Such a Great Salvation

11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.

15 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is witnessed of him,

“You are a priest forever,
    after the order of Melchizedek.”

18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

20 And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, 21 but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him:

“The Lord has sworn
    and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest forever.’”

22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.

23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. – Hebrews 7:11-22 ESV

A better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. What better summary statement could there be for this section of Hebrews? The author has been establishing the high priesthood of Jesus and setting up his defense of the superior nature of Jesus’ sacrifice. There was no need for the Jews in his audience to fall back on or revert back to their old Judaic rituals or customs. He has already warned them about drifting away and neglecting such a great salvation found in Jesus. He has reminded them that Jesus “had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17 ESV).

With His incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus accomplished something new, better, more effective, and totally permanent when it comes to man’s damaged relationship with God. As Paul stated in his letter to the Romans, “For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God” (Romans 6:10 ESV). Peter fully concurred with Paul when he wrote, “Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18 NLT).

The main point of the author of Hebrews is that God sent Jesus because the Mosaic Law, the Levitical priesthood, and the sacrificial system were never meant to be a permanent solution to man’s sin problem. He elaborates further on this fact in chapter ten.

The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. – Hebrews 10:1-2 NLT

He even takes it one step further: “But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:3-4 NLT). This is why he infers that the high priesthood of Jesus would never have been necessary if “perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood” (Hebrews 7:11 ESV).

If men could have been made right (justified) with God through the law, there would have been no need for Jesus to come to earth. But He did come because the law could only convict but not save. It was temporary, a shadow of something greater to come. The law revealed the holiness of God and the sinfulness of mankind. And Jesus came in order to bridge the gap between the two. He became God in human flesh, living among men, and doing what no other man had ever been able to do, including Aaron the high priest: He obeyed all of God’s law. In doing so, Jesus revealed His perfect righteousness and demonstrated that He required no sacrifice for atonement.

Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. – Hebrews 7:27 NLT

Aaron was just a man and, as such, he was susceptible to sin and in constant need of atonement. He could not serve as the mediator between God and the people of Israel until his own sins had been paid for. He and his sons required constant purification from their own sinfulness so that they might offer sacrifices on behalf of the people. But that was not the case for Jesus. 

Jesus needed no cleansing from sin. And rather than offering repeated sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people, Jesus took care of the problem with a single sacrifice that served as a permanent solution to mankind’s sin problem.

Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins. – Hebrews 7:27 NLT

And Jesus did this despite the fact that He was not a member of the tribe of Levi. He was not a descendant of Aaron and, therefore, was not in line for the high priesthood. His path to the priesthood was ordained by God.

Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. – Hebrews 7:16 NLT

Just as Aaron had been appointed by God, so too was Jesus. But His priesthood was of a different order altogether. As God had done so many times before, He began again. He started fresh. He annulled the earlier priesthood and replaced it with a better one.

…the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless. – Hebrews 7:18 NLT

God had never intended the Aaronic priesthood to last forever. It was a temporary institution that would eventually run its course. When the temple was destroyed the priesthood effectively came to an end. Without the house of God, there was no place to offer sacrifices. There was no Holy of Holies, no mercy seat, and no hope of atonement. The priesthood became unnecessary and the peoples’ hopes of being made right with God all but disappeared – until Jesus appeared on the scene. 

With His incarnation, Jesus became the permanent and superior high priest. Unlike Aaron and his descendants, Jesus cannot die, therefore His priesthood has no end. And because He cannot sin, He has no need for atonement. His perfection made Him the perfect high priest and allowed Him to provide a better way for men to be restored to a right relationship with God.

The author says that the old system of the law has been “set aside.” The Greek word he used is athetēsis and it means “to annul, abolish, reject.” This word has powerful implications and he uses it for a reason. He wants his readers to know that there is no reason whatsoever for them to fall back to their old way of life as Jews, because “a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect)” (Hebrews 7:18-19 ESV).

They now have a “better hope” (Hebrews 7:19 ESV). Jesus, the new-and-improved high priest, provides a way for sinful men to be justified before God. It isn’t based on the blood of bulls and goats but on the blood of the sinless Lamb of God. In offering Himself as the perfect offering for the sins of mankind, Jesus did away with the need for animal sacrifices.

The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. – Hebrews 10:1-2 NLT

The better priest offered a better sacrifice. And, unlike Aaron, Jesus’ priesthood is permanent because He is eternal. God made Jesus our high priest and swore an oath that His priesthood would last forever. This makes Jesus “the guarantor of a better covenant” (Hebrews 7:22 ESV). Aaron, the original high priest, eventually died. Every Levite who served as a priest in the Tabernacle of God also died. And even while they were alive, their sacrifices were temporary at best. Again, the author elaborates on this issue in chapter ten.

Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. – Hebrews 10:11-12 NLT

He is the better high priest who offered a better sacrifice and provides us with a better source of hope. His sacrifice will never have to be repeated. His death left God the Father fully propitiated or satisfied. Those who are in Christ have had their sins forgiven completely and permanently. They have been made right with God forever. There is nothing more they need to do to earn God’s favor or remain in His good graces. Which is why the author calls it “such a great salvation.”

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Our Forever High Priest

1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. 3 He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.

4 See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! 5 And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. 6 But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7 It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. 8 In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. 9 One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, 10 for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. – Hebrews 7:1-10 ESV

The Mosaic Law, the temple, and the sacrificial system were all central to the practice of Judaism, and the Levitical priesthood played an indispensable role in it all. They were the teachers of the Law, the caretakers of the Temple, and the mediators between God and man when it came to the sacrificial rites. So, the Jews placed a high priority on these men and viewed them as the God-ordained keepers of their faith system.

That is why the author begins this lengthy section of his letter with another comparison between Jesus and Melchizedek, the “king of Salem, priest of the Most High God” (Hebrews 7:1 ESV). His first mention of this somewhat obscure and enigmatic man came back in chapter five, where he designated Jesus to be “a high priest after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:9-10 ESV). But this is not the first time the author has portrayed Jesus as a high priest. All the way back in chapter two, he described Jesus as “a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God” (Hebrews 2:17 ESV).

In chapter four, he continued to promote the high priestly role of Jesus.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. – Hebrews 4:14-15 ESV

The author wanted his readers to understand that Jesus was and is a high priest. The Jewish Christians to whom he wrote held the priesthood in high esteem; especially the role of high priest. And some of these converts to Christianity were considering a return to their former way of life as strict adherents to the Law which would place them back under the authority of the priesthood. So, the author goes out of his way to portray Jesus as superior to any human high priest, including a descendant of Aaron, the first high priest, or even Melchizedek.

He points out that Jesus was not a descendant of Aaron, the brother of Moses whom God ordained as the original high priest. Jesus’ priesthood was not of an earthly order. His was a divine priesthood, commissioned by God. He was the Savior of the world, the Messiah sent from God to act as King and usher in a new Kingdom. But He was also a priest who offered up a better sacrifice for the sins of men. His priesthood was not based on an earthly, human genealogy, but a heavenly one. That is why the author compares Jesus with Melchizedek.

There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors—no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God. – Hebrews 7:3 NLT

The Scriptures provide no genealogy for this king-priest. He just appears out of nowhere in the biblical text and then disappears from the scene. It is almost as if he had “no beginning or end to his life.” But this lack of a genealogical record was intended to foreshadow the coming of Jesus, the true King of Salem (Jerusalem) and the High Priest of God.

On one of the many occasions when Jesus found Himself confronted by the Pharisees, He asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” (Matthew 22:42 NLT). They replied, “He is the son of David” (Matthew 22:42 NLT). Then quoting from Psalm 110, Jesus replies, “Then why does David, speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit, call the Messiah ‘my Lord’? For David said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies beneath your feet.’ Since David called the Messiah ‘my Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?” (Matthew 22:43-45 NLT). His point was that He was the Son of God. Yes, He was an earthly descendant of David, but His kingship was of a different sort than that of David. He was to be the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And in that very same Psalm of David, it reads:

The LORD said to my Lord,
    “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand
until I humble your enemies,
    making them a footstool under your feet.”

The LORD will extend your powerful kingdom from Jerusalem;
you will rule over your enemies.
When you go to war,
your people will serve you willingly.
You are arrayed in holy garments,
and your strength will be renewed each day like the morning dew.

The LORD has taken an oath and will not break his vow:
    “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” – Psalm 110:1-4 NLT

This Psalm, written by David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was actually a prophecy concerning the coming Messiah. It was a divine foreshadowing of the coming of Jesus, outlining His God-ordained role as both king and priest.

The author used this reference from a Psalm of David and weaved it into his lengthy narrative concerning the story of Abraham and Melchizedek, all in order to prove the superiority of Jesus as both king and priest. In the story, found in the book of Genesis, Melchizedek blessed Abraham and Abraham offered a tenth of all his spoils in return. Melchizedek was a king and a priest, and as such, he was Abraham’s superior. The real point seems to be that the descendants of Abraham would eventually offer tithes to God through the Levites, their own brothers. That’s why the author writes, “those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham” (Hebrews 7:5 ESV).

When Abraham offered his tithe to Melchizedek, the tribe of Levi did not yet exist. So in a sense, the author says, Levi and his sons offered a tithe to Melchizedek through their forefather, Abraham. The whole issue here is one of superiority. Jesus, as a high priest of the order of Melchizedek, is superior to any earthly high priest. Abraham was blessed by Melchizedek; the inferior was blessed by the superior. And we are blessed by Jesus. We are blessed by the King of peace and righteousness. And it is interesting to note that Melchizedek blessed Abraham for no apparent reason. If you read the story in Genesis 14, it says that the kings of Shinar, Ellasar, Elam, and Goiim made war with the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela.

Melchizedek, the king of Salem, is not even mentioned. He had no dog in this hunt. When the battle took place “the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions and went their way” (Genesis 14:11-12 ESV). Abraham stepped in and defeated the kings of Shinar, Ellasar, Elam, and Goiim, rescuing Lot and taking a great deal of plunder. And that’s when Melchizedek shows up on the scene. His country of Salem had not been attacked and yet he seeks out Abraham and blesses him. Abraham had not done anything to deserve Melchizedek’s blessing. He had not rescued any of his citizens. He had not returned any of Melchizedek’s spoil. The king of righteousness and peace blessed Abraham.

Those of us who are in Christ have been blessed by the King. And that blessing had nothing to do with any merit on our part. We have done nothing to earn His blessing. When Melchizedek blessed Abraham, he said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High,  Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you” (Genesis 14:19-20 NLT). And the blessing we have received is similar. We have been given victory over sin and death by God through the sacrificial death of His Son. We have been blessed by God through the Son of God.

Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. And God designated him to be a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. – Hebrews 5:8-10 NLT

We have been given perfect righteousness through Christ. And we now enjoy peace with God, having been made right in His eyes because of the substitutionary death of His Son.

The Jewish Christians who were the original recipients of this letter needed to decide whether they were going to return to their former religious system and rely on an earthly priesthood or whether they were going to place their hope in the high priesthood of Jesus. A human high priest could only offer temporary atonement for sin. But Jesus, with His death on the cross, provided a once-for-all-time payment for the sins of man. He was the superior high priest and offered a better sacrifice.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Hope Springs Eternal

13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. – Hebrews 6:13-20 ESV

Living as a believer in this fallen world requires hope. Hope in something far better and greater to come. Hope in the reality of heaven and hope in God’s promise to His children that He will one day make our eternity a reality. To emphasize the faithfulness of God and the reliability of His promise, the author uses Abraham as a case in point. He reminds his readers that Abraham had been given a promise by God to bless and multiply him. But Abraham had to wait a long time for that promise to be fulfilled.

The great patriarch of the Hebrew people would have to wait 25 years before God fulfilled His promise and Isaac was born. All during that time, Abraham had to deal with the very real fact that he and his wife were not getting any younger and she was no less barren than when the promise was made. Yet, when Isaac was finally born, Abraham rejoiced in the faithfulness of God because He had come through for them. He had done the impossible and given Abraham and Sarah a son and heir, despite their old age and her barrenness.

But not too many years later, God commanded Abraham to take his son, the very one he had waited so long waited, and offer him up as a sacrifice – and Abraham obeyed. But how was Abraham able to even consider doing such a thing? It was because he had faith in God. When Isaac asked his father, “where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” (Genesis 22:7 NLT), Abraham was able to confidently answer, “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son” (Genesis 22:8 NLT).

His answer did not necessarily mean he believed God was going to provide a replacement or stand-in for his son, but that he trusted God fully and completely in what He was asking him to do. In chapter 11 of this same letter, the author explains more fully what was going on in Abraham’s mind at that moment.

It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead. – Hebrews 11:17-19 NLT

Abraham trusted in the character of God. He knew he could trust God and that even if he had to go through with the sacrifice of his only son, God was powerful enough to raise his son from the dead. Abraham believed that God was going to fulfill His promise and he knew that Isaac was key to that happening. So, when Abraham had shown God that he was willing to obey His command fully, God intervened. He sent an angel to stop Abraham from killing Isaac and provided a ram as a substitute sacrifice. Then God spoke to Abraham and reiterated the details of His original promise.

“Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.” – Genesis 22:16-18 NLT

Since there is nothing greater than God, He swore an oath in His own name. In doing so, He emphasized that His promises were based on His very nature or character. He is trustworthy, faithful, unchanging, powerful, and loving. He can be trusted.

God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? – Numbers 23:19 NLT

If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is. – 2 Timothy 2:13 NLT

God had made a promise and an oath. These two unchangeable things were the basis of Abraham’s hope. He kept waiting and relying upon the promise of God that had been sealed with the oath of God. He knew His God could be trusted to keep His word, no matter how impossible it sounded or how long it took. And that is the author’s message to his audience. Because it is impossible for God to lie, “we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. ” (Hebrews 6:18-19 NLT).

The Jewish Christians to whom this letter was written needed to be reminded that the message of hope found in the gospel was reliable and worth waiting for. In placing their faith in Jesus, they received the promise of eternal life. But their circumstances had not changed. They were still living in the same place and having to endure the rejection of their Jewish peers for having abandoned their commitment to Judaism. They were facing opposition and the constant temptation to lose hope. But this letter was intended to remind them to stay the course and to keep their hope alive. 

It was essential that they maintain their confidence in God, even in times of testing and uncertainty. God’s promises are based on His character. He is faithful, reliable, trustworthy, loving, compassionate, gracious, kind, merciful, holy, righteous, and just – all the time. And because God is all-powerful, He can be trusted to accomplish all that He has promised. Nothing can stand in His way. There is no obstacle or roadblock that can keep God from doing what He has promised to do. Abraham’s barren wife was no problem for God. Their old age did not prove to be a setback for God’s plan. And, Abraham believed that the death of his own son would not prevent God from fulfilling every aspect of the promise He had made.

When God announced to Abraham and Sarah that she would bear a son the following year, her immediate response was one of derision and doubt.

Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” – Genesis 18:12 ESV

Her laughter was not a sign of joy, but a display of her lack of faith. Her barrenness was bigger than her God. But God wanted Sarah and her husband to understand that there was absolutely nothing that could prevent Him from accomplishing His will.  And His response to Abraham was meant to put their lingering doubts and apprehensions to rest.

“Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” – Genesis 18:14 ESV

Like the Jewish Christians reading this letter in the 1st Century, we must keep hoping in the promise God has made to us. We have been offered eternal life through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son. Periods of spiritual barrenness should not defeat us. Delays in His return should not demoralize us. God has made a promise and He can be trusted to keep it because He does not lie. We have a firm anchor for our souls even in the storms of life. Jesus our high priest has gone on ahead of us and He intercedes for us with God the Father on a daily basis. He is the rock to which our souls must hold firm, no matter what is happening around us or to us. He not only saved us, He is sanctifying us, and one day He will return to redeem and glorify us.

This passage always brings to mind the words of an old hymn. It sums up well the message of the firm and unwavering hope we have in Jesus Christ.

In times like these you need a Savior
In times like these you need an anchor;
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!
This Rock is Jesus, Yes, He's the One;
This Rock is Jesus, the only One!
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!

The imagery contained in this passage is meant to produce faith and hope. The author describes Jesus standing in the Holy of Holies of the heavenly temple, where He serves as the anchor for our souls. He has entered into the presence of God the Father and we are tied directly to Him through the faith we placed in Him. If He survived death and the grave and entered into the presence of God, are we not assured the same marvelous fate? The knowledge that our Savior stands in the Holy of Holies in heaven should give us hope as we face the challenges of this life.

We need to continue to trust in the promises of God and rely on the very words that Jesus spoke to His disciples prior to His death.

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” – John 14:1-3 NLT

He is the sure and steady anchor for our souls. The winds and waves of this world will rage. The storms of life will come and go. But through it all, we remain firmly tied to the One who has guaranteed our future inheritance with His own life and given His word that He will one day return. So, don’t lose hope.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Spiritual Complacency Can Lead to Apostasy

1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. 7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. – Hebrews 6:1-12 ESV

Spiritual maturity is not the result of human effort, any more than our salvation was the result of anything we had done or deserved. When the writer tells us to “leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity,” the Greek word he uses is pherō and it has the idea of being carried along, like passengers in a boat. It is in the passive voice and so it does not convey the expenditure of effort as much as it promotes an attitude of reliance. We are to allow the Holy Spirit of God to move us by His power into further spiritual maturity.

That doesn’t diminish our responsibility or alleviate our need for effort, but it lets us know that the end result is the work of God and not man. The Holy Spirit indwells believers in order to assist them in their quest of becoming increasingly more like Christ. But clearly, there is an expectation that believers in Christ should grow up in their salvation. The recipients of this letter did not need further instructions on faith versus works or repentance from performance-based efforts to achieve a right standing with God. It was time to move on. It was time to grow up.

The author refers to washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. Each of these was a teaching or belief related to Judaism. They all had their counterpart in Christianity, but there was a need for the Jews to whom this letter was addressed to understand this foundational truth in a new way. Ritualistic washings, as practiced in Judaism, had been replaced by New Testament baptism – a one-time act that was symbolic in nature. The laying on of hands in Judaism was part of the sacrificial ritual, but it carried a new meaning in Christianity. The Jewish concept regarding the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment had been expanded and carried a clearer connotation ever since Jesus’ death and resurrection. All of these doctrines, while considered elementary by the typical Jew, would have required additional insight and instruction for the believer. There was no room for resting on your laurels or relying on old truths.

The real issue here has to do with spiritual stagnancy, which can result in the believer regressing in their faith. Earlier in his letter, the author warned his readers “So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.” (Hebrews 2:1 NLT). He also told them, “Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12 NLT).

He is clearly speaking to believers, those who had placed their faith in Jesus, but who ran the risk of regressing in their faith because they were not pressing on and moving forward spiritually. He knows the very real possibility of believers falling away and describes them as those who “have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come — and who then turn away from God” (Hebrews 6:4-6 NLT).

He warns that “it is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame” (Hebrews 6:6 NLT). It would seem that the writer of Hebrews is dealing with extreme cases of apostasy when believers turn away from and reject Christ. He is not referring to what many of us call backsliding or periods of spiritual doubt. The seriousness of his warnings conveys the idea that he is dealing with cases of an extreme nature. His point seems to be that if you fail to grow, you will leave yourself open to apostasy. You will be vulnerable to false teaching and the possibility of turning away from the truth. This was not uncommon in the New Testament. Paul warned Timothy not to follow the example of two individuals who had wandered from the truth.

Avoid worthless, foolish talk that only leads to more godless behavior. This kind of talk spreads like cancer, as in the case of Hymenaeus and Philetus. They have left the path of truth, claiming that the resurrection of the dead has already occurred; in this way, they have turned some people away from the faith. – 2 Timothy 2:16-18 NLT

Paul also warned Timothy, “Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead” (1 Timothy 4:1-2 NLT). 

The author of Hebrews is legitimately concerned about the ongoing spiritual growth of his readers. Why? Because a lack of spiritual growth can have dangerous consequences. He is not saying that believers can lose their salvation. But the longer a believer wanders from the truth, the more difficult it will become for them to repent. And ultimately they will reach a point where they are living and acting as an unbeliever, and their return to Christ will appear as if His saving work was insufficient the first time. It will be like crucifying the living Lord all over again.

Apostasy makes a mockery of Christ's sacrificial death on the cross. That is why we are commanded to grow. It is a non-optional expectation for all Christ-followers. But apostasy is the very real consequence of a life of spiritual complacency. Paul tells us that when the church is equipping its people and they are ministering to one another, the result will be the spiritual maturation of all the members. And spiritual growth serves as an antidote to apostasy and a protection against false teaching.

…we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. – Ephesians 4:14 NLT

According to the author of Hebrews, believers are to keep on growing in Christ-likeness, allowing the Spirit of God to use the Word of God to change them from the inside out. This divine process of transformation is meant to produce spiritual maturity and prevent spiritual complacency. But it requires the willful participation of each believer. That is why the author conveys his strong desire that each of his readers “show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end” (Hebrews 6:11 ESV). He wanted them to remain committed to the hope found in their faith in Christ. Their eternal future was dependent upon the saving work of Jesus, not their own attempts to keep the law or practice the rites and rituals and Judaism.

When it comes to the Christian life, you are either moving forward or going backward. There is no middle ground or state of spiritual immobility. A stagnant faith is a dead faith. It lacks power and will eventually result in spiritual regression. But those believers who maintain their hope in the promises of God made possible through faith in Christ will find all the power they need to avoid spiritual complacency and the risk of apostasy.

Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance. – Hebrews 6:12 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

It’s Time To Grow Up

11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. – Hebrews 5:11-14 ESV

The author of Hebrews admits that what he has been writing about is difficult to explain and just as difficult to understand. But it doesn’t help that his audience has “become dull of hearing.” The Greek word the author used literally means “slow” and was used in the figurative sense to refer to someone as “stupid.” The Hebrew believers to whom he wrote had become unaccustomed to hearing difficult doctrine and deeper truths.

These Christ-following Jews had begun to question their faith and were considering a return to their former way of life as Law-abiding Hebrews. But the author wants them to understand that they run the risk of abandoning the only true way of achieving a right standing with God. According to the apostle Paul, any attempt to return to a life of law-keeping would end in a curse, not righteousness.

…those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.” So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.” – Galatians 3:10-12 NLT

…we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. – Galatians 2:16 NLT

Righteousness cannot be earned; it must be received. It is a gift given to those who place their faith in the redemptive work that Jesus accomplished on the cross and through His resurrection. Once again, the apostle Paul, a former law-abiding Pharisee and a self-proclaimed “Hebrew of Hebrews” (Philippians 3:5) provided a stark distinction between the role of the law and the saving work of Jesus.

…no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. – Romans 3:20-22 NLT

In his letter to the Hebrews, the author has been trying to remind his audience of the importance of their faith in Christ. The righteousness they had received was not available any other way. All his talk about Jesus’ sonship, deity, priesthood, suffering, sacrifice, and glory were designed to remind his readers of the righteousness that is found in Christ alone. He didn’t want them to fall back into their old habits of trying to gain a right standing with God through the keeping of the law. Their heritage as Hebrews, while a blessing, could become a curse if they let it lead them back into a works-based form of righteousness. Paul made it clear that this path was futile and a waste of time.

The law simply shows us how sinful we are. – Romans 3:20 NLT

The law could convict and condemn, but it couldn’t save because no one could keep all of God’s laws perfectly. That’s the whole reason God accompanied His law with the sacrificial system. He knew His people would fail to live up to His holy standards, so He provided them with a way of receiving forgiveness and atonement for their sins. 

But the author of Hebrews knew that his readers had regressed. He told them, “you have gone back to needing milk” (Hebrews 5:12 NET). Their lack of knowledge regarding the things about which he had been writing revealed that they were “unskilled in the word of righteousness” (Hebrews 5:13 ESV). They were tempted to fall back on the old truths associated with Moses, the Law, temple worship, and all that was associated with their old way of life.

Their problem was that they had not progressed in their faith. They were like infants who had failed to move on to adolescence and were still surviving on milk rather than moving on to solid food. They had become stuck in their spiritual maturation process, remaining in a state of perpetual infancy and dependency upon “the basic principles of the oracles of God” (Hebrews 5:12 ESV). As a result, they stopped learning and growing in their faith, and their lack of progression had led to regression.

For the Christian, there really is no middle ground. You are either growing in maturity or you are regressing. These people had known the Lord long enough that they should have been ready to teach others, but instead, they were unprepared and unequipped for the job. They were stuck on the basics and were unskilled when it came to the message regarding the righteousness found in Christ alone. They knew the elementary truths of the faith, such as how one is saved, but they had failed to go deeper in their knowledge. Peter provided his readers with this word of encouragement:

Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment. – 1 Peter 2:2 NLT

In his second letter, Peter writes, “you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18 NLT). There is no place for stagnancy or complacency in the life of a believer. As we grow in Christ, we become increasingly aware of the value of the gift of righteousness we have received. We become increasingly more cognizant of our sin and just how great a salvation we have received. Spiritual growth requires spiritual food. We must develop a hunger for the deeper truths found in God’s Word and we must rely upon His Spirit to make those truths understandable and applicable to our lives. We can’t remain on spiritual pablum and expect to grow in maturity. The old adage “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so” is true, but it is not a sufficient source of spiritual sustenance for the growing Christian.

There comes a time in all of our lives when we must become givers, not just receivers. The author of Hebrews scolded his audience, telling them, “by this time you ought to be teachers” (Hebrews 5:12 ESV), but they were still having to be spoon-fed. They had become comfortably content with their current status as believers in Christ. But one of the non-negotiable realities regarding faith in Christ is the fact that God expects His children to grow. Again, the apostle Peter provides some strong words regarding this matter.

Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins. – 2 Peter 1:5-9 NLT

Coming to faith in Christ should result in our growing increasingly more like Him in character. The apostle Paul told the believers in Ephesus that God had provided leaders for the church whose primary responsibility was to equip the members of the body of Christ so that they could build up one another in the faith. And then he told them…

This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. – Ephesians 4:13-15 NLT

Spiritual maturity is not a solo sport; it is a group activity. We grow in Christ-likeness as we share with one another, as we encourage one another, and as we use our spiritual gifts on behalf of one another. As we grow in our knowledge of God’s Word, we receive insight into His will. As we share what we are learning with others, they are encouraged and our faith is strengthened. Growth requires interaction with others. Isolation is deadly to spiritual maturity. Complacency is as well. The message of righteousness is not just that we have been made right with God through faith in Christ, but that we are being made righteous in our attitudes and actions as we grow up in our salvation and in our dependence upon the body of Christ.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Our Great High Priest

1 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. 3 Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.

5 So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him,

“You are my Son,
    today I have begotten you”;

6 as he says also in another place,

“You are a priest forever,
    after the order of Melchizedek.”

7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. – Hebrews 5:1-10 ESV

In the early days of Israel, the high priest was an appointed position. Aaron was the original high priest, designated so by God Himself. His command to Moses to set aside  Aaron and his sons as priests is recorded in the book of Exodus.

“Then bring near to you Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the people of Israel, to serve me as priests—Aaron and Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.” – Exodus 28:1 ESV

God would later qualify the vital nature of their calling.

“I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.” – Exodus 29:44-46 ESV

Aaron and his sons were set apart by God to serve as priests, offering sacrifices on behalf of the people. No one else could serve in this capacity. King Saul attempted to do so and lost his kingship because of it (1 Samuel 13:5-14). During the days of Israel's wilderness wandering, Korah, a Levite, incited a rebellion against Moses and Aaron, demanding that he and his brothers be made priests. But Moses asked him, “would you seek the priesthood also? Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered. What is Aaron that you grumble against him?” (Numbers 16:10-11 ESV). As a result of their attempt to self-appoint themselves as priests, Korah, Dothan, Abiram, and all their families were literally swallowed alive by the earth.

The priesthood was a serious matter to God. The men whom God appointed for this role were responsible for the care and maintenance of the Tabernacle but also for administering the sacrificial system of Israel. But God also gave Aaron, the high priest, another directive that made their role pedagogic in nature. They were responsible for teaching the people the ways of God.

And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, “Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.” – Leviticus 10:8-11 ESV

And so when we read of Jesus being appointed high priest “to act on behalf of men in relation to God” it should get our attention. Jesus was not a descendant of Aaron. He was a descendant of David, from the tribe of Judah. Technically, He was not qualified to be a priest, let alone the high priest. And the writer of Hebrews makes it perfectly clear that Jesus “did not exalt himself to be made high priest, but was appointed by him [God]” (Hebrews 5:5 ESV). So unlike Korah and his companions, Jesus was not guilty of trying to anoint Himself as high priest. He, like Aaron, was chosen by God to serve in this capacity.

Even in His humanity, Jesus served in His role as a priest, offering up “prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death” (Hebrews 5:7 ESV). Jesus prayed regularly during His time on earth, and He taught His disciples the importance of prayer in their own lives. And just hours before His death, He prayed what has become known as His High Priestly Prayer from the Garden of Olives. In that prayer, Jesus interceded on behalf of His disciples, declaring His love for them and expressing His desire that His Heavenly Father protect and preserve them so that they might one day enjoy the gift of eternal life.

“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!” – John 17:22-24 NLT

Jesus was of a different priesthood than that of Aaron. He was “designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:10 ESV). Melchizedek was an obscure figure mentioned in Genesis 14. In this story, Abraham has just rescued his nephew Lot and his family, who had been taken captive when the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah had been overrun by an alliance of kings. After having defeated the kings and rescued Lot, his family, and all their possessions, Abraham was met by Melchizedek, king of Salem. The text tells us that Melchizedek was also a priest of God Most High. This priest-king blessed Abraham and, in return, Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the plunder he had taken. That is the extent of the information we have about Melchizedek. But the author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus was appointed by God after the order of Melchizedek. In other words, He was of a different priesthood than that of Aaron and his sons.

In chapter seven of this letter, we are given more insight into who this man was and why Jesus was appointed high priest after his order and not that of Aaron:

He [Melchizedek] is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever. – Hebrews 7:2-3 ESV

This does not mean that Melchizedek was a divine being who was never born or died, but that there is no known record of his ancestry. He appears on the scene in the book of Genesis, then disappears. He serves as a foreshadowing of the future priest-king whom God would reveal. Melchizedek was the king of righteousness and the king of peace. Interestingly enough, his royal city, Salem, is the city that David would later make his capital and rename Jerusalem. And one day, Jesus will return and reign from the throne of David in Jerusalem when He establishes His millennial kingdom.

Unlike Aaron and his sons who served only as priests, Jesus was appointed both king and priest by God, and He received both titles when he ascended back to earth after His death and resurrection.

I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. – Ephesians 1:19-22 NLT

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. – 1 Timothy 2:5-6 ESV

Jesus now sits by His Father’s side in heaven, where He reigns over all that He has made. But at the present time, not all humanity recognizes Him as King and Lord. So, Jesus maintains His priestly role, offering all mankind the opportunity to be reconciled with God through faith in His substitutionary death on the cross. Jesus is both King and High Priest, and He received these two divine appointments because He was obedient, faithfully completing the assignment given to Him by God the Father. Jesus did not simply offer sacrifices on behalf of the people as Aaron and his sons had done. Jesus offered Himself. He made the ultimate sacrifice of His own life. And even though He was the divine Son of God, in His human state Jesus, “learned obedience through what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8 ESV). And while His obedience ultimately ended in death, it also resulted in His “perfection” or glorification. He was raised from the dead and restored to His rightful place at the side of God the Father. And “he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:9 ESV).

Jesus wasn’t just a different high priest than that of Aaron. He was a better high priest who offered a better sacrifice. He offered a permanent, once-for-all sacrifice that never has to be repeated. He was the sinless high priest who offered Himself as the unblemished Lamb of God that paid for the sins of humanity. And as a result, those who place their faith in His sacrifice can share in His righteousness and have peace with God. We can be justified or made right with God. That is why He is the great high priest.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Every Hour I Need Thee

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. – Hebrews 4:14-16 ESV

The life of faith is not an easy one. Following Christ requires commitment and a determination to keep on believing and trusting even in the midst of the constant and sometimes deadly barrage of the enemy. Paul encourages us, “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16 ESV). Peter warns us, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8 ESV). Later on in this letter, the author of Hebrews tells us:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. – Hebrews 12:1-3 NLT

The Christian life requires endurance and perseverance. It demands that we keep our eyes focused on Jesus, not just for our salvation, but for our ongoing sanctification. He is the “champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” We are to look at His example, recalling how He endured the cross and was “tempted in every way, just as we are” (Hebrews 4:15 NLT).

Jesus suffered and died because of sin; not His, but ours. He sacrificed His life so we wouldn’t have to give up our own. That is why the author of Hebrews goes on to say, “After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin” (Hebrews 4:4 NLT).

We will never have to pay the ultimate penalty for our sins, because Jesus took our place and died the death we deserved to die. But we still have to struggle with the very real presence of indwelling sin. While we live on this earth we will have to “strive to enter that rest” (Hebrews 4:11 ESV) – the rest that comes with trusting in the finished work of Christ, which includes not only our salvation but also our sanctification and ultimate glorification. We will have to constantly “hold firmly to the faith we profess” (Hebrews 4:14 NLT). Our hope is in Christ, or as Paul puts it in his letter to the Romans, “from faith for faith” (Romans 1:17 ESV).

Our faith must remain in Christ, from the beginning to the end. Paul told the Philippian Christians, “I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns” (Philippians 1:6 NLT). We have to hold firmly to that fact, even in the face of difficulty and disappointments.

And when we find ourselves in need, we are to turn to Jesus, our great high priest. He represents us before God and He fully understands what we are going through because He has been in our shoes. He is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He was tempted just as we are. He knows what it is like to be under attack and to feel overwhelmed. And He also knows what it is like not to sin or to give in to feelings of doubt and despair. During His earthly life, Jesus never stopped trusting in His Heavenly Father. On no occasion did He ever fail to obey God.

Paul tells us that “being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8 ESV). So when we find ourselves in a difficult spot, we can confidently turn to Him as our divine high priest, and we can find the grace and mercy we need to help us in our time of need. In times of testing or trial, we won’t find a high priest who shakes His finger in our face and condemns our weakness. No, we will find a sympathetic and empathetic high priest who reminds us that our sins have been paid for and any need for us to try to atone for our own sins has been done away with. The author will expand on this theme in chapter nine.

But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! – Hebrews 9:11-14 NLT

Jesus played a dual role. He acted as the high priest, bringing the atoning sacrifice for man’s sins before God the Father. But He also played the part of the sacrificial lamb. He gave His life because it was the only sacrifice that would be acceptable to the Father. He was the unblemished, sinless Son of God, offering His own life as a substitute or stand-in for sinful humanity. And as those who have trusted in His substitutionary death on the cross, we can still come before the throne of grace and find mercy, hope, strength, comfort, assurance, and a constant reminder of God’s everlasting, never-failing love for us. We will face trials and tribulations in this life. We will encounter difficulties and experience times of doubt and despair. But we have an understanding high priest who knows our weaknesses and has provided the cure for all that ails us. As the author put it earlier in his letter:

Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested. – Hebrews 2:17-18 NLT

We have help in times of need. We have a God who understands our weakness and has made compensation for it. We have not been left on our own. We don’t have to face the trials of this earth in our own human effort. We can stand firm and hold on to our original confession because our high priest is there to help us. As the old hymn so clearly reminds us, we need Jesus every hour.

I need Thee ev'ry hour,
Most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine
Can peace afford.

I need Thee ev'ry hour,
Stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their pow’r
When Thou art nigh.

I need Thee ev'ry hour,
In joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide,
Or life is vain.

I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;
Ev'ry hour I need Thee;
Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Rest In Him

1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,

“As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest,’”

although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this passage he said,

“They shall not enter my rest.”

6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. – Hebrews 4:1-13 ESV

There is an ominous-sounding warning in these verses. When the author speaks of the people of God not entering the rest provided for them by God, it can’t help but get our attention. But what does he mean when he writes, “those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of unbelief” (Hebrews 4:6 ESV)?

Over the centuries, there have been many who have tried to equate the crossing over of the Israelites into the land of Canaan with the death of the believer and their entrance into heaven. But if we apply this analogy to the author’s meaning of “rest” we will find ourselves wrestling with the possibility of one losing their salvation, because he is writing to believers and he is warning them not to make the same mistake as their ancestors in the wilderness. Their forefathers and mothers “heard and yet rebelled” (Hebrews 3:16 ESV). They sinned and their “bodies fell in the wilderness” (Hebrews 3:17 ESV). “They were unable to enter because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:19 ESV).

That last line is key to understanding what is going on in these verses. The issue he is addressing is that of unbelief. He warned his readers, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12 ESV). He encouraged them to exhort one another, “that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13 ESV). The problem with equating the promised land with heaven is that the people of Israel were told that they would encounter warfare as soon as they entered the land. They had to strive to possess the land and dispossess the people that lived there. Their time in the land of promise would be one of testing, conflict, and a constant struggle to trust God rather than their own resourcefulness. Yes, God blessed them. He gave them victories over their enemies. But because of unfaithfulness, they were eventually evicted by God from the promised land and sent into captivity for their rebellion against Him. That is why making the promised land analogous to heaven makes no sense and eventually breaks down. No one will be evicted from heaven because of unbelief.

So, what is the author talking about? What is this rest that he encourages his readers to enter into? Several times in these verses he refers to the “good news” they had received.

For the good news came to us just as to them. – Hebrews 4:2 ESV

He uses the Greek word, euaggelizō which is the same word used by Jesus when referring to the gospel message He preached. It is the same word used by the angels when they told the shepherds in the field of the good news regarding the birth of Jesus. The author of Hebrews says that the people of Israel had heard the good news, “but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened” (Hebrews 4:2 ESV).

They heard, but refused to listen. They heard, but failed to believe the good news given because they had evil, unbelieving hearts.

Several times in this passage the author refers to the sabbath rest of God. He talks about the fact that God, after having created the universe, rested on the seventh day. The Hebrew word shabbath means “rest.” God was not tired, but he ceased from His labors because His work had been completed. All that He had intended to do had been done. His will had been accomplished. The writer makes it clear that merely entering into the land was not the rest that God intended.

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later one. – Hebrews 4:8 ESV

In fact, he writes, “there remains a sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his” (Hebrews 4:9 ESV). The primary problem seems to be that of works versus faith. The rest the author speaks of is the belief we are to have in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and our complete and total dependence on what He has done for us. We can rest in the sufficiency of His sacrifice. There is nothing more that we need to do. The Jewish audience to whom this letter was addressed had heard the good news regarding Jesus and His sacrificial death on the cross, but they ran the risk of hearing, but not listening. They, like their ancestors, were prone to go back to their own methods of attempting to achieve a right standing with God. Rather than resting in the finished work of Christ, they were being tempted to go back to Judaism with all of its ritual and rights. So, the author warns them to “strive to enter that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:11 ESV).

He is not suggesting that they can lose their salvation, but that their initial “belief” may not have been belief at all. They had not been fully convinced that God’s redemptive work on their behalf was complete. They were not resting in the promise of eternal salvation. They were not trusting in the sufficiency of Christ and the hope of their future redemption.

Jesus did not promise us a trouble-free, peaceful life on this earth. Yet He did say, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30 ESV).

But right before His death, He told His disciples, “Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:32-33 ESV).

Our time on this earth is anything but easy. But we can have peace in the midst of the struggles because we know that He has overcome the world. Our rest is found in the promise of His finished work. He is going to return some day and wrap up what He started and complete what God has given Him to do. It is in that fact that we are to find our rest. The temptation for all of us is to doubt God, to fail to take Him at His word. We can look at the circumstances surrounding us and begin to disbelieve His promises and question the reliability of all that Christ has done. So the author invites us to allow the Word of God to act as a divine scalpel that penetrates our hearts, exposing and removing those thoughts and intentions of the heart that would cause us to doubt and disbelieve God. He wants us to rest in the reality of our future rest. He wants us to trust in His promise of not only our future redemption, but the final restoration of the world. God’s will WILL be done. And we can rest in that fact.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Firm to the End

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
    on the day of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers put me to the test
    and saw my works for forty years.
10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
    they have not known my ways.’
11 As I swore in my wrath,
    ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. – Hebrews 3:7-19 ESV

Reaching back into the pages of the Old Testament narrative, the author quotes from Psalm 95, using the history of the people of Israel as a life lesson for his Hebrew audience. The psalmist recounts the story of Israel’s rebellion against God during their journey from Egypt to the promised land. Under the direction of God, they reached a place called Rephidim, and after setting up camp they discovered, “there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, ‘Give us water to drink’” (Exodus 17:1-2 ESV).

Moses’ response was to ask them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” (Exodus 17:2 ESV). But driven by their physical thirst, they demanded, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” (Exodus 17:3 ESV). The people were so angry with Moses that he feared for his life, suspecting they would resort to stoning him. But God knew the people were using Moses as an easy target because their anger was really directed at Him. So, God gave Moses some interesting instructions.

“Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.’ And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’” – Exodus 17:5-7 ESV

That last line is key to understanding the story and grasping the point that the author of Hebrews is trying to make. Influenced by the negative nature of their circumstances and their own physical desires, they doubted the presence, power, and provision of God. This was in spite of all He had done to deliver them from Egypt and secure their freedom from slavery. The miracles of the ten plagues and the wonder of the crossing of the Red Sea faded into oblivion at the first sign of trouble. Suddenly, their God was no match for their personal problems, and they grumbled. They complained. They revealed their ingratitude for all that God had done. And yet, in the face of their rebellion, God graciously provided them with water – from a rock. The apostle Paul provides insight into what was going on behind the scenes.

I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. – 1 Corinthians 10:1-5 NLT

The rock was Christ. It was a representation of the mercy and grace of God that would one day be expressed through the gift of His Son. Moses was instructed to strike the rock and from it came living water. God provided for them the very thing for which they had grumbled and complained. But while they “drank the same spiritual water,” God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Many of them never made it to the land of promise, the place of rest. The psalmist clearly portrays that the anger of God was directed at those who doubted His saving power.

“For forty years I loathed that generation and said, ‘They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known “my ways.” Therefore, I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” – Psalm 95:10-11 ESV

The letter to the Hebrews provides us with the application.

Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still ‘today,’ so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. – Hebrews 3:12-14 NLT

The author is not suggesting that we can lose our salvation. But he warns against having “evil and unbelieving” hearts. The danger the Jewish believers in his audience faced was turning away from the saving grace provided by God through Jesus Christ and returning to their old, familiar faith in Judaism. Warren Wiersbe writes, “every believer is tempted to give up his confession of Christ and go back into the world system’s life of compromise and bondage.”

Again, this is not about losing our salvation but about missing out on all that God has promised us as believers in this life, simply by turning away from God and doubting the sufficiency of His Son’s saving work. F. F. Bruce provides with the context:

“…a relapse from Christianity into Judaism would be comparable to the action of the Israelites when they ‘turned back in their hearts unto Egypt’ (Acts 7:30); it would not be a mere return to a position previously occupied, but a gesture of outright apostasty, a complete break with God.” – F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews

When Christians face difficulties, there will always be the temptation to doubt God and return to their former way of life. Relapse into our old ways is a natural response to the unexpected and unwanted trials that sometimes accompany the Christian life. We may even be tempted to try something completely new and different, other than the walk of faith. That is why the writer of Hebrews warns us, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12 ESV).

The issue is one of unbelief. That is why we are to “exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today’’’ (Hebrews 3:13 ESV). We need to encourage one another to keep the faith and remain committed to Christ's cause. We must not allow circumstances or our own personal passions to draw us away from God and back to the false promises of this world. We must continue to believe in and rest on the promises of God, despite all we see happening around us. A little later in his letter, the author of Hebrews provides us with the key to standing firm in the face of trials.

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. – Hebrews 11:6 ESV

The Israelites to whom the author refers in this passage were those who had been miraculously delivered from captivity in Egypt and promised the hope of a new land in which they would live and enjoy God’s rest. But because of their rebellion, that generation would never make it to Canaan. That initial group of freed Israelites took their eyes off the prize and focused their attention on the circumstances taking place around them. Rather than trust God to keep His word and fulfill His promises, they displayed doubt and disbelief, attacking God’s messenger and questioning God’s will for them.

And the believing Jews to whom the author was writing were facing a similar test. They were allowing their current circumstances to cloud their thinking and cause them “to fall away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12 ESV). Like their long-forgotten ancestors, these Jews were running the risk of rebelling against God’s will and missing out on all the blessings He had in store for them. They wouldn’t lose their salvation but they would jeopardize any hope of experiencing the life-transforming and sanctifying power of God’s Spirit in their lives. Their eternal future would remain secure in Christ, but they would find it difficult to find rest in the midst of the unrest of this world. 

Just before His arrest, trial, and crucifixion, Jesus comforted His disciples with these words:

“But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” – John 16:32-33 NLT

Take heart. Stand firm. Remain committed to the cause. And if you do, the reward will be rest, both now and in the age to come.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Worthy of Consideration

1 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. – Hebrews 3:1-6 ESV

The Jews had high regard for angels as heavenly messengers sent from God. But the author of Hebrews wanted his Jewish readers to know that angels were nothing when compared to Jesus, the Son of God, the greatest of divine messengers with the greatest of messengers.

When it came to the topic of salvation, the Jews knew of no greater savior than Moses, who had single-handedly rescued their forefathers from captivity in Egypt. As a result, they held Moses in high esteem. So the author of Hebrews asks his audience to “consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession” (Hebrews 3:1 ESV).

The Greek word for “consider” means “to fix one’s eyes or mind upon” (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon). It would be like saying, “take a long, hard look at Jesus.” Jesus was the apostle or messenger, sent by God with the good news regarding salvation by faith in Him alone. But He was also our high priest, a title the author will elaborate on in greater detail later in his letter. As high priest, Jesus offered a better sacrifice, a one-time, never-to-be-repeated sacrifice that completely satisfied the just demands of a holy God and provided complete forgiveness of sins and a way for man to be restored to a right relationship with God.

As God’s messenger and high priest, Jesus was faithful to His divinely ordained assignment. And the author compares His faithfulness to that of Moses, who was chosen and sent by God to the people of Israel with a message of deliverance. God had told Moses to go to the people of Israel who were living in captivity in Egypt and announce the good news of their pending deliverance.

“Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me. He told me, ‘I have been watching closely, and I see how the Egyptians are treating you. I have promised to rescue you from your oppression in Egypt. I will lead you to a land flowing with milk and honey.’” – Exodus 3:16-17 NLT

Moses did what God commanded, although somewhat reluctantly. He obeyed God and, as they say, the rest is history. God delivered His people through the faithful leadership of Moses, with the assistance of Aaron, Moses’ brother whom God would later appoint the high priest of Israel. But as great as Moses was considered by the people of Israel for what he had done, “Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses” (Hebrews 3:3 ESV). Why? Because Moses was a faithful servant, but Jesus was the faithful Son.

It is important to recognize the seriousness of what is going on here. For the Jew, Moses was the founder and architect of their entire religion. While Abraham was the father of the nation, it was through Moses that they received the Law, the sacrificial system, and the Tabernacle. They believed that without Moses, they would never have escaped Egypt and become a nation. So when the author gives Jesus greater glory than Moses, he is treading on sacred ground for the Jew. But his point seems to be that Jesus, as the Son of God, the divine messenger, and the high priest of the faith, has ushered in something far greater and more significant than the law, the sacrificial system, or the Tabernacle. And he will spend the rest of his letter expounding on and explaining why he believes that to be so.

The author makes a strong statement regarding the deity of Christ when he compares Moses, the servant of God, with Jesus, the Son of God. Moses deserved honor for what he accomplished, much like a newly constructed home deserved honor for its beauty. But the real glory should go to the builder, not that which was built. Moses, though faithful, was an instrument in God’s hands. None of what he accomplished would have happened without God’s help. But Jesus, as the Son of God, is different, because “the builder of all things is God” (Hebrews 3:4 ESV). Jesus was divine, the Son of God and the creator of the universe. Remember how the author opened his letter? “…he [God] has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:2 ESV). Jesus was not just a messenger sent from God, He was God in human flesh. As such, He deserves the same degree of glory as God the Father.

The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. – Hebrews 1:3 NLT

Moses had helped establish the house of Israel. That is not only a reference to the covenant community of Israel but to Moses’ oversight of the construction of God’s house, the Tabernacle. Moses had been given detailed plans for building God a dwelling place on earth, where He promised to reside among His people. So, when the author states that Moses “was faithful in all God's house,” he is emphasizing Moses’ unparalleled example of faithfulness among God’s people but he is also pointing out Moses’ faithful project management over the construction of God’s dwelling place. Every aspect of God’s house was carefully and faithfully carried out down to the last detail.

The author recognizes that Moses was due honor and glory for having helped make the house of God possible. Had Moses not done his job, the Tabernacle would have never been started or completed. So, in that sense, “the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself” (Hebrews 3:3 ESV). But ultimately, “the builder of all things is God” (Hebrews 3:4 ESV). The Tabernacle had been God’s idea and Moses had simply carried out the plans that God had established for His earthly dwelling place.

But Moses had been more than a builder; he had been a leader. He had played a significant role in leading the people of God to the land promised to Abraham, their father in the flesh. But Jesus had come to establish a new household of faith, a family of God that would be made up of both Jews and Gentiles and based on a righteousness that comes from faith, not works.

Paul referred to it as “the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). He told the Gentile believers in Ephesus, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19 ESV).

The Jewish Christians to whom the letter of Hebrews was addressed needed to be reminded that their allegiance was no longer to Moses and the law. Their hope was not to be in the sacrificial system or some earthly dwelling place like the Tabernacle or Temple. They were to consider Jesus. They were now part of His household of faith. But the author warns them that they must “hold fast” their confidence in Jesus. They must boast in the hope they have in Him. There was nothing and no one else worth boasting about or placing their hope in. They were to keep their eyes fully focused on Jesus, “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2 ESV).

Moses had built a Tabernacle in which God could dwell among His people. But Jesus became the ultimate tabernacle when He left His Father’s side and came to earth in human form. John writes, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1:14 BSB). The Greek word John used is σκηνόω (skēnoō), which means “to fix one’s tabernacle, have one’s tabernacle, abide (or live) in a tabernacle (or tent), tabernacle.”

In His incarnation, Jesus became God’s dwelling place on earth. He was “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15 ESV). As the second person of the Trinity, Jesus took on human flesh so that He might make God visible to mankind. The Tabernacle, built by Moses, held the glory of God but it was invisible and unapproachable to anyone but the high priest, who could enter the Most Holy Place once a year on the Day of Atonement. But Jesus made God visible to all, and He was not only the “tabernacle” of God’s presence, but the builder.

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
    He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
for through him God created everything
    in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
    and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
    Everything was created through him and for him.
He existed before anything else,
    and he holds all creation together.  – Colossians 1:15-17 NLT

Jesus came to expand God’s house. The Tabernacle was long gone and it would not be long before the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. But Jesus came to build a new house of God made up of Jews and Gentiles, slave and free, male and female. Moses had been faithful in God’s house (the earthly Tabernacle), but Jesus was faithful over God’s new house, the church.

Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ. – Hebrews 3:6 NLT

Like the Jews reading this letter, we can easily find ourselves considering something other than Jesus. We can end up placing our hope in our religious upbringing, our spiritual accomplishments, or the fact that, at some time in the past, we placed our faith in Jesus as our Savior. But the walk of faith is always looking forward, not backward. It is about the hope that lies ahead. It is always considering Jesus, the founder, and perfecter of our faith. In other words, we are always living expectantly and hopefully, trusting that God will finish what He started in us. The work of Christ in our lives will not be fully complete until He glorifies us. We are works in process. And we must hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope – in Him.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Solidarity, Suffering, and Salvation

10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying,

“I will tell of your name to my brothers;
    in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”

13 And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”

And again,

“Behold, I and the children God has given me.”

14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. – Hebrews 2:10-18 ESV

God made His Son a man. Through the miracle of conception and the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary gave birth to a baby boy whom she would name Jesus. But He was not just any boy. He was the incarnate Son of God, the second person of the Trinity in human flesh. This is why the writer of Hebrews describes Him as he “who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus” (Hebrews 2:9 ESV).

He became our brother in the flesh. In His incarnation, Jesus became like us so that He could live among us and share the earthly experience of living as a human being in a fallen world. And just a few chapters later in this same letter, we read that Jesus “understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15 NLT).

He didn’t live some kind of charmed, country-club lifestyle because He was the Son of God. His deity didn’t protect Him from harm, weariness, temptation, testing, or trials. In fact, it was His divinity that got Him into trouble. His claims to be the Son of God brought about the greatest degree of suffering. And suffer He did. In fact, the author of Hebrews says that God made Jesus, the founder of our salvation, “perfect through suffering” (Hebrews 2:10 ESV).

Before Jesus could be perfected or glorified by His Father, He had to take the path of suffering. He could only experience glorification by passing through persecution and pain. And it’s interesting to realize that Satan, when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness, attempted to get Jesus to bypass the suffering and go straight to glorification.

Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.” – Matthew 4:8-9 NLT

But God’s path for Jesus took Him through humiliation, rejection, pain, suffering, and death. The apostle Paul reminds us that Jesus took His earthly mission seriously and obeyed His Father’s will completely, even to the point of death.

…being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:8-11 ESV

It was only after He had walked that path in faith and obedience, that God raised Him up and glorified Him. The sinless Son of God took on human flesh just like us. He became one of us. Jesus didn’t take on the appearance of a man. Unlike the Greek pantheon of gods, who were believed to appear on earth disguised in human form, Jesus was 100 percent human. He wasn’t masquerading as a man; He was a “Son of Man.” That was one of Jesus’ favorite descriptions of Himself.

“And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God.” – Luke 12:8 ESV

He was born of a woman, just like every other person who has ever lived. He had to grow from infancy to adulthood and experience all the phases of maturation that every human being goes through. Early in His life, He had to be breastfed, cared for, comforted, and protected. In His adolescent years, He had to do the will of His earthly father and mother. He attended the synagogue. He learned the Torah. He did chores around the family home. He endured ridicule from those who believed Him to be an illegitimate son because Joseph was not His real father.

Without these early phases of Jesus’ life, He would never have left Nazareth and begun His earthly ministry. But those 30-plus years of relative anonymity had to precede the last three years of His life. He didn’t appear on earth in the form of a full-grown man. He grew up.

Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. – Luke 2:52 ESV

Jesus put Himself through all of this so that He could save us. “…that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Hebrews 2:14-15 ESV).

That was His ultimate mission. Jesus was born to die. But unlike every other human being, Jesus’ death served an eternal purpose. His death was the key to humanity’s deliverance from the power of death. His life became a payment for the sins of mankind.

But not only did Jesus become one of us so that He might die for us, He invites us to become one with Him. He extends an invitation to every man and woman to accept Him as their personal Savior, their redeemer. His suffering and death provided a way for men to be made right with God. Sin separates us from God and we are incapable of bridging the gap because even our best works on our best day are still marred by sin. There is nothing we can do to earn or merit a right standing before God, but when we place our faith in the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf, we become one with Him.

We are made His brothers and sisters, His fellow heirs, and sons and daughters of God. But the path to our glorification, like His, includes suffering. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we become aliens and strangers in this world. We remain in it but are no longer to be part of it. That doesn’t mean we are to isolate ourselves from it, but that we should live in it according to a different set of standards and as if it is no longer our home.

Jesus told His disciples, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 NLT). The apostle Paul understood that suffering and solidarity with Christ went hand in hand.

In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. – 2 Corinthians 6:4 NLT

There is a purpose behind our suffering. Paul reminds us, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love” (Romans 5:3-5 NLT).

Our suffering on this earth is not pointless. It has a God-ordained purpose behind it. God is perfecting us and producing in us the very character of His Son. Suffering should not produce in us a spirit of resentment but should make us more dependent. Our weakness should remind us of our need for God’s strength and assistance. Our pain should cause us to desire God’s comfort and healing. Our loneliness should drive us to God for His companionship. We have a “merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God” (Hebrews 2:17 ESV) – Jesus Christ, our brother. He has made propitiation for our sins, having satisfied the just demands of a holy God. But He is also making intercession for us, sitting at the right hand of the Father, and reminding Him that our sins are paid in full and our future glorification is guaranteed.

Solidarity, suffering, and salvation. We have each of these in common with Christ because of what He has done. And we can rest assured that one day we will also share in His glorification.

…we are already God's children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. – 1 John 3:2 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Out of Sight, But in Full Control

5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere,

“What is man, that you are mindful of him,
    or the son of man, that you care for him?
7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
    you have crowned him with glory and honor,
8     putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. – Hebrews 2:5-9 ESV

After His death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven, returning to His rightful place at His Father’s side. The old saying, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” can be true, but so can the adage, “Out of sight, out of mind.” The longer Jesus, the resurrected Messiah, was gone from the face of the earth, the easier it became for the believers living when this letter was written to forget about Him.

Most, if not all of the recipients of this letter, would never have seen Jesus face to face. They would have come to faith in Him sometime after His death and resurrection. And it would appear, based on the author's emphasis on drifting away, that there were those who were having second thoughts regarding either His deity or the exclusivity of the gospel message. They were running the risk of taking lightly what Jesus had done for them, which is why the author warned them not to “neglect such a great salvation” (Hebrews 2:3 ESV).

This entire letter is a defense of Jesus – His divinity, incarnation, mission, message, sacrifice, ascension, exaltation, and coming return. Using the Old Testament Scriptures to point the way, the writer presents Jesus as the divine agent of redemption for mankind. Quoting from Psalm 8:4-6, he writes, “You made him for a little while lower than the angels” (Hebrews 2:7 ESV). Jesus, the Son of God, the creator of the universe, left His place at the right hand of God the Father and took on human flesh. He humbled Himself by becoming a man in order that He might accomplish what no man had ever been able to do: Live in sinless, selfless obedience to the commands of God.

Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.  Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. – Hebrews 2:14-15 NLT

But the author of Hebrews wants his readers to understand that Jesus, while He was a man, was also fully divine. He was God in human flesh. He was the God-man. And after He had accomplished His Father’s will and given His life as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind, He was raised from the dead by the power of the Spirit of God and returned to His rightful place at His Father’s side. His time on this earth, when He was made “a little lower than the angels,” was relatively short. Yet, as a result of having accomplished His Father’s will, God “crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet” (Hebrews 2:7-8 ESV). Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians:

Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:6-11 ESV

Jesus may be out of sight, but He is far from out of control, and He should never be out of mind. We read that, “in putting everything in subjection to him, he [God] left nothing outside of his control” (Hebrews 2:8 ESV). Yes, it’s true that, from our perspective, it can sometimes appear that some things are outside of His control. The world does not appear to be living in submission and obedience to Christ. But we must never forget that God’s plan is not yet complete. Christ's job is not yet finished. When He said on the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:20 ESV), He was speaking of His God-ordained mission to become the atoning sacrifice for the sins of mankind. He had accomplished that part of His assignment. But He was not done. He is still at work. And one day He is coming back to fully complete the assignment given to Him by His Father from before the foundation of the world.

One day, everything and everyone will be under His subjection. He will rule and reign over all. He will be King of kings and Lord of lords. But we must never grow cavalier or complacent regarding His subjection on our behalf. It was His suffering that led to His glorification.

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death. – Hebrews 2:9 ESV

He suffered for our sake. Paul puts it this way, “He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God” (Romans 4:25 NLT). His resurrection and exaltation made possible our justification. We are right with God because Jesus satisfied the just demands of His heavenly Father. He fully paid the debt we owed with His own life, and God raised Him from the dead as proof of His acceptance of that payment. By the grace of God, Jesus tasted death for everyone, so that we might have life – eternal life.

The apostle Peter reminds us that Jesus’ current absence should make our hearts grow fonder because we know that He will return one day.

You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. – 1 Peter 1:8-9 NLT

Rather than allow doubt to cause us to drift away, we should rejoice in the fact that Jesus, the Son of God, will finish what He began. He will keep the promise He made to His disciples.

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” – John 14:1-3 NLT

The Jewish Christians to whom this letter was written were having second thoughts. They had never met Jesus personally and the more time that passed caused them to wonder if He was ever going to return. Would they ever meet their Messiah? Would His kingdom ever come? And as their fears and doubts increased, they began to question whether they should return to their former lives as adherents to the Mosaic Law. Had they been wrong to abandon Judaism for this new movement called The Way? Were the hopes they had placed in Jesus misplaced?

For the author of Hebrews, the answer to all those questions was a simple, yet emphatic, “No!” He was going to exhaust every effort and argument to reinforce their belief in Jesus and their faith in the life-transforming power of the gospel. Jesus was enough. And while He was out of sight, He was anything but out of control.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Slip-Sliding Away

1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. – Hebrews 2:1-4 ESV

As the author of Hebrews made clear in the opening of his letter, angels were “ministering spirits” sent by God “to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14 ESV). It was an angel who declared the coming of the Messiah to a young Hebrew girl named Mary.

“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” – Luke 1:30-33 ESV

It had been a host of angels that declared the birth of the Messiah to a group of trembling shepherds outside the town of Bethlehem.

“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” – Luke 2:10-11 ESV

And 30 years later, it was two angels who encouraged Jesus’ stunned disciples as they stood on the outskirts of Jerusalem, staring into the sky where their Lord and Savior had just disappeared out of sight.

“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” – Acts 1:11 ESV

Angels were messengers but they weren’t the Messiah. As ministering spirits, they could encourage, inform, and deliver good news,  but they were unable to provide forgiveness from sin or victory over death and the grave. Both Paul and Peter described the essential role that angels played in the deliverance of the Mosaic Law.

Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people. – Galatians 3:19 NLT

The Jewish people believed that angels were present when God gave Moses the law on Mount Sinai and they base this belief on a verse found in the Torah. In this passage, Moses records his recollection of that day.

“The Lord came from Sinai
    and dawned over them from Seir;
    he shone forth from Mount Paran.
He came with myriads of holy ones
    from the south, from his mountain slopes.” – Deuteronomy 33:2 NIV

And centuries later, Stephen preached a sermon to a gathering of Jews in the city of Jerusalem, in which he reminded them of the role that God’s ministering servants had played on that memorable day.

“This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us.” – Acts 7:37-38 ESV

And as Peter wrapped up his sermon, he confronted his unbelieving Jewish audience about the danger of dismissing the message concerning the new covenant. They were running the risk of rejecting God’s message of hope and deliverance yet again.

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” – Acts 7:51-53 NLT

This bold declaration by Stephen was not well received. The angry mob, offended by his words, dragged him out of the city and stoned him to death. As Stephen made clear in his sermon, the Jews had a habit of killing the messenger. Over the centuries, they had shown their predisposition for rejecting the word of God delivered through His messengers. The law had been delivered to Moses through the mediation of angels, but the people had ended up rejecting it. The prophets had delivered God’s call to repentance, but the people had rejected it. And Jesus, the penultimate messenger from God, had delivered the news of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Him alone. But they had not only rejected His message but they eventually killed the messenger.

In the book of Hebrews, the author is writing to Hebrew Christians who find themselves under pressure to reject the good news regarding Jesus and return to their former status as covenant-keeping, law-abiding Jews. But He warns his readers against slipping away from the truth regarding salvation. That message of salvation came from the lips of Jesus Himself and was fulfilled by His bodily sacrifice on the cross. Jesus had clearly taught, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 ESV).

He claimed, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved” (John 10:9 ESV). He had told Martha, just before he raised Lazarus from the dead, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26 ESV). And Jesus told Nicodemus, the Pharisee, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV).

So, the author tells his readers, “…we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard” (Hebrews 2:1 ESV). The message of Jesus, carried on by His disciples after His ascension into heaven, had been circulated among both Jews and Gentiles, resulting in many people coming to faith in Him as their Savior. But there was always the real possibility of drifting away by those who had embraced the good news of the gospel.

The Greek term the author uses is pararreō and it means to “let slip, glide by.” Rather than remain anchored to the truth regarding their salvation, they were beginning to drift away, carried by a current of moral subjectivity and doctrinal heresy.

In chapter six of this same letter, the author reminds his readers, “So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary” (Hebrews 6:18-19 NLT).

We will not drift as long as we remain firmly attached to the truth of the gospel. Those who fled to Jesus for refuge from condemnation and the penalty for sin can have great confidence that He will one day return for them. Drifting always begins with doubt. When our assurance weakens, the likelihood of our drifting increases.

That church’s experience 2,000 years ago intersects our lives in this way: drifting is the besetting sin of our day. And as the metaphor suggests, it is not so much intentional as from unconcern. Christians neglect their anchor—Christ—and begin to quietly drift away. There is no friction, no dramatic sense of departure. But when the winds of trouble come, the things of Christ are left far behind, even out of sight. – R. Kent Hughes, Hebrews

The author compares the message concerning Jesus with “the message declared by angels,” which refers to the Mosaic law. Look closely again at the words of Moses recorded in the book of Deuteronomy.

The Lord came from Sinai and revealed himself to Israel from Seir. He appeared in splendor from Mount Paran, and came forth with ten thousand holy ones. With his right hand he gave a fiery law to them. – Deuteronomy 33:2 NET

The author of Hebrews says that message, the law, proved to be reliable. What it said about sin and punishment was accurate, just, and righteous. It revealed that all men are sinners and incapable of living up to God’s holy standard. So, the author asks, “So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?” (Hebrews 2:3 NLT).

This passage is not suggesting that Christians can lose their salvation. It is talking about drifting away from the truth and the hope found in the gospel. It is talking about allowing doctrinal drift to subtly creep into your life, causing you to doubt the veracity of God’s promise of eternal life through faith in Christ.

The message of salvation declared by Jesus was carried on by the apostles. It was supported by signs and wonders. It was proven by the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to the church. But despite all this, there is always the temptation to lose our grip on the solid rock of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The issue has to do with doctrinal drift that begins with doubting the promises attached to the gospel message.

When we begin to wonder if faith alone is enough, we will begin to add to the gospel. This usually begins when we allow present circumstances to define the veracity of the gospel message. If things don’t appear to be going quite the way we expected, we begin to wonder if something is missing. We question whether there is more that we need to be doing. Difficulties can bring doubt. Doubt can lead to drift. Drift can result in shoddy doctrine. And we end up neglecting or discounting the “great salvation” made possible through faith in Christ. As soon as we start doubting our salvation, we will find ourselves prone to doctrinal drift, a subtle, but dangerous unmooring of our faith in the one thing that can truly provide us with hope. It doesn’t mean we lose our salvation, but we will most certainly lose our ability to enjoy peace in the storm, joy in the midst of sorrow, hope in spite of setbacks, and assurance in the face of uncertainty.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Better Than…

7 Of the angels he says,

“He makes his angels winds,
    and his ministers a flame of fire.”

8 But of the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
    the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
    with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

10 And,

“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands;
11 they will perish, but you remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment,
12 like a robe you will roll them up,
    like a garment they will be changed.
But you are the same,
    and your years will have no end.”

13 And to which of the angels has he ever said,

“Sit at my right hand
    until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?

14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? – Hebrews 1:7-14 ESV

For the author of Hebrews, the theme of his letter is simple, yet profound. He spends the vast majority of his treatise supporting his premise that Jesus is superior to anything that has come before Him, including every aspect of the Levitical system. He is attempting to dissuade the Jewish audience to whom he wrote from abandoning their faith in Christ and returning to their former dependency upon the Mosaic Law and their vain attempts to earn favor with God through human effort. At the core of his message is a warning to avoid any attempt to supplement their faith in Jesus.

These Jewish converts to Christianity were under a lot of pressure from their Hebrew peers to return to Judaism. But to do so would require these new Christians to demote and devalue the worth of Christ and His gift of salvation. It was only natural for these Jewish believers to hold their former faith system in high esteem. After all, they had spent the majority of their lives attempting to keep the Mosaic Law and fulfilling the various sacramental and sacrificial requirements placed upon them by God. Yahweh had clearly told them, “if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5-6 ESV).

These people had been raised to believe that their obedience was the key to their ongoing relationship with God. Strict adherence to His laws and a faithful commitment to the covenant they had made with Him were essential to remaining in good standing with Yahweh. But when Jesus appeared on the scene, all of that had changed. He offered another way and, according to the author of Hebrews, a superior way. In fact, he will spend the rest of his letter comparing Jesus to every other element of Judaism that they tended to revere and to which they were tempted to return.

He began his letter with an unapologetic defense of Jesus superiority, even placing Him on a higher plane than the angelic beings. These divine creatures had played a significant role in the history of the people of Israel. They had served as God’s messengers and even as agents of destruction. But the author wants his readers to understand that Jesus, as the Son of God, was far superior to any angel.

Angels are ministers. They are servants of God. Like the wind, they blow according to His will. They are worshipers and are never to be worshiped by men. But the Son of God is different. As the author expressed earlier, “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God” and “he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command” (Romans 1:3 NLTa).

He holds a “place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven” (Romans 1:3b NLT), and as a result, “the Son is far greater than the angels” (Romans 1:4 NLT).

Using the Old Testament Scriptures as a proof text for his thoughts, the author of Hebrews presents the Son of God as having a royal pedigree, ruling over an everlasting kingdom that is marked by righteousness. He is eternal, having always existed as God and having no beginning or end. Rather than having been created, He is the creator of all that exists. And, as God, His nature is unchanging. The fact that He came to earth and took on human flesh in no way diminished or altered His divinity in any way. He sits at the right hand of God the Father, ruling in righteousness over all that exists.

For the writer of Hebrews, the deity of Jesus is essential and non-negotiable. He is the Son of God and, as such, He shares the nature and character of God. He is royal, immutable, all-powerful, sovereign, righteous and, ultimately, the victor in the battle over sin, death, and Satan.

Part of what the author is attempting to do is promote the superiority of the new covenant over the old one. And since the average Jew believed the old covenant was brought to them from God by angels, they held angels in high regard. But the point of this letter is to establish the superiority of Christ in all things. He is greater than angels. The new covenant in His blood is superior to the old covenant which was based on works. His service to men through the offering of His life as a payment for sin is far superior to any service the angels may offer up.

The angels, while important, pale in significance when compared with Christ. In fact, they exist “to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14 ESV). In other words, they exist to serve God’s people, and we serve Christ. He is the head of the body of Christ. He alone deserves our worship and full attention.

Angels could bring “good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10 ESV). But they could not save anyone. They could announce the arrival of Jesus on the scene, but He would still have to sacrifice His own life to make salvation possible to men. And while angels were the ones who told the women at Jesus’ empty tomb, “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said” (Matthew 28:6 ESV), they were simply messengers of some very good news. Without Jesus, there would have been no news at all.

Apart from Jesus, salvation would be impossible for all men. Had Jesus not died and rose again, there would have been no victory over sin, Satan, and the grave. But Jesus DID come. He DID die. He WAS resurrected from death to life. He HAS ascended back to heaven. And He WILL return one day.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Our Incomparable Savior

5 For to which of the angels did God ever say,

“You are my Son,
    today I have begotten you”?

Or again,

“I will be to him a father,
    and he shall be to me a son”?

6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,

“Let all God's angels worship him.”

7 Of the angels he says,

“He makes his angels winds,
    and his ministers a flame of fire.” – Hebrews 1:5-7 ESV

For the author of Hebrews, it seemed important to establish Christ’s uniqueness and complete sufficiency. Writing to a Jewish audience, he wanted to ensure that they understood that Jesus was much more than just a man, so he presented seven facts concerning Jesus. 1) He was appointed the heir of all things by God. All that belongs to God, which includes everything, belongs to Jesus as His Son. 2) He created the universe. All that exists in time and space was made possible by Jesus as the second person of the Trinity. Paul wrote to the believers in Colossae:

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. – Colossians 1:15-17 ESV

Jesus wasn’t created by God. He is the God who created all things. 3) He is the radiance of the glory of God. In His incarnation, Jesus made God visible to man. During His incarnation, He shone forth the glory of God; but in a veiled sense. Yet His words and works revealed the power and majesty of God to man. 4) He is the exact imprint of God’s nature. In seeing Jesus, men were able to see the nature of God revealed. He made God’s goodness, wisdom, glory, and righteousness visible to men. 5) He upholds the universe by the word of His power. His very word sustains and maintains the universe. His word has power beyond that of any other source. 6) He made purification for sins. By sacrificing His own life, Jesus made it possible for mankind to experience both the cleansing from and removal of sin and its deadly consequences. 7) He sat down at the right hand of God. Having faithfully and obediently completed His God-appointed task, Jesus ascended back to heaven and retained His rightful place next to God the Father, where He rules and reigns at this very moment.

All of this puts Jesus on a different plane than anyone and everything else. There is nothing that can compare with Him, including angels. These heavenly beings, who played a vital role in the history and religious understanding of the Jews, were not to be compared with Jesus.

In Judaism, angels were viewed as divine messengers from God. In fact, the Jews closely associated angels with the giving of the Law of Moses. We read in Deuteronomy 33:

The Lord came from Sinai and revealed himself to Israel from Seir. He appeared in splendor from Mount Paran, and came forth with ten thousand holy ones. With his right hand he gave a fiery law to them. – Deuteronomy 33:2 NET

Paul tells us that the law “was administered through angels by an intermediary” (Galatians 3:19 NET). So angels were venerated by the Jews, and it would seem that there were some in the early days of the church who took the veneration of angels and turned it into worship. Paul warned about it in his letter to the church in Colossae:

Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it. – Colossians 2:18-19 NLT

The author of Hebrews wants us to understand that angels, while superior beings in many ways are not to be compared with Jesus. And to support his point, he provides four Old Testament passages as evidence. Quoting from Psalm 2:7, he asks if God had ever said to any angel, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you?” And the answer is no. The Jews in his audience would have understood this Davidic psalm as speaking of the Messiah. And while angels were often referred to in the Old Testament Scriptures as “sons of God,” no angel was ever called “the Son of God.”

Quoting from 2 Samuel 7:14, the author asks whether God ever said of any angel, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son” (Hebrews 1:5 ESV). Again, the Jews would have recognized this as a promise of God given to David the king. It was a Messianic passage, partially fulfilled in the life of Solomon, David’s son, but ultimately fulfilled in Christ, “who was descended from David – according to the flesh” (Romans 1:3 ESV). Using Deuteronomy 32:14 as his reference, the author reminds his readers that God said even the angels would one day worship Jesus.

Finally, using Psalm 104:4, the author presents angels as nothing more than divine messengers. The psalmist compares them to wind, invisible and at the mercy of a far greater power. There were created by God and were designed for His glory, not their own. Like flames of fire, they sometimes brought illumination and, at other times, judgment. But they were never meant to be worshiped.

In the book of Revelation, John was visited by an angel and given words from God that he was to write down. John's response was to fall down and worship the angel, but he was told, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God” (Revelation 19:10 ESV). And then the angel gave John an important point of clarification: “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10 ESV). All that John was being shown in his vision concerning the end times revolved around the person of Christ. In fact, in the very next verses of John’s revelation, we read:

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. – Revelation 19:11-16 ESV

Jesus is superior to angels. He alone is to be worshiped and revered. It is He who sits at the right hand of God and who will one day return as the King of kings and Lord of lords. There is nothing and no one to compare with Jesus. He alone is worthy of our praise, worship, glory, honor, and love.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Jesus is Enough

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. – Hebrews 1:1-4 ESV

There is probably no other New Testament book that contains so many Old Testament references, especially those related to the Tabernacle and the entire Levitical system associated with it. For anyone who has read the book of Leviticus, its detailed account of all the laws, rituals, sacrificial rites, and yearly festivals can be difficult to read and even harder to understand. The degree of specificity used when describing the mandatory sacrifices can leave modern readers perplexed and a bit put off by all the gory details involving blood, entrails, and burnt offerings.

“Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces, and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. And Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the fat, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.” – Leviticus 1:5-9 ESV

To our modern sensibilities, it all sounds so barbaric and cult-like. But the author of Hebrews takes those very same unsettling descriptions and instills them with new meaning so that his more “modern” readers can grasp their significance in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. – Hebrews 9:11-14 ESV

While do not know who the author of the Letter to the Hebrews was, we can almost certainly conclude that his audience was made up primarily of Jewish believers. Throughout the letter, he makes references to facts regarding Judaism, apparently assuming his readers were well-versed in them. He takes little time to explain details regarding the sacrificial system, the office of the high priest, the history of Israel, or the identity of the individuals listed in chapter 11, who were primarily Hebrews.

The fact that the author was also addressing Jews whose faith in Christ might be in question is evidenced by his repeated warnings against drifting away, neglecting so great a salvation, having an unbelieving heart, and failing to enter into the rest God has promised. Even in the opening line of his letter, the author tells his readers that, “in these last days he [God] has spoken to us by His Son” (Hebrews 1:2 ESV). He appears convinced that his audience is very familiar with the words of Jesus and the message of the gospel. Interestingly enough, he does not mention the name of Jesus anywhere in this first chapter but simply refers to Him as God’s Son. That Jesus was inferred and understood by his readers as the one being talked about is quite clear. The original recipients of this letter would have known exactly who was being discussed.

That the writer would delay the mention of Jesus’ name until the ninth verse in chapter two is intriguing. But it would seem that he felt no need to use the name of Jesus, but simply referred to His unique designation as the Son of God. That term would have been very familiar with his Jewish audience and would have brought to mind the very reason for which the Jews had rejected Jesus, to begin with. It was Jesus’ claim to be divine, the very Son of God, that led the Jewish leadership to accuse Him of blasphemy and to seek His death.

At one time Jesus said, “My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27 NLT). These kinds of statements did not endear Jesus to the Jewish religious authorities of His day. In fact, when He was arrested and brought before them on the night He was betrayed, Caiaphas, the high priest, questioned Jesus asking, “I demand in the name of the living God—tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” (Matthew 26:63 NLT). Jesus answered, “You have said it. And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:64 NLT). And Caiaphas, in shock and horror, responded, “Blasphemy! Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?” (Matthew 26:65-66 NLT). And his fellow religious leaders shouted out, “Guilty! He deserves to die!” (Matthew 26:66 NLT).

It was Jesus’ claim of divine Sonship that got Him in trouble – not the miracles, signs, and wonders He performed. It was not His teaching that drove the high priest and his cohorts mad with rage, but it was His insistence that He was divine. And the writer of Hebrews eagerly supports Jesus’ bold claim by stating that God had “spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things” (Hebrews 1:2 ESV).

He attributes to Jesus the divine role of creator of the universe. According to the author of Hebrews, Jesus was and still is God. In fact, he boldly claims, “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command” (Hebrews 1:3 NLT).

This man from Nazareth, who was murdered at the hands of the Romans at the insistence of the Jews, was the Son of God. And it was this very fact that made His sacrifice on the cross acceptable to His Heavenly Father. As the Son of God, He was completely sinless, making Him the perfect sacrifice and the only acceptable payment for the sins of mankind. And, the writer of Hebrews reminds his readers, “When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven” (Hebrews 1:3 NLT).

Jesus returned to where He had come from, the very throne room of God. The apostle Paul writes about this very reality in his letter to the Philippians.

When he appeared in human form,
he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:7-11 NLT

Over the next chapters, we will see the author go out of his way to insist on the superiority of Christ. He is superior to angels, Moses, and any earthly high priest or institution. His sacrifice was greater and more effective than anything man could ever hope to accomplish through the sacrifice of bulls and goats. Jesus was and is incomparable. There was nothing in Judaism that could compare. There was no reason for those who had placed their faith in Jesus as their Savior and Messiah, to return to the old covenant of laws and ritualistic rule-keeping. Christ was sufficient. The good news was good enough. There was nothing missing and no man-made requirements necessary to complete or complement what Christ had done on the cross.

Peter reminds us, “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4 NLT).

In Christ, we have all we need for salvation, sanctification, and our ultimate glorification. Nothing is missing. Nothing needs to be added. As the old hymn, Rock of Ages, so aptly puts it, “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.” Jesus is enough.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.