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Hebrews 10v15-25
The result of one sacrifice
for all sins for all people for all time is the precious
news of the new covenant. Jesus Christ has opened up for us
“a new and living way” (v20) of relating to God, so that we
can come boldly. We can “draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience” (v22)
The Israelites, under the Old Covenant, were commanded to
keep the law, but they lived under a perpetual sense of
guilt and condemnation. They constantly went astray
in their hearts and their motivations were to desert the
Lord their God.
V16 “This is the covenant
that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD:
I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I
will write them.” The writer to the Hebrews is quoting this
passage from Jeremiah for a second time (see 8v10) to
emphasise its importance in his argument.
In the light of this amazing truth a believer has a strong
foundation to “hold fast the confession of hope without
wavering”. (v23)
We need frequent reminding of these wonderful things and to
encourage each other to keep going in faith.
Previously......
Hebrews 10v1-14
Our focus for the evening
revolved around verse 5 “a body you have prepared for me”.
This is a reminder of the coming of our Lord as a baby.
Jesus came to do the will of God specifically at Calvary to
be the sacrifice once for all, for all time. (v10, v14)
In coming to Christ we are
made perfect (in spirit) v1, our sins are removed (v4) and
we therefore should no longer be sin conscious. We are
sanctified (i.e. we become saints) v10 and perfected forever
(v14).
Hebrews 9v15-28
The Old Testament sacrificial
system served a purpose for the time from Moses up to
Christ’s death. Year upon year animals were slaughtered in
strict accordance with the law. The sacrifices were not
actually taking away sin, but acting as a picture of the
sacrifice of Christ who was to come.
The sacrifices involved much
shedding of blood. The blood was sprinkled on the book of
the Law, the people, the tabernacle, and the ministry
vessels. In a similar way Christ’s blood has been
“sprinkled” for our cleaning and forgiveness. He died once
in history for all people for all time. “One sacrifice for
sins forever” (Hebrews 10v12)
Hebrews 9v1-14
The most striking difference
between the efficacy of the Old Testament sacrifices and
Christ’s sacrifice is the effect on the human conscience.
V9: “both gifts and
sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed
the service perfect in regard to the conscience”.
V14: “how much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from
dead works to serve the living God?”
The blood of animals had no actual power, but was a type and
shadow of the real “Lamb” who was to come.
!0v4: “For
it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could
take away sins”.
We can be conscious of our sins, our weaknesses, our shame,
and we can be fearful of the fire of hell. All these are of
no avail unless they cause us to run to Christ for help and
for His answer. He died in our place. He took our weakness,
our sin and our shame and went to hell for us. It is being
Christ conscious that brings us into the holy Presence of
God and gives us peace.
Hebrews 8v1-13
Verse one is the central
point of the argument of the book of Hebrews. The writer has
been carefully demonstrating, using the Old Testament, that
Christ is the High Priest of the New Covenant. The Levitical
high priests were a type of Jesus Christ who was to come. In
the same way, the elaborately constructed earthly tabernacle
was a copy and shadow of the heavenly one, not made by the
hands of men. Everything is better about the New Covenant.
It is established by a better High Priest with a more
excellent ministry and its foundation has better promises
too.
This New Covenant was
foretold in the Old Testament in many passages of scripture,
but Jeremiah 31v31-34 is perhaps the main one, quoted in
full in Hebrews 8. It is the longest Old Testament quote in
the New Testament. It describes how the old covenant was
inadequate to enable people to live new lives. They were
always going astray, and God was always finding fault with
them, with resulting punishment. The New Covenant puts God’s
laws in our hearts and minds. With born again spirits we
want to please God and obey His commands. Sin is not part of
who we really are. And when we do sin, the blood of Jesus
has already paid the price for our forgiveness and
cleansing.
The New Covenant is about a
love relationship between us and God.
“I will be their God, and
they shall be my people” (v10)
“ …for all shall know Me,
from the least of them to the greatest” (v11)
Hebrews 7v11-28
Melchisedek occupies about
three chapters of the book of Hebrews. His uniqueness as a
priest and king is central to the argument. He was the Old
Testament shadow to describe Christ’s role as “our high
priest forever after the order of Melchisedek”.
The Levitical priesthood was
not a perfect system. It was powerless to cleanse the guilty
conscience. God appointed mortal imperfect men, who had to
offer sacrifices daily for their own sins before they could
offer sacrifices for the sins of others.
Christ on the other hand was
appointed by an oath of God. He offered up Himself once for
all, forever. He is holy, undefiled separated from sinners.
He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God
through Him. He ever lives to make intercession for us.
So much more Jesus has become
a surety of a better covenant. He has obtained a more
excellent ministry as Mediator of a better covenant,
established on better promises.
What an amazing passage of
scripture!
Hebrews 6v13-7v10
The solid food begins with
God’s promises to Abraham. Although God’s word is good
enough to trust on its own, He endorsed it with an oath.
(v13)
Genesis 22v16,17: “By Myself
I have sworn…in blessing I will bless you…”
The word of men is not always
reliable, and the swearing of an oath is deemed to add
weight to it. God did not need such a device, but He used it
to reassure Abraham that he could trust him. We too have
strong reassurances from the Lord that His word is reliable.
(v18) He knows that we need reassurance.
Psalm110v4” The Lord has
sworn and will not relent, “You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek”
Melchizedek is a seemingly
obscure Old Testament character that the writer used to make
powerful points about the importance of Jesus Christ the
Messiah. These verses 7v1-10 are not easy to understand (we
were warned in 5v11). Melchizedek was unique in the Old
Testament – a priest and a king, and one who had no known
genealogy. He is a “type” of Christ, a foreshadow of our
great High Priest.
The Levitical priests
received tithes from God’s people, but they were mortal
fallible man, who themselves were descended from Abraham.
Abraham paid a tithe to Melchizedek and in a sense the sons
of Levi paid also through their forefather Abraham. Christ
however came from the tribe of Judah and he is a priest from
an entirely different order.
All this is to say that Jesus
Christ is above all, better than all, ever living, our
Great High Priest and King. All praise to His name!
Hebrews 6v1-12
The writer of Hebrews is
preparing to deliver “solid food” to his readers. He is
trusting that God will enable them to understand it since
they had become “dull of hearing” (5v11, 6v3).
He prefaces that glorious
section (6v13-10v18) with a salutary warning (6v4-8), the
like of which has been hotly debated over centuries. We put
debating aside and used our time rather to encourage and
strengthen our faith. We saw the need for such a warning (we
need to persevere in believing on Christ, but He preserves
us to the end) since it is natural to take grace for
granted. Nevertheless we reminded ourselves of the many
stirring assurances given to believers about their making it
to heaven. For example: “He who has begun a good work in you
will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians
1v6).
The writer said he was
“confident of better things” in their case (v9). No real
Christian can lose his salvation even if he falls into gross
sin time and time again. Time and again he will seek the
mercy of his Saviour (that’s in the nature of a real
born-again believer). That such a one could utterly reject
the Lord and His salvation is unthinkable, but on the same
count we are foolish if we ignore the stern words given by
the Holy Spirit to us here.
Hebrews 6v10 is a beautiful
verse of comfort and love. Nothing that we do for Him is
forgotten by him or ignored. Rather our service can be a
reassurance to our hearts when they condemn us (1John
3v19,20).
Next week the “strong meat”
begins; wonderful stuff about Christ’s person and work and
His fulfilment of Old Testament types and shadows.
Definitely worth the effort of any Christian to get one’s
head around; promises to strengthen and to put down firm
roots of faith for even the wobbliest believer!
Hebrews 5
We have, in this passage, the Old
Testament high priest given as a shadow of the great High
Priest Jesus, who came once for all and made the old system
obsolete. Like the ordinary high priests, Jesus was subject
to physical weakness, and He was called by God to His
office. Jesus was also foreshadowed by the king-priest
Melchizedek, who came out to meet Abraham after a battle.
A high priest “can have compassion on
those who are ignorant and going astray” (v2). This is good
news for weak immature Christians, like the Jews who were
the first recipients of this letter. They were tempted to go
back to Judaism and forsake faith in Christ. There is good
solid food to follow on in chapters 7-10. It is all about
Jesus the perfect High Priest, the all sufficient sacrifice,
and the new covenant that gives worshippers “no more
consciousness of sins” (10v2).
If they could only sit up and listen
and not be “dull of hearing” (5v11) or sluggish (6v12) then
this food would strengthen and confirm them in faith in
Christ and fix their eyes on Him.
Hebrews 4v1-16
What is “His rest” spoken of here? Heaven, salvation, one
day off work each week? We agreed that it is a description
of the eternal life that has already begun for us in our
relationship with Christ as born again believers.
In Psalm 95, David prophesied of a future day, “Today”. A
day to cease from trying by your own good deeds to save
yourself, to justify yourself before God. A day to be humble
before the Lord and to receive His rest as a gift with
thankfulness.
Although His rest describes our salvation, it also describes
our day to day abiding in Him, walking in His love. “In
returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and
confidence shall be your strength.” (Isaiah 30v15)
We must choose to receive His rest and it is our loss when
we don’t. He is grieved when we do our own thing, but He is
able to “sympathise with our weaknesses” (v15). He never
stopped providing for His people during their 40-year desert
journey, but we should learn from their example not to be
hardened in attitude against the Lord. Yet we will have
repeated opportunities to hear “His voice” and be sensitive
to His Spirit. When we fail we need not hesitate to “come
boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need2 (v16)
Hebrews 3v7-19
This passage reminds us of the unbelieving
stubbornness of the children of Israel at the time of Moses.
They grumbled and complained on ten separate occasions and
would not enter the promised land of Canaan when God gave
them opportunity. As a result of their unbelief they spent
40 years wandering in the desert until every person aged 20+
had died. Moses gave them God’s laws and commandments, but
these did not change their evil hearts. Under the new
covenant in Christ the laws are written on our hearts
(6v10). We have the Holy Spirit living in us and we are born
again. Yet the same warning comes to us, “exhort one another
daily, while it is called “today” lest any of you be
hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” (v13). Whilst we
are assured that “He who began a good work in you will bring
it to completion” (Philippians 1v6), we cannot “continue in
sin that grace may abound” (Romans 6v1).
Whilst Canaan could be seen to be a “type” of
heaven, and many old hymns refer to it in this way, we felt
strongly that Canaan rather represented the victory and
abundant life that Christ has won for us to live now. What
is the “rest”? (v18) Chapter 4 will reveal all.
Hebrews 2v14 -3v6
The glories of Jesus our Saviour
continued to occupy our attention in our study this week. He
became a man and suffered death in order that we should no
longer be afraid of death and pain that goes with it. “Let
not your hearts be troubled”, “Do not fear”, are repeated
commands throughout scripture. How beneficial it would be to
us to lay up these scriptures in our hearts and allow them
to become our reality. “Though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death I will fear no evil”. (Psalm 23v4)
There is nothing that we go through
that Jesus did not suffer, nor any temptation that we face
that He did not. He was “in all points tempted as we are yet
without sin” (4v15). He came to “release those who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage”
(2v15).
What a great salvation we have in
Christ!
Chapter 3 addresses the recipients of
the Hebrews letter as “holy brethren, partakers of the
heavenly calling”. How encouraging to struggling believers
who were tempted to give up! How do we see ourselves and
each other? We may be all too aware of the shame and blame
of our actions and words, but in Christ we are “holy
brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling”. How beneficial
to start to see ourselves as God sees us!
Moses had his faults which are recorded
for us in scripture, (by him!) but 3v5 is a wonderful quote
from Numbers 12v7 “Moses was indeed faithful in all his
house” These were words spoken by the Lord Himself to Aaron
and Miriam when they criticised their brother. How amazing
is the Lord’s grace to us all! Hebrews 3v4 reminds us that
our salvation is all of God. He is the Master Builder “For
every house is built by someone, but He who built all things
is God. How important to build in His strength and
ability and not our own. “Unless the LORD builds the house,
they labour in vain who build it.” (Psalm 127v1) And we are
His house!(3v6) “but Christ as a Son over His own house,
whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the
rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.”
(3v6)
Confidence is just faith and trust. If
we truly have faith and trust at our heart level we will be
rejoicing and praising God continually.
Can we keep going like this to the end,
trusting Him through thick and thin? Of ourselves, no way!
“being
confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good
work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”.
(Philippians 1v6)
Aren’t we glad it’s not about us and our
faithfulness! It’s about “Christ Jesus,
the Apostle and High
Priest of our confession, who was faithful to Him who
appointed Him”. (3v1,2)
Alleluia!
Hebrews 2v1-13
Having argued the uniqueness and
supremacy of Christ in chapter 1, the writer sternly warns
his readers to keep on following Jesus. In doing so he
heralds the book’s main theme- DON’T GIVE UP!
In contrast to the law of Moses, issued
at Sinai, when even the violations were harshly punished,
the gospel of grace comes in with signs, wonders and
miracles; tokens of God’s goodness.
Yet salvation, as great and wonderful
as it is in our Lord Jesus Christ, cannot be ignored,
sidelined or taken half-heartedly. Hebrews 3v14: “For we
have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of
our confidence steadfast to the end”.
We reminded ourselves here of verses
that reassure us that the Lord Himself will get us to the
end safely. Romans 8v35: “Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ?... persecution? famine?…etc…yet in all these
things we are more than conquerors”. 2Timothy 1v2: “I know
whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to
guard what I have entrusted to him for that day”.
Thus we balanced scripture with
scripture to get the whole picture. We must do the
persevering in Christ, but He preserves us in
Him. Thus we have no need to fear, just look to Him and
trust.
The Hebrews passage goes on to describe
the humanity of Jesus. He had to trust His heavenly Father
(v13) and had perfect faith as He “tasted death for
everyone” (v9). We who get all the benefits of Christ’s
sufferings have become His brothers and sisters in a close
bond to Him. His faith becomes our faith; He makes us holy
and we become holy through Him; He’s not ashamed of us (we
might be ashamed of ourselves!); He loves us wholeheartedly.
Unless the Son of God had become a man
like us, He would not have won our salvation. “He was made a
little lower than the angels”(v9), the very ones He had
created. For this reason He is now “crowned with glory and
honour” at the Father’s right hand. (v9)
We may see ourselves as struggling
alone in this world to be faithful to Christ but the truth
is: “God raised us up together, and made us sit together in
the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”. (Ephesians2v6)
What a perspective from which to live
life!
Hebrews 1v6-14
This section of scripture is big on
angels. Angels were big in Jewish minds too, not least
because there were tens of thousands of them around when the
law was given on Mount Sinai. We considered the importance
of angels throughout the bible and concluded that verse 14
of out text said it all: “Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit
salvation?”
We spent time looking up the Old
Testament references of the quotes given and reading the
context of each. It was a worthwhile effort giving us better
understanding of the writer’s argument. The superiority of
Christ (how could you think He was just an angel?) came
across forcibly. He is the angel’s creator.
The argument is building to 2v3 “How
shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” Miss
Christ and you miss everything.
Hebrews 1v1-5
Nobody really knows who wrote the epistle to the Hebrews;
although many think it was the apostle Paul. It was written
to Hebrew Christians who, suffering trials for their faith,
were sorely tempted to revert back to Judaism. The great
theme of the epistle is summarised in Hebrews 2v3 “how shall
we escape if we neglect so great a salvation”. For real
Christians there is no turning back; the narrow way of
following Jesus Christ is the only path to the Father.
The glory of this epistle is Jesus
himself; it’s all about Him and His finished work and
wonderful redemption for us on the cross.
Hebrews1v1-3 is a brilliant
introduction. It is an outline of Christ’s life, death,
resurrection and present state, seated “at the right hand of
the Majesty on high”.
Hebrews 1v4 introduces the rest of the
chapter regarding the huge and obvious differences between
Jesus Christ and the angels.
Some false teaching sought to put
Christ down to the level of angel, but v5 makes it quite
clear that he was the very Son of God.
We looked at the complete passages from
the Old Testament that the quotes in v5 are taken from.
Psalm 2 is a Messianic psalm and 2 Samuel 7v12-16 has a
powerful Messianic message especially in v13 “I will
establish the throne of his kingdom forever”. Who else but
our Lord?
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