The Letter to the Hebrews

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH CHRIST  Read Hebrews 1:1-14

   God in past times has spoken to men in a variety of ways through the prophets, but now through his Son, whom he made the heir and sustainer of all things, his creative agent, the reflection of his glory and the exact expression of his substance.

   This Son of God, this Jesus, after having cleansed men of their sin, seated himself at the right hand of Glory, taking precedence even over the angels. Indeed, the Old Testament scriptures clearly bear out the inherited superiority of Jesus to any and all spiritual beings [Psalm 2:7, II Samuel 7:14, Psalm 97:7, Psalm 104:4, Psalm 45:6-7, Psalm 102:25-27, Psalm 110:1, Psalm 103:20].

WE DARE NOT NEGLECT HIS SALVATION  Read 2:1-4

   Since this is true, it will be well for us to pay attention to what God has been saying to us. He is unvarying in dealing out the wages of sin. How then shall we escape, if we are careless in the response we make to his salvation?

   God himself has borne witness to his saving power, and has

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confirmed it to us by the testimony of the early disciples, by signs and marvels, and by the bestowal of his Holy Spirit.

HE BECAME LOWER THAN ANGELS  Read 2:5-8

   When the scripture says that God made the son of man "a little lower than the angels," it adds that he put "all things in subjection under man's feet." But get this straight: we do not yet see man in control of things. Neither do we see angels in control.

FOR US AND OUR DELIVERANCE  Read 2:9-13

   What we actually see is Jesus, made lower than angels briefly — that he might taste death for every man — but now crowned with glory and honor. This Jesus has become the captain of our salvation, and calls his spiritual sons his brethren [Psalm 22:22, Isaiah 8:17-18].

HE TOOK THE LINE OF ABRAHAM  Read 2:14-18

   Our Lord did not become an angel at all; he became flesh, of the seed of Abraham, in order that through death he might inactivate the one [Satan] who has power over death, and so deliver men forever from the terror of death. He did this by becoming one of us, and then by becoming our high priest and making propitiation for the people's sins.

THE SON AND THE SERVANT  Read 3:1-6

   So take careful note of our Jesus, who may be counted worthy of far more glory than Moses. Moses, to be sure, built the house of Israel, but God created all things. Moses was a faithful servant in God's house, but Christ is the Son of the house. And we ourselves are of his house, if we abide unshakenly in that great hope.

ENCOURAGE EACH OTHER DAILY  Read 3:7-14

   As the Spirit of God warns us, we are not to allow our hearts to be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, the way the Israelites did during their wanderings in the wilderness [Psalm 95:7-11].

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Rather we are to encourage each other daily, maintain our partnership with Christ and keep a watchful eye for signs of unbelief.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ISRAELITES  Read 3:15-19

   You will recall that the Israelites heard God's faithful voice clearly after they left Egypt, but were then disobedient to the Lord during the forty years that followed. This so angered God that he swore the disobedient ones should not enter into his rest — that is, into Canaan. And they never did!

THE PLACE OF REST REMAINS  Read 4:1-6

   Yet the whole intent of scripture at this point is to show us that there is still a place of rest for the people of God, and that God has promised it to us, just as he did to the Hebrew fathers. God built that rest into the fabric of his creation [Genesis 2:2]. If the Israelites did not enter into it, it is because the hearing of the word must always be combined with faith.

JOSHUA DID NOT REALLY FIND IT  Read 4:7-11

   Now, David, writing centuries later, continues to warn his fellow Israelites not to harden their hearts toward God if they would hear his voice "today." He shows that Joshua did not really find the rest of God upon entering Canaan.

   So a full and complete rest from our labors — God's Sabbath rest — still awaits us, and we should lose no time entering into it, for we have no desire to follow the example of those who fell through disobedience.

WITH JESUS WE NEED NOT FEAR  Read 4:12-16

   For the word of God is living, full of energy, and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the reflections and designs of the heart. Every created thing lies naked and open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

   But with Jesus the Son of God as our great high priest, we need

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not cringe, but can come boldly before God seeking mercy and help. In him we have one who sympathizes with our human frailty, since he was tempted in all things like us, yet remained without sin.

THE FUNCTION OF A HIGH PRIEST  Read 5:1-4

   The whole purpose of a high priest is to represent his weak and wandering brethren before God, and to offer gifts and sacrifices for their sins. To fulfill such a role with understanding, he, being human, had to include his own needs with his prayers for others. Yet, like Aaron [the father of the Levitical priesthood, he also had to be divinely called.

OUR LORD FULFILLS EVERY REQUIREMENT  Read 5:5-8

   Our Lord meets these requirements. He was called of God [Psalm 2:7] and was made a high priest, not through Aaron's line but after the order of Mechizadek ["king of righteousness"; Psalm 110:4, Genesis 14:18].

   In the days of his flesh, Christ offered requests and entreaties to his heavenly Father, and he was heard amid his tears. And although he was the Son of God, he learned . . . obedience by the things that he suffered.

YOU SHOULD BE MATURE CHRISTIANS  Read 5:9-14

   Thus Jesus Christ became for those who obey him the responsible cause of eternal salvation. To be sure, this is not easy teaching, but you have become sluggish listeners. By this time you should be teaching others, yet you need someone to give you the basics of God's word all over again. You are still on a baby's milk diet, when you should be eating good, solid food, as mature Christians with discriminating moral sense.

CHRISTIANS, LET US GO ON  Read 6:1-8

   Let us go on, therefore, from simple basic principles to mature Christianity, and not spend more time endlessly hashing over

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the fundamentals of faith and works, repentance and baptism, resurrection and judgment. Obviously, once a man has tasted of the heavenly gift and become a partaker of the Holy Spirit, and has fallen away, it is impossible to bring him again to repentance. God blesses the soil that is well watered and productive, but what can he do with a crop of thorns and briers?

DO NOT BECOME LAZY DISCIPLES  Read 6:9-12

   Of course we are not speaking now of you, for God is hardly likely to forget your past labour of love in serving the brethren. We just do not want you to become lazy Christians, or to let go of your hope. Rather we would hold up some examples for you to follow.

WE FOLLOW CHRIST WITHIN THE VEIL  Read 6:13-20

   When the Lord promised Abraham that his descendants would be blessed, the promise was sealed with a divine oath [Genesis 22:16-18]. This double assurance provides strong encouragement today for us. We seize eagerly upon it, make it our soul's anchor, and enter by it within the veil of the temple, following our high priest, Jesus, into the holy presence of the Lord.

WHY THE ORDER OF MELCHIZADEK?  Read 7:1-3

   Why has Jesus become our high priest of the order of Melchizedek? Because, according to the scriptures, Melchizedek was not a priest by descent. He succeeded no one in office; no one succeeded him. He himself constituted the entire order and, like the Son of God, he is a priest eternally.

SUPERIORITY TO THE LEVITICAL LINE  Read 7:4-10

   Melchizedek was so important that Abraham gave him a tenth of the spoils of battle [Genesis 14:20] and received a blessing from him. The Melchizedek priesthood is obviously superior to the Levitical line, because Levi was in the loins of Abraham, so to speak, when Abraham paid the tithe.

COMPARISON OF THE TWO PRIESTHOODS  Read 7:11-24

   Compare the two priesthoods. If men could have achieved perfection under the law of Moses and the priesthood of the Levites, no change would have been deemed necessary. But Aaron's priesthood was mortal, and was vitiated from the beginning by human weakness. Furthermore, his priestly line was constituted without a divine oath.

   By contrast, our Lord did not come from the line of Levi and Aaron at all. He was born of the non-priestly tribe of Judah. A change of priesthood necessitates a change of law. So, in the likeness of Melchizedek, another priest [Christ] arises, constituted forever by God's own oath according to the power of an indestructible life.

HE SAVES TO THE UTTERMOST  Read 7:25-28

   This man, this eternal high priest, is able to save to the uttermost (i.e., completely) those who come to God by him, for he is ever interceding for them. And in his holiness he does not need to atone for sin by offering continuous daily sacrifices. He did this once for all in offering up himself.

THE TRUE TABERNACLE IN HEAVEN  Read 8:1-6

   To crown it all, our high priest is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God, ministering in the celestial tabernacle pitched by God himself. Every high priest, of course, is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices, but if Jesus were on earth now, he would not even be a priest under the Mosaic law.

GOD WROTE A NEW CONTRACT  Read 8:7-13

   Just as Jesus' ministry is now superior to the earthly or shadow priesthood, so he is now the mediator of a new covenant, established upon better promises.

   Those promises are set forth by the Lord in Jeremiah 31:31-34. He will establish (he says) a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah, unlike the old Sinai Covenant which they broke. Under this new agreement, he will put his law into the minds of the people and engrave it upon their hearts. He will be merciful

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toward their unrighteousness, and will no longer remember their sins.

   So, by introducing the new covenant, God rendered the old one practically obsolete.

SOMETHING HAD TO BE DONE  Read 9:1-10

   It is true that under the first covenant, as instituted by Moses, a tabernacle was prepared which had elaborate regulations for worship and impressive appointments: the lampstand, table, altar of incense, and the memorials of the past, which we need not describe in detail.

   There was also an inner tabernacle called the Holy of holies, into which the high priest went once a year all alone to offer blood sacrifices for himself and his people. In so doing, he became in a sense the archetype of all "bootstrap religion." Did any of the various washings or offerings or dietary taboos cleanse the conscience of the people or improve their character? Obviously something more effective was needed.

A MATTER OF WHOSE BLOOD  Read 9:11-14

   So Christ came. He entered once for all into the holy place and offered not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood to obtain eternal redemption. How much greater was this unblemished sacrifice — the blood of Christ to cleanse us from dead works to serve the living God!

WHAT CHRIST'S DEATH EFFECTED  Read 9:15-18

   That is why Christ is mediator of the new covenant [or testament]. When a man makes a will, does he not have to die for the will to take effect? So, by means of the death of Christ, under his new agreement those called by God receive the promise of an eternal inheritance.

NO SHEDDING OF BLOOD, NO REMISSION  Read 9:19-28

   The Sinai agreement and the early tabernacle were sanctified by Moses with blood sacrifice, and rightly so, for without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Heaven, however,

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required a better sacrifice. Not that Christ needed to make repetitious offerings; he did it once, and that was enough. How many times does a man die? Once, and then is judged — there are no second chances, no "purgatory" according to the writer of Hebrews. So Christ bore our sins once; and when he appears the second time, it will be to gather those who are eagerly waiting for him.

ANIMAL SACRIFICES DID NO GOOD  Read 10:1-17

   The sacrifices offered by the high priest of Israel year after year never did anyone any good. How could they? It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. The Old Testament made it clear that when Christ came, he would do away with burnt offerings and daily sacrifices for sin by establishing God's will [Psalm 40:6-8]. And this he did, by offering his own body once for all — an act which completed and fulfilled those whom he sanctified.

HERE IS A NEW AND LIVING WAY  Read 10:18-22

   This is a new and living way, brethren. We enter boldly into the Holy of holies by the blood of Jesus, and draw near to God in full assurance of faith, having our hearts (not the tabernacle furnishings) sprinkled with blood, and our bodies bathed in clean water.

A FEARFUL THING TO FACE GOD  Read 10:23-39

   So let us hold our confession unwaveringly, knowing that God is faithful. Let us gather to encourage one another in the Christian life, and take care not to sin willfully, lest we trample on the son of God and insult the Spirit of grace. I tell you, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, for he is a just God and he repays. Call to mind, then, the zeal of your early days, when you took hardship lightly. Don't shrink and draw back from the life of faith; Christ is coming and your reward is sure.

WHAT WE MEAN BY FAITH  Read Hebrews 11:1-3, 6

   What is faith? It is hope turned into assurance — the believer's inner conviction concerning realities he cannot yet see. By faith

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we understand that it was God who shaped the universe. Without such faith we cannot please him, or even apprehend that he exists.

THE FAITH OF OUR FOREFATHERS  Read 11:4-16

   Our forefathers were men of faith, and it brought results in their lives. Consider Abel, with a sacrifice acceptable to God; Enoch, caught up with the Lord; Noah, saved with his household from disaster; Abraham, God's pioneer and founder; Sarah, given strength for childbearing when past her age. Pilgrims and strangers all of them, seeking by faith a better country, and God has honored them and has prepared it for them.

THE PRACTICAL RESULTS OF FAITH  Read 11:17-31

   It was by faith that Abraham offered up Isaac, and received him back, so to speak, from the dead. By faith the patriarchs blessed those who came after them. By faith Moses turned his back on Egypt and delivered his people from bondage, passing through the Red Sea. By faith Rahab the harlot hid a Hebrew scouting patrol in her home on the edge of Jericho.

GOD SAVED THE BEST FOR US  Read 11:32-40

   Think of the others of the past who, because of their faith, rose to magnificent achievements: Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets, and other men and women who through faith were able to face up to lions, fire, sword, mockings, scourging, imprisonment, slavery, stonings, torture, hunger, temptation, exposure, destitution, exile and death itself.

   By enduring these things they were enabled to subdue kingdoms, bring about justice, and obtain the promises of God. I tell you, this world was not worthy of these people; yet they all died in faith and did not receive the full promise. God had saved that for us!

TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS  Read 12:1-4

   With these witnesses inspiring us, our course is clear. We are spiritually to train off all excess weight and get into the competition

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for the full distance, with our eyes on Jesus, our great "starter" and "finish judge" in the race of life, who himself endured the cross to win a crown of joy. While we are looking at him, let me ask: Have you resisted in this matter of sin until the blood comes?

THE FATHER DISCIPLINES HIS SONS  Read 12:5-11

   We are warned not to treat lightly the chastening of the Lord, brethren, for how can we be sons if we reject the Father's discipline? God's discipline is always for our good, no matter how it may seem at the moment.

THIS IS THE COMMAND: GET GOING!  Read 12:12-17

   So swing your flabby arms and pump your paralyzed knees, and start "making tracks"; the lame muscles will soon become tough. Pursue a path of peace with everyone, and sanctification, without which no man shall see the Lord. Watch carefully for the failures and Esaus in your midst. Esau, you recall, in the matter of repentance, went past the point of no return.

NOT MOUNT SINAI, BUT MOUNT ZION  Read 12:18-24

   As Christians, you have not come to the terror of Mount Sinai, which even Moses feared in all its fire and gloom; you have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Here are angels; here is the church triumphant; here is God himself, and Jesus, with the blood of sprinkling.

HE WILL SHAKE EARTH AND HEAVEN  Read 12:25-29

   See that you do not avoid this word from God, for if they did not escape who refused his law given at Sinai, how can we, if we turn away from him when he speaks from heaven? They saw fire on the mountain, but how much more is our God in heaven a consuming fire! His voice shook the earth then, but he has promised that next time he will shake heaven as well, so that only those things which cannot be shaken will remain.

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WHAT CAN MAN DO TO US?  Read 13:1-6

   As Christians you are bound to all men, whether brother, stranger, prisoner or victim of torture — so love them and look after them as you can. Honor the marriage bond, and let your manner of life be satisfied with present circumstances. God has promised, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." With him on our side, we have nothing to fear. What can man do to us?

LET US GO OUTSIDE THE CAMP  Read 13:7-14

   Remember those who formerly led you and taught you God's word, and imitate the example of their conduct and faith. Don't be swept away by every shift of doctrine; Jesus Christ is always the same yesterday, today, and forever.

   In the Christian approach to God, there is no need for a sacrificial ceremony in the temple. Christ's atoning death had nothing to do with the temple. He suffered "outside the camp"— meaning, his crucifixion which was on Golgotha, was outside the city wall of Jerusalem; and that is where we belong, set apart and sharing his reproach, and looking for a better city which is yet to come.

LISTEN CAREFULLY TO YOUR PASTORS  Read 13:15-17

   So let our sacrifice be the praise of our lips to God, and our sharing and helping of one another; this is what God wants. Listen to your shepherds and yield to them, for they watch over your souls and are accountable for them; and they prefer to fill their accounts with joy rather than with groans.

THE BEST OF EVERYTHING TO YOU  Read 13:18-25

   Pray for me, that I may return to you soon. And may the God of peace, who brought up again from among the dead our Lord Jesus, fulfill his own will and work his own pleasure in you; and to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

   Put up with these words of encouragement and exhortation, brethren. Timothy has been released; we may see you soon. Meanwhile, greet all our Christian friends. Those of Italy, who are with us, send their best to you. Grace be with you all.

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   Hebrews is in some ways the heart of the New Testament. It contains some of the deepest teaching (2:8,9; 4:12; 7:9,10; 10:4, 11:3), some of the strongest figures and images, and some of the sublimest passages ever written in any language. Our paraphrase cannot begin to do justice to the excitement that sweeps in one crescendo after another through the thirteen chapters of this letter.

   Jesus Christ is sketched in bold strokes that bring out the full character of His Person (the height of His deity and the depth of His humanity) and the nature of His ministry (the work of the great High Priest in our behalf).

   It will be helpful, perhaps, if certain themes can be noted weaving their way through the letter: (1) the superiority of Christ to all the institutions of men and angels; (2) the sharp contrast between the daily temple ceremonies of the Old Testament and finished work of Christ; (3) the distinction between what is visible and material, and what is invisible and spiritual; (4) the inspiring heritage of faith in the past, and the great hope of the Christian as he looks toward the future.

   Hebrews is a letter best studied verse by verse. The Melchizedek image is highly fruitful in spiritual meaning. You will find passages on which earnest Christians disagree, such as 6:4-6, 10:26, 12:25. Get all the help you can at these points.

   No verse study will yield much, however, unless the author's primary purpose is borne in mind continually. That purpose is to sound a trumpet-blast to wake up absent-minded and easily distracted Christians. It exhorts, warns, encourages and challenges the pilgrim in his quest for "a better country." After your group has studied the letter and the paraphrase, raise the question: Did the author succeed in his purpose? Does his addressing of the letter to "Hebrews" affect the import of his teachings?

   Spend a minimum of time on questions of background and authorship. Hebrews has been attributed to many hands. Speculation is of little value and, in any case, this letter is too full of solid meat to spend much time examining the silverware.

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