lead to God at all. The author knows that his readers must press on because the only solid evidence of authentic saving faith is in its pressing on. The examples presented in chapter eleven are therefore given for this very purpose. Each of the individuals presented in the chapter persevered and endured through some period of tribulation in their life. The original readers were being called upon to examine and emulate that type of faith. In the exact same way, modern readers are also called to imitate this type of faith so that they will persevere and walk boldly with Christ through all that that life may throw their way. He begins his chronological march through the Old Testament with three men who lived before the flood: Abel, Enoch, and Noah.
Hebrews 11:8-22 The Enduring Faith of the Patriarchs
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As the author of Hebrews moves on in chapter eleven by giving examples of faithful men and women in the history of the Israelites, he comes to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To be sure, these men exhibited remarkable faith – particularly Abraham - without the benefit of ever seeing the promises of God fulfilled in their lives. In the middle of the passage we will study in this chapter, the author writes, “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised." Some might say that it is easy to live by faith when God always answers your prayers. On the other hand, there is no doubt that to live a life of consistent faith is even more difficult when that life is lived with no answers to prayer or eventual possession of things promised. The author of Hebrews writes to his readers to reinforce within them the biblical perspective needed to survive as a believer in a world that hates God and his followers (see 1 John 3:13 – “Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you”). The men mentioned in this next section of chapter eleven lived their lives with an eternal perspective. They had their eyes on a greater prize than temporal comfort and acceptance. This faith-filled perspective is possible and necessary for any believer in any age to live a life of faith.
Hebrews 11:23-31 The Enduring Faith of the Exodus Generation
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Everyone loves an underdog! The idea of a smaller and outnumbered person or group defeating a more powerful opponent fits well with our study of the next section of the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. In the previous section (vv. 8-22), the author described the faithful lives of the patriarchs of the Jewish faith as they faced persistent disappointment at not possessing the promised earthly inheritance. Now, as we move into the next section, we read of the exploits of Moses and individuals of the Exodus generation. During Moses' lifetime, God was ready to deliver his people out of Egypt just as the patriarchs anticipated. Instead of dealing with disappointment, this generation dealt with perpetual conflict with unbelievers. Both examples are beneficial to the readers of this letter. Just as the patriarchs’ belief in the face of unseen promises would have been helpful to the original readers also clinging to God’s Word, so would reading of others standing strong in the face of great oppression and persecution.
Hebrews 11:32-40 The Enduring Faith of Normal Believers
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It is often good to hear the bad news along with the good but it is rare that we are given the gift of hearing the rest of the story. The author of Hebrews did not want his readers to get a distorted view of life by hearing only a portion of the truth. Therefore, in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, the author purposes to tell all who read this great letter that living a life of faith does not always lead to great victory, success, and prosperity. So far in this chapter, we have read of such well-known biblical heroes as Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. These men were used by God to do incredible acts and are remembered thousands of years later for their faithful obedience. Now, as we near the end of this chapter, the author wants to continue to list even more notables with similar victories of faith in the Old Testament. However, if the author of Hebrews had simply listed more victories and then moved on to his next topic at the conclusion of this lengthy recitation of names and events, his readers would have learned only a small portion of the story. Not every day brings a victory. Some individuals are never rescued, even though they lived their lives in obedient faith. No one likes to read such accounts but to fail to hear of individuals such as these would have led to great tragedy in the lives of the original readers. Sadly, many ministers and churches today teach only half of the same story and their listeners pay the price for their neglect in preaching the whole counsel of God. As we will see in the final section of this chapter, we must hear and heed the rest of the story.
Hebrews 12:1-2 The Christian Life: Running the Race with Endurance
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In the first two verses of the twelfth chapter, the author of Hebrews begins to apply all the truths presented in the first ten chapters. What will a life lived in confident trust in the Superior High Priest look like? How does an enduring and obedient faith work in everyday life? There is only one exhortation in the entire passage: “Let us run.” This one verb is surrounded by a series of participles and prepositions that serve to tell us how we are to run the race. Everything else in the passage supports and serves this one exhortation. This passage does not tell us to run the race and do these other things, as well. These “other things” are the ways believers are to live lives of enduring obedient faith.
Hebrews 12:3-11 The Christian Life: Disciplined by Divine Suffering
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The slow devolution of fatherhood in our popular media has surely had some effect on the viewers’ understanding of the family in general and fatherhood in particular. Another fearful effect can be seen in the area of biblical interpretation. The Bible uses the image of the father consistently to reveal various aspects of the relationship between God and his people. As the popular image of fatherhood continues to devolve, certain characteristics of God will become less meaningful and even unintelligible to our children and grandchildren. The ability to comprehend and appreciate the biblical presentation of God as our Heavenly Father will become distorted or even lost completely. The passage we come to in our on-going study of Hebrews offers one such potential difficulty. The verses below speak of divine parental discipline – the biblical teaching that God chastises and trains his children by means of difficulties and hardships of life. This teaching is not popular or even desirous to hear among many. However, when the difficult times come in our lives, such words serves as a source of great encouragement as they help us to understand why things happen the way that they do. Just like us, the original readers were prone to thinking incorrectly about the troubles they were experiencing. To give encouragement and to motivate his readers to endure the difficulties of life, the author instructs them to persevere and hold fast to their faith.
Hebrews 12:12-17 The Christian Life: Keeping an Eye on Others
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In the previous section of Scripture, the author explains “the secret” behind all the difficult times the readers had experienced and were currently experiencing. Their afflictions did not just come into their lives at the hands of fate and destiny. Instead, the author wants his readers to understand that God was and is behind all of it, including the affliction that was just now on the distant horizon. God ordains all the rough moments in a Christian’s life but he does so for a divine purpose – the discipline of his precious children. Now, with this knowledge in hand, we must and can live our lives differently than in the past. The assumption of the author is that “knowing what God is up to in our suffering is the key to pressing on in the race of holy Christian living.” Prior to understanding this truth, believers were often tempted to believe that God had abandoned them. When the affliction or persecution would begin, it seemed to the natural eye and mind that they were on their own. However, now armed with the truth that all the adversity we endure is part of God’s sovereign design for our good and our holiness, believers know that God is using the current situations in their lives to accomplish a very good thing in their life: growth in holiness. Such knowledge is indeed transformative and should look like the following in the life of all believers.
Hebrews 12:18-24 The Christian Life: Always Moving Towards our Current Destination
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We often long for the good ol' days but not many of us would want to give up modern conveniences like cell phones, the internet, and air conditioning. The book of Hebrews was to say the same thing on a different level to first-century Jews who had converted to Christianity. Their new faith in Christ led to significant problems in other areas of their life. They are disowned by family. They are being persecuted by society. Many are beginning to think that a simple return to Judaism will solve all their problems. The author of Hebrews wrote his letter to convince them of the spiritual death that would follow if they leave Christ to return to Moses. Now, after multiple exhortations and warnings, he offers one final summary argument in seven verses in the middle of the twelfth chapter. He reminds them of where they once were and where they now stand. In this stark comparison, the decision they must make is shown to be an obvious one.
Hebrews 12:25-29 The Final Warning: Don't Stop Listening to Jesus
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While it is true that the New Testament does give us a fuller revelation of God, we dare not say that we read of a different God in the New Testament. The God we worship today is the same God worshipped by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, John the Baptist, and Paul. However, passages such as the one we studied last – Hebrews 12:18-24 – often add to the confusion. The same God spoke both covenants into existence and therefore, we are to follow the instruction of our author in the passage where we find the fifth and final warning to his readers: “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking” (Heb 12:25). This great command is given once again in this letter and backed up with a terrifying warning to those who would refuse to heed it.
Hebrews 13:1-6 The Public and Private Christian Life
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Unlike most New Testament authors, the writer of Hebrews has not saved all his practical application until the end of the letter. Instead, he has interspersed doctrine and duty throughout the sermon. Now, after teaching his readers that their God is both the consuming holiness of Sinai and the consuming love of Zion, he writes in the final chapter several intensely practical commands to reveal to his readers exactly what it looks like to persevere in their Christian lives in regular, everyday ways. Each of the practical exhortations in this closing chapter provides general instructions on how to interact with those around us. The first five exhortations (vv. 1-6) deal with Christian relationships to people and things in their everyday lives.
Hebrews 13:7-19 Public and Private Christian Obligations
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In this final section of the letter to the Hebrews, the author asks his readers to remember their former spiritual leaders and the great unchanging truths they taught them. He ends by exhorting them to respect and follow the leaders God has currently placed in their lives. In between, the writer lays out for the final time the great truth he has labored to make clear throughout this incredible book – Jesus is superior.
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