This simple sentence conveys so much meaning that is staggers the imagination, when the full force of the truth it contains begins to permeate in our understating.
Long ago…
Long ago, God spoke…
Long ago, God spoke, many times…
Long ago, God spoke, many times, and in many ways, and His message was sent to us. It was given to you and to me.
The omnipotent God of the universe read more...
Most men did not listen to the appointed representatives through whom the eternal, omnipotent God chose to communicate His astonishing plan of salvation. But despite man's rebellious rejection of His plan of redemption, God the Father graciously spoke once more to humankind, through His dearly beloved Son Who Himself is God and the heir of all things, Who Himself is God-eternal, God-all-holy, God-almighty, God from eternity, and Creator of the world.
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Throughout the history of man, God has spoken to us in many different ways. At first, He spoke through His appointed prophets, priest, and kings, and His glory was declared by the star-studded heavens above and His brilliant handiwork beneath. Each blossom speaks of His artistry, every bird gives testimony of His care, and every step we take and each breath we draw, proclaims His gracious, sustaining power.
Throughout the passage read more...
Before He made His humble entrance onto the stage of universal history as the Son of Man, Jesus Christ was and is and ever shall be. From all eternity and into the ages that are to come, Jesus is the dazzling brightness of God's glorious magnificence, the essential blazing radiance of His resplendent glory. He was and is and ever shall be the Son of the most high God.
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The opening verses of Hebrews lay the foundation for the glorious truth of Who the Lord Jesus Christ is and how great is His status and His position. He has a name that is more excellent that any created being, for He is the eternal God incarnate. He is the infinite God in the flesh, the Creator of the universe, born into the human race - fully God but also fully man, yet without sin.
His status and position is above every created read more...
As the second Person of the Trinity, Christ is sometimes referred to as the 'eternally begotten' Son of the Father Who was, and is, and is to come, the Almighty. But in another way, the Lord Jesus was begotten at His incarnation, when He laid aside His glory and took upon Himself the form of a servant and became God with us - God incarnate - God in the flesh.
The Son Who was given by the Father to redeem mankind from their sins, read more...
Christ is the eternal Son of God Who was born into the human race at Bethlehem, but there is one very special day, one unique moment in time, when God was able to announce: "You are My Son, this day have I begotten Thee."
The eternal Son of the Father was made a little lower than the angels for a season, but having been born into such humble surroundings, lived a life of loving and obedient submission to the read more...
The world today is becoming obsessed with angels, the supernatural, and the spirit world, which is being linked to a false spirituality that is embraced by a world but has rejected the true and living God. This false spirituality presents an unbiblical representation of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
But a considerable portion of the epistle to the Hebrews presents the insignificance of their role in comparison with Christ. read more...
Jesus Christ is God's full and final revelation to man, and Hebrews lays enormous emphasis on the superiority of Christ in every aspect of His being. His throne has been established in heavenly places, and righteousness and truth is the foundation upon which His everlasting kingdom of grace will stand.
He is proclaimed to be the eternal Creator, and great emphasis is laid on His sovereign Deity, while His supreme rulership and read more...
Christ is the gift of life and the message of salvation to a lost and dying world. He is the image of the invisible God. He is the eternal Word clothed in human flesh for He is the incarnate Word of God, full of grace and truth.
Jesus is the beloved Son of the Father in undiminished Deity, and in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Jesus Christ is the mysterious union of Deity with humanity, which we accept by grace read more...
In a few short verses, the writer to the Hebrews whisks us through a 'whistle-stop tour' of the infinite wonder of the Lord Jesus Christ and the eternal glory of His Person.
We discover Him to be the full and final revelation of the eternal God to mortal man, and we are informed that He is superior in every element to the greatest of human-kind and the most exulted of the angelic host.
"I read more...
The foundation of the earth was laid by the eternal Son of God, and the heavens are the work of His hand. The One Who fashioned furniture in the humble carpenter's shop, was the eternally existent One Who flung stars into space, and Who formed, fashioned, and filled the empty void with a carpet of living plants, fruit, flowers, and trees. And then God made man in His own image.
Christ is our Creator God and these are the works of read more...
The triune Godhead worked in loving, corporate union to create the glorious heaven, the angelic hosts, the magnificent earth, and all the wonders that are therein.
It was the Son of God Himself, the very Word of the Almighty, Who spoke the plan and purpose of God the Father into being, as the Spirit of God Himself moved over the face of the waters to form and fashion and fill the empty void which the Trinity in Unity called into read more...
The Son of God is so much greater than the angelic host of heaven and every other class of angel, principality, and power, causing the Lord God Almighty to write of Christ Jesus: "Your throne O God is forever and forever, and let all the angels of God worship Him."
Nowhere in the Bible are any of the angels given the privilege of sitting on the throne of God, for God Himself decreed: "I will not read more...
Words of exhortation or warnings are frequently given to Christians, as are the consequences of ignoring such words of caution. We are exhorted to walk worthy of our calling, to contend earnestly for the faith, to abstain from earthy lusts which war against the soul, and to encourage one another while it is still called 'today' lest any of us are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
And having received a beautiful picture of read more...
Christ's position of importance and authority is supreme. He is infinitely more significant than the angelic host, for He sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high and all the angels of God worship Him. Christ Jesus is the eternal Son of God and omnipotent Creator of the universe. He is judge of the whole world and the Firstborn from the dead. And His throne is established in heaven forever and ever.
Christ is the incarnate read more...
God Himself bore audible witness to the truth of Christ's Messianic role, as did our Lord's own life and ministry so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing we might have life in His name. Christ's own disciples also bore testimony to the truth of His Word which was further validated at Pentecost, when the hearts of many men were pierced with the shocking truth that the One Whom they crucified was both Lord and read more...
It was king David in Psalm 8 that testified: "What is man, that You are mindful of him? And the son of man, that You should care for him?" I am sure that both as a young shepherd boy and Israel's greatest king, the psalmist often looked into the starry heavens and meditated on the astonishing reality that God created man in His own image and likeness; that God entrusted the dominion of the whole earth into the hands of man.
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Written with the Hebrew Christians of the early Church in mind who were reverting back to Judaism, this epistle to the Hebrews is equally relevant to believers today, as it hammers home the uniqueness of Christ, the supremacy of Christ, the deity of Christ, and the humanity of Christ.
Multiple quotes from the Old Testament remind us that He is greater than Abraham, greater than Aaron, greater than Moses, and greater than the read more...
Man was commissioned to be God's representative on earth and to carry out His plan to fill the earth and subdue it. But Adam sinned, placing himself and the whole human race in bondage to sin and enslaved by Satan. Before God's plan for the earth could be completed, fallen man had to be redeemed through the sacrificial death and life-giving Resurrection of His only begotten Son. And so it was through Jesus Christ, the eternal Son and perfect Man, that God spoke read more...
The deity of Christ, the uniqueness of Christ, the humanity of Christ, and the supremacy of Christ, are all important issues in this epistle to the Hebrews. Christ is the eternal God Who chose to come to earth and be clothed in human flesh, living His life just like we live, and yet He was not born with a sin nature as we are, for He was conceived of the Holy Ghost and He lived a perfect life during His 33 years sojourn on earth.
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The barbaric suffering and humiliation that accompanied Christ’s cruel death at Calvary was designed to bring to completion God’s foreordained redemption plan which He purposed would bring many condemned sinners back into a right relationship with God, by faith, and adopt them into His family as His children.
The death of His only begotten Son was acceptable to the Father, because He alone was worthy to pay the price for the sin of the world. God's read more...
The second Member of the Trinity is the eternal Son of God Who was born into the human race as Jesus; the perfect Man Who alone had the authority and the credentials to become the only acceptable sacrifice for the sin of the whole world. Jesus is the God-Man, Who by God's grace, tasted death for every member of the human race so that by faith in His sacrificial death for the forgiveness of sin and His glorious Resurrection for life everlasting, we might be redeemed read more...
Hebrews is a book that clearly lays out the deity and supremacy of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God Who is greater than all angels, principalities, and heavenly powers. It tells the wonderful message of the superior status of Christ-Jesus, the God-Man Who came from heaven to earth to save us from our sin. Hebrews goes on to warn us not to neglect the great and wonderful salvation which is freely offered to all, by faith in Him.
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There is a beautiful and intimate unity between the Father and the Son, and in the same way there is to be a deep and cherished closeness between the unique Son of God... and the many sons that He brings to glory.
How important, therefore, to give the most earnest heed to all the things that we have been taught in holy Scripture... through the power of the indwelling Spirit - lest at any time we let them slip.
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The significance and potency of the truth contained in this verse cannot be over-emphasised. God, in the Person of the eternal Son, became a man sharing in our mortal, human make-up of flesh and blood, without which the redemption of mankind would have been utterly impossible, and without which all humanity would have remained dead in their sins and powerless to overcome death.
The wages of sin is death: spiritual death, physical read more...
Never should we forget Who Jesus is and what He has done for us. The book of Hebrews is an epistle that helps to remind us that Jesus is the incarnate God Who had no option but to be born into the human race and become a Man, in order to redeem humanity.
He humbled Himself by being born... into the fallen race of man, which He, Himself, had created. He chose to do this to redeem us - through faith in His shed blood and glorious read more...
The only part of God's creation that was made in His own image and likeness was the race of man. But when humanity fell due to sin, Christ had to come to earth as a human being so that He might taste death for every man.
The wages of sin is death, but the Son of God set aside His heavenly glory in order to clothe Himself with human flesh and take upon Himself the punishment that we deserve so that by faith in Him read more...
In God's divine plan, His eternal Son was to become a full member of the human race, for only a perfect and sinless man could act as intermediary between an offended God Who is angered by sin and sinful humanity, which results in man being eternally separated from a holy God, and it is all a result of sin.
No member of humanity's fallen race could ever approach a righteous God, for all are born in sin. All are sinners from the day read more...
After 4000 years, God finally spoke to us through His Son, Jesus. He was God incarnate - the Word made flesh - Who by the sacrifice of Himself brought many sons to glory. But why did God the Son have to take upon Himself a human body in order to save us? Why did the eternal Son of God have to clothe Himself in human flesh in order to become the Saviour of the world?
Well, the incarnate Christ took a human body upon Himself for a read more...
Can there ever be a heart that truly, honestly, and carefully reflects upon Lord Jesus Christ, that does not cover their face with a mantle and recognise they are treading on holy ground? Can anyone who carefully considers this heavenly Man, Whose person, parentage, wisdom, and worth, surpasses human understanding, ever remain immune to the truth?
He was Son of the most-high God. He was Kinsman-Redeemer of humankind, and He read more...
As maturing believers, we are to contemplate Jesus and consider what He has done for us. We who have a heavenly calling are exhorted to set our thoughts upon the Lord Jesus because it is His name, His Person, and His sacrificial work that we confess in our hearts and proclaim with our mouths for the salvation of the soul.
Jesus is our great High Priest and the one we acknowledge by faith as our God and Saviour, and we are to pay read more...
The supremacy and superiority of Christ over Israel's greatest leaders, mightiest heroes, and revered patriarchs, prophets, priests, and kings, cannot be emphasised more exhaustively than in these early chapters of Hebrews. No wonder the warning in this book is NOT to revert back into the old ways under the Law.
The honour and glory that is due to Jesus is infinitely superior to that demanded by Abraham, read more...
The infinite and indisputable supremacy of the Lord Jesus is the singular focus of the first few chapters of Hebrews. Christ has been identified as superior to the prophets and to all ranks of angelic beings. He is heralded as superior in Person and rank to Moses and Joshua... to Aaron and the priesthood.
The incomparable offering of Christ as the sin sacrifice for the world, is similarly of infinitely superior worth than the read more...
Faithfulness is a quality to which we are all called; faithfulness in our earthly duties and faithfulness to our Heavenly Father. Moses is lifted up in the book of Hebrews as a prime example of faithfulness, for we read: "Now Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant, and the Lord used Moses as a testimony of those things which were to be spoken of later."
Just as the Law is a schoolmaster which steadfastly points us to Christ and His read more...
Hebrews provided Jewish Christians in the early Church a brilliant understanding that Israel's Old Covenant had been superseded by a New and better Covenant, cut at Calvary through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus.
They came to understand that in former days, God spoke through prophets like Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, and Malachi. But in these last days, His Word of truth has been given directly through Jesus, the God-Man and read more...
How clearly the writer to the Hebrews reminds us to consistently and continuously keep our focus on Jesus, Who is the both the Apostle and the High Priest of our Christian faith and our heavenly calling.
Christ's faithfulness in carrying out His Heavenly Father's business is unsurpassed by great prophets like Moses, unmatched by read more...
At the beginning of Hebrews, we are informed that God has spoken in these last days through His Son, and throughout the epistle, there are quotations from the Word. When God speaks, His children should listen, take note, learn the lesson He is teaching, hide his instruction in their hearts, and apply His truth in their lives.
In this verse, God is warning us to learn from Israel's disobedience and exhorting us not to repeat their read more...
The Lord sanctioned Israel to wander 40-years in the wilderness because they tried His patience and tested His forbearance with their lack of faith. Because of unbelief and incessant murmurings against God, they were disciplined in the wilderness instead of entering His promised rest.
Although initially written to Jewish Christians in the fledgling years of the read more...
Just as Matthew's target audience was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, so the book of Hebrews was initially directed towards Hebrew Christians in the early Church who found the transition from the pre-Cross dispensation of Law to the post-Cross dispensation of grace difficult. As a result, both writers included many Old Testament quotes to establish the truth they were sharing.
Matthew's goal was to identify Jesus as the read more...
Israel's wandering in the wilderness was the result of unbelief and rebellion. God had brought them out of Egypt and was ready to give them great victory in the Promised Land, but disobedience caused their entrance into the land of promise to be delayed for forty years. Instead of trusting God to fight the giants in the land, their faith in God failed, and He swore in His wrath they would not enter His promised rest.
This event is read more...
Although miraculously redeemed from Egypt, Israel doubted God's ability to bring them into the Promised Land, and unbelief caused them to miss the many blessing God planned for them. They were saved that first Passover night, but lived the rest of their life in defeat.
They believed God's Word when Moses challenged Pharoah: "Let my people go." They believed Him when given instructions for the first Passover meal. read more...
Much of the book of Hebrews admonishes Christians to learn from Israel's mistakes. We are warned not to fall into the same attitude of rebellion and unbelief. Despite being redeemed from Egyptian slavery, Israel murmured against the Lord! They remained in the desert for 40 years and did not enter their promised rest because of unbelief and a hardening of their hearts towards the God of their read more...
There is an oft-repeated adage that the Old (Testament) is in the New revealed, and the New is in the Old concealed. But although there is an element of truth in this statement, it is not entirely correct.
Although a believer can often see Old Testament types, metaphors, promises, and prophecies being fulfilled in the Bible and opened to their understanding, as we grow in the Christian faith, the mysteries of which Paul spoke so read more...
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth and brought everything into being; time, matter, space, and life. God spoke, the Spirit moved, and in six days He not only established the world and breathed His life into Adam, but gave man dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every animal and creeping thing that moved on the face of the earth: "And God saw it was good," very good.
On the read more...
When God completed His work of creation, He rested from His labour on the seventh day – He rested from His work on the Sabbath. God was not tired or weary and needed to take a rest. Rather, His work of creation was finished and so He rested.
There is still a rest for the people of God – there is a Sabbath-rest for the people of God, but what does the writer of Hebrews mean when he talks about Sabbath-rest?
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Because of disobedience and unbelief, the children of Israel did not enter into the rest that God had promised them. They treated the promises of God with disdain and paid little heed to His Word. Today, like them, we are called to give diligence to enter into God's rest, but we are also warned not to go astray in our hearts, as they did.
When we first trusted Christ as Saviour we received 'salvation rest', but as children of read more...
Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God, Who is traced to every page of the Written Word of God. All that He is, stands in stark contrast to all that we are. His penetrating eyes search out all the dross that is rooted in the fallen soul of man. His Word of Truth exposes everything in me that is not of Christ: my-self, my-hypocrisy, my-insincerity, and my-unbelief.
The Word of God is living, because He is the read more...
Not only is Jesus our Saviour, King, Prophet, and Lord, but He has also become our great High Priest. Jesus is God's anointed High Priest, through Whom we have been made fit to approach the grand and awesome throne of the most high God. His high priestly position is a heavenly one, and it is a position that is so much more superior to the earthly Levitical order, which came through Moses.
Christ's high priestly role is a read more...
In the Old Testament, the high priest was appointed of God to represent man to God, for sinful man cannot approach a holy God and needs a mediator to stand in the gap. The high priest was the one that stood between God and man, to offer sacrifices to Him in order to atone for man's many sins. Every high priest from Aaron onward, was a representative of the final and ultimate High Priest, our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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What wonderful reassurance we have in Christ Jesus our Lord, for He is our Great High Priest, and heavenly Mediator. He is both the omnipotent God and our merciful Saviour. He is omniscient, but He is also filled with compassion and great goodness. He is both the eternal Son of God Who created the universe, but He is also the gracious Son of Man Who died and rose again so that through faith in Him we can come to the throne of grace.
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The Lord Jesus is uniquely the eternal Son of God, the perfect Son of Man, the rightful King of the universe, and God's anointed High Priest. He was sent from above to be the one and only Mediator between fallen humanity and a holy God as well as becoming God's personal representative to lost mankind.
In every way, the Lord Jesus is presented in Hebrews as being superior to prophets, angels, Moses, David, and all created beings, read more...
During His sojourn on earth, Christ's main office was Prophet. He was 'The Prophet who was to come' about whom Moses spoke. He was the Builder and Son of the house in which Moses served. He was the fulfilment of the one about whom Moses witnessed, and He was the substance of Law which was given through Moses.
He also came as king David's greater Son and God's read more...
Jesus is the singular intermediary between God and man. He is the eternal God yet also, He is the perfect Man Who died for our sins and rose again from the dead. Jesus is the one and only Mediator between God and fallen humanity, seated on the right hand of the Majesty of high, and He ever lives to make intercession for those who believe in His name. When the enemy accuses us before the throne of God, it is Jesus Who stands in the gap. He is the One Who defends us read more...
The incarnation of Christ is a profound mystery: that God should become a Man to take the punishment that men justly deserves, in order to save the human race from sin and death. God is Spirit and in order to be identified with man and take on the role of Kinsman-Redeemer He had to enter the human race in a physical body and live His entire life in exactly the same way that we live: living, breathing, eating, sleeping, working, with His own lifeblood pulsing round read more...
Jesus had a unique relationship with His Heavenly Father, for He was the eternal Son Who became a Member of the human race, but He also had a unique relationship with humanity, for He was fully Man and yet fully God. This hypostatic union of eternal deity with perfect humanity is found in one Person alone, the Lord Jesus Christ Who became the Head of a new creation and the Author of eternal salvation to all who believe on His name.
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Once we are saved by grace through faith, we are to live by faith, to walk by faith, to mature in the faith, and to grow in grace. We are to progress from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity and to become disciples of Christ; students of the Scriptures and skilled in the Word of righteousness.
As believers who have trusted Christ for our salvation, we are to develop in our Christian walk and advance from simply taking-in the read more...
Whenever we see the word, 'therefore' in the Bible, we have to ask the question, 'what is it there for?' We must understand that this word is qualifying something that went before. We must read the Bible in context, and recognise that the word, 'therefore', is joining us to something important that went before.
Because of some issue that was mentioned in the previous chapter or verses, we are read more...
The book of Hebrews is written to enable growing Christians to mature in the faith. It instructs us how to walk in spirit and truth. It trains us how to live for God and teaches us how to stand fast in the evil day. And although there are many warnings against falling in our Christian walk, and many instructions on how to live godly lives, there are also many passages that are wonderfully uplifting and which offer great encouragement.
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The subject matter of Hebrew centres on the Person, work, and office of the Lord Jesus Christ, and emphasises His eternal deity and unique manhood. It illustrates His superiority to prophets, angels, kings, and priests, and it details His supremacy in His high priestly ministry and the exclusivity of His sacrificial offering. But it also gives believers a number of serious warnings.
Chapter 6 begins with the third of five read more...
Hebrews is written to seasoned believers who should be increasing in faith, growing in grace, and enlarging their knowledge of the truth. Its original target audience were converted Jews who were finding difficulty in shifting from the pre-Cross dispensation of Law to the post-Cross dispensation of the grace of God.
They found it hard to break free from the nation's historic roots in Judaism, which were bound by the old, broken read more...
The blessed promises of God that flood the pages of Scripture, stand securely on the unchangeable Word of God and perfect will of the Father. They were established in the eternal council chambers of the Godhead, and the Lord Himself confirmed His immutable Word by His own, fixed oath; rendering His will, His Word, and His council, as utterly dependable and established forever.
Our hope in Christ is securely anchored to the Word of read more...
Hebrews gives a balance between exposition and exhortation. While some passages systematically lay out doctrinal truth, they are interspersed with those that encourage us to apply what we learn in our everyday life or warn of the consequences of failure.
In chapter 6, the author seeks to develop our doctrinal understanding and strengthen our faith in the never-failing, steadfast devotion of Christ towards us. He fastens the read more...
The mysterious figure of Melchizedek is mentioned three times in Genesis, once in Psalms, and sixteen times in the book of Hebrews. The importance of this person is intensified when we realise that despite so many references to him, there is very little information about him. Nothing is known of his parentage and ancestry, and his one brief appearance is in a few verses in Genesis 14.
Melchizedek appeared on the scene soon after read more...
It was very difficult for Jews in the early Church to come to accept that the covenant of Law and the Aaronic priesthood, had been superseded by a new and better covenant and heavenly High Priest. Many found it difficult to accept that Christians were no longer under 'The Dispensation of the Law' but were living in a new dispensation: 'The Dispensation of the Grace of God' that came through Christ.
The writer to the Hebrews read more...
Because of sin, there is an immovable barrier between God and man - and priests from the house of Aaron were ordained by God to mediate between the two. Their role was to remove the sin-barrier between man and God. The role of the priest was to deal with three things: sin; the sinner who was estranged from God due to their sin; and an offended God Who demanded satisfaction for the sin that man had committed, and the wages of sin is death.
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In the early days of the Church, the only converts to Christianity were the Jews. Many of these early Christians had great difficultly in identifying Jesus in His high priestly role, because He was not from the priestly line of Levi and Aaron. The Lord Jesus was from the royal line of Judah and the house of David. The concept of a priest-king must have appeared to be a total contradiction to every devout Jew.
This anomaly gave read more...
The Bible outlines the story of redemption, from the very beginning and on into the eternal ages to come. Eve knew her Seed would crush the serpent's head and Abraham looked for a city, whose Builder and Maker was God.
Israel were promised a land and a kingdom of peace and prosperity, with a descendant of king David sitting on the royal throne – and the Lord Jesus was sent to earth at God's appointed time, to take up His position as King of Israel and read more...
While the book of Hebrews systematically sets out the supreme superiority of the person, work, ministry, status and office of Christ, over everyone and everything in heaven or on earth, chapter 7 presents the in-depth reasoning that the priesthood of Christ, (after the order of Melchisedek), takes precedence over Israel's priesthood, (after the order of Aaron), which was given to them by God, and recorded by Moses, in the Book of the read more...
Hebrews is the book that sets out to show that the Person and ministry of Lord Jesus is vastly superior to anything that has gone before. It has superseded the Law given to Israel through Moses, and replaced the Aaronic priesthood that came through Levi. Hebrews shows how the old system with its laws, feast days, festivals, and sacrifices, has been replaced with a new and better system.
The old, Mosaic covenant was limited, read more...
As Church age believers, we rejoice that Jesus is our Saviour Who redeemed us from the irreversible penalty of sin and its enslaving power over us, by His amazing grace. We have been justified in God's sight because we placed our faith in Christ. The penalty for our sin was paid in full, because we trusted Christ's sacrificial work on the Cross as the propitiation for our sins.
How we rejoice that the wages of sin have been read more...
The more we learn of God’s Word and come to an understanding of Who God is, what He is doing, and all that He has planned for those that love Him, the more we see an unveiling of His glory upon glory and the more we recognise God's grace upon grace that is daily being showered upon all His blood-bought children. Our risen, ascended, and glorified Saviour has saved us to the uttermost.
Our Kinsman-Redeemer, Who has rescued us read more...
The message of the gospel is so simple that even a child can understand it, but it is very difficult for people who are steeped in the Hebrew tradition to come to terms with what the Bible really teaches; that there is neither Jew nor Gentile in the Body of Christ, but we are all one new man in Him.
The Christian Church is not an earthly people with an earthly inheritance. Israel was chosen to be God's earthly people with an read more...
Little by little and precept upon precept, we are brought in the book of Hebrews to acknowledge that Christ's heavenly, high-priestly ministry is so much more superior than the earthly, Aaronic priesthood that preceded it. And the blood of the Son of God that was shed at Calvary (once and for all) was a more excellent sacrifice than the rivers of blood that streamed from the multiple calves and bulls which had made atonement for man's sin for centuries (in read more...
Moses was the mediator of the old but conditional covenant with Israel which was cut and confirmed through the spilt blood of the Passover lambs in Egypt. Christ is the Mediator of a new and better covenant, an unconditional covenant which was signed and sealed with His own precious blood. Jesus is the sacrificial Lamb of God: "Who takes away the sin of the world," and it was finished at Calvary.
The old read more...
God's plan of redemption was triggered when sin entered the world through Adam's sin - and the wages of sin is death. Sin is rebellion against the Lord and cannot go unpunished. But God so loved the world that He gave His Son to pay the price for the sin of mankind, through shedding His own lifeblood. HE was to be punished for OUR sin. He was to come at an appointed time to die for the sin of the world. But until that appointed time, mans sin had to be covered, read more...
From the beginning of the book of Hebrews, the Lord Jesus Christ is elevated above every prophet of God and all angelic beings. He is of greater importance than Moses the Law-giver, and Joshua, who led the children of Israel into the promised land. The Lord Jesus is far higher in rank and authority than Aaron the first high priest of Israel, and His ministry eclipses the Levitical priesthood.
And here in chapter 9, we read that read more...
The old covenant, which the nation of Israel was charged to keep, was the Law of Moses. It was brought into effect with a blood sacrifice, and Moses charged the people: "This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep." Under the old covenant, almost everything and every person had to be purified by blood. Under the new covenant, something greater than purification took place - forgiveness of sins for humanity: "For read more...
The disciples witnessed Jesus ascending into heaven, and were told He will one day return from heaven in like manner. Today, He is seated on God's throne in heaven, while at the same time, is present with us. As such, our Lord has two different functions in our lives, and two distinct relationships with His children.
His earthy role gives us comfort and help in time of need, as He carries our burdens and calms our troubled souls. read more...
We are reminded in the previous verses that the old covenant required Israel's high priest to enter the holy place, year by year on the day of Atonement, to make their oft-repeated sacrifice to the Lord for the sins of God's people. And so their sins were covered for one more year.
Like all humanity, the high priest was a sinner himself in need of a Saviour, so (unlike the Lord Jesus) he could not come to offer his own blood on read more...
In a passage that explains the realities of the New and better Covenant that God made with His people, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ (when sin was once and forever put away by His own sacrificial death), we read that it is appointed for all men to die once, and after that comes the judgement. For different groups of people, this means different things: the judgement of Christians at the Bema seat of Christ, the judgement of Israel and the nations at the read more...
Christ was made the sacrifice for our sins, which rendered His ministry as the sin-sacrifice final and complete. Christ appeared the first time to put away sins forever, and although today He is sitting at the right hand of the Father and one day will appear for a second time when He comes to set up His kingdom, His sacrifice for sin was made once and for all - completed forever at Calvary.
Just as it is appointed for every man to read more...
The Law of God is the perfect standard He requires from humanity, but it cannot make man righteous nor pardon his sin. So God devised the plan of salvation that would satisfy His justice and impute man with His own righteousness through the full payment of the required price for sin – the willing, sacrificial death of the only perfect sacrifice – the Lord Jesus Christ.
He came 2000 years ago to fulfil the righteous requirement read more...
Jesus is our heavenly High Priest, and at least a quarter of the book of Hebrews is devoted to this glorious topic. The requirements and service of the temporary Levitical priesthood and the role of Israel's high priest, stands in stark contrast with Christ's infinitely superior qualifications as God's anointed High Priest and His eternal priesthood, which supersedes every aspect of its earthly counterpart.
The old system given to read more...
The eternal Son of God was sent from His heavenly home into a fallen world by God the Father, to be born as the perfect Son of Man. Though Mary was a virgin, chosen of God to be the mother of His only begotten Son, she was nonetheless a sinner and equally in need of a Saviour, as is every member of fallen humanity.
And so we read that when Christ came into the read more...
Everyone who has trusted Christ as Saviour has been set apart by God through what He did on the Cross of Calvary. Every Church-age believer has been cleansed of their sins, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and consecrated to God, because Jesus became our substitutionary sacrifice for sin and breathed into us His own perfect, abundant, and eternal life. Every Christian is sanctified by God. Saved, by grace through faith in our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
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The Mosaic Law, the Feasts of the Lord, the different priestly ceremonies, and various sacrificial offerings, are described in Hebrews as a shadow of good things to come. Each of these elements fulfils an important function within the Old Covenant, but both individually and collectively they typified things that would be part of the New Covenant - they were a pale representation of what was to come - they were a foreshadowing of things to come.
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Christ's one offering of Himself on the Cross stands in stark contrast to the ongoing, perpetual, daily sacrifices that the Old Testament priests were required to carry out day by day in order to cover the sins of Israel. For by the one offering of Himself has the Lord Jesus Christ perfected for all time, all those who have trusted in the blood of the Lamb for the forgiveness of sins and the read more...
The writer to the Hebrews makes a direct reference back to the prophecy of Jeremiah 31 which God gave to Israel. For centuries they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. They had broken their covenant with Him and had followed after other gods. The northern kingdom had been defeated by Assyria and many in the southern kingdom had already been deported to Babylon. But God in His mercy promised to make a New Covenant with His people and instructed Jeremiah to read more...
It was the Holy Spirit Who caused the prophet Jeremiah to write of the New Covenant which God promised to make with Israel, His chosen and earthly people. And it is the Holy Spirit Who also caused the writer to the Hebrews to reiterate that same, precious promise to Israel and to build upon its truth when he wrote: "And the Holy Spirit also testifies, 'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days. I will put My laws in their hearts, read more...
The Law was given to Moses for the people of Israel and part of that Law pertained to the Aaronic priesthood. There were laws that dealt with the sacrifices and the way they had to be offered. There were laws that covered those who could become part of the priesthood and laws that were connected with the duties that each member had to undertake.
There were rituals about washing and cleansing.. standards connected with clean read more...
"From the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour and about the ninth hour… Jesus yielded up His spirit and behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split."
What a dramatic scene. Dark blackness covered the earth as our Saviour was cursed of God and became sin for us - and the brimming bowl of the wrath of God was poured read more...
Praise the Lord that it is by the merit of Christ’s shed blood that we can draw near to God and call Him Abba, Father. And in this verse, we are invited to come close to Him - to draw near to our Heavenly Father in full assurance that the price Christ paid for our sin at Calvary is paid in full and is entirely sufficient – amen!
It is because of what the Lord Jesus did at His incarnation and as the Word of God made flesh, read more...
As believers, we are given many instructions and encouragements on how to live godly in Christ Jesus. We are to draw near to the Lord with a true and undivided heart. It must be a broken and a contrite heart that has an unshakable, confident assurance of our faith which is anchored to the faithful promises of an unchanging God.
We are to seize hold the many precious promises that relate to our salvation by grace through faith in read more...
Fellowship in the life of a believer should be both vertical and horizontal. The importance of taking time to commune in private with our Heavenly Father cannot be sufficiently emphasised, but also our horizontal fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ is also of vital importance, and should not be ignored or dismissed.
We are in the world but we are not of the world. However, we are surrounded on every side by the lust read more...
The book of Hebrews was penned before the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. For about 40 years after Christ's death, the Jewish nation (the Hebrews who rejected the Messiah and crucified the Lord of Glory) continued to participate in all the Jewish rites and rituals in the old covenant. They continued to make sacrificial offerings through the Levitical priesthood, even though Jesus was the full and final sacrificial offering, cutting the new covenant in His blood. They read more...
In the early years of Christianity when the Church was very young, it was very difficult for many Jews, who had placed their trust in the Lord Jesus as God's and Israel's promised Messiah, not to lapse back into pre-Cross Judaism and the legalistic rituals of the scribes and Pharisees. Most early Christians were Jews who had been born under the Law of Moses.
They heard Christ's message, accepted His Messianic claims, witnessed His read more...
The book of Hebrews is not for unbelievers, but for those that are maturing in the Christian faith... and it has been beloved by countless generations of believers. Hebrews contains a wealth of spiritual truths to help us in our spiritual growth, but we must never forget that it was originally written to early Jewish Christians who had to come to terms with the fact that 'in Christ' we are no longer under law but under grace.
As read more...
Following a series of sober warnings and solemn admonitions against legalistic practices which distort the gospel of grace, the writer to the Hebrews ends this section with an inspiring exhortation for all believers. He encourages to stand fast in the evil day, to patiently endure, and to carry out the will of God, in order to receive our promised reward at the Bema Seat of Christ.
Believers are encouraged to stand fast and not read more...
The burden of Hebrews is to keep on living our life by faith, and its target audience is not the unsaved, but believers who are encouraged to persevere despite the temptations and trials we inevitably face. Because we were justified by faith, we are to keep on walking by faith. We are to persevere and not to shrink back in fear or fall into the same attitude of unbelief we see in the times of Israel.
The first part of the chapter read more...
Throughout the book of Hebrews, faith in the Word of God and the superiority of Christ have been the author's focal point, together with a series of warnings against unfaithfulness, immaturity, falling short of God's perfect plan, or making the same mistakes that Israel made throughout their chequered history i.e. unbelief.
Although it was difficult for Jewish believers to break from centuries of tradition, the message of Hebrews read more...
The good news of salvation and life eternal, is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Whether Old Testament saints or New Testament believers, the only way to access this free and eternal gift from the Father is to trust in His Word and believe in His Son.
Faith is simply having the confidence that the future things God has revealed in His written Word, will unquestionably happen. The reformation verse that read more...
The first people listed in the 'roll-call of 'faith' in Hebrews, lived before the flood. The essential quality that identified them as men of faith was having the confident assurance that future events revealed by the Lord will certainly take place, and that things that may be invisible, or hidden from our understanding, are nonetheless true. What God has promised to do, He will do. And what God has revealed in His Word is also true even though it may be concealed read more...
So much within the New Testament epistles is mistakenly thought to be addressed to the unbeliever, when it is written to Christians. Hebrews is an example of Scripture that gives maturing believers guidance on how to live by faith - how to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. While the first, obvious step in pleasing God is to get saved by believing in the redeeming work of Christ, it is the ongoing, living faith of a believer that pleases God, in the day read more...
There are certain differences in the way that God deals with His servants in different dispensations, and the permanently indwelling Holy Spirit is one unique difference in the Church age. However, faith is the constant that unites all believers. The imputed righteousness of Christ is received only by faith; by believing the Word of God, by trusting the Lord to carry out His promises, and by obeying His Word.
Abraham was living in read more...
What we see with our physical eyes and experience through our five senses is generally sufficient evidence to make a statement of fact, about the material world in which we live... while faith is the absolute assurance that the God-breathed Scriptures are factually accurate, and provide us with tangible proof of the spiritual sphere and irrefutable evidence about the invisible realm.
Faith is read more...
The early verses of Hebrews 11, begin an in-depth exposition of faith. It explains that faith is required to receive God's acceptance, approval, and rewards. It begins by listing examples and the achievements of a succession of Old Testament men and women of faith. The later verses in this chapter list far too many heroes to name them all or discuss their various exploits and experiences. Nevertheless, the chapter's concluding read more...
In Hebrews 11, we gain a tiny glimpse into the life, expectations, and endurance of men and women of faith in Old Testament times. The various trials and tribulations they faced are catalogued in breath-taking detail, but most of these heroes of the faith remain an unidentified 'cloud of faithful witnesses'.
Problems and persecution, destitution and defeat, became the food of faith on which these unnamed champions fed. They read more...
The urgent message of Hebrews is that Christians, and particularly Jewish believers, should not return to the religiosity and legalistic practices of the Mosaic Law and pre-Cross Israel, for we are not under the Law but under grace. Today, we live in 'the dispensation of the grace of God'.
Many Jews readily responded to the read more...
Hebrews gives us a wonderful list of people who are commended by God for their faith. It is a catalogue of men and women, named and unnamed, that stand as witnesses to lives that honoured the Lord – men like Abraham who looked for a city whose Builder and Maker is God; women like Sarah who considered God was faithful to keep His promise.
They are called "a great cloud of witnesses," and indeed their lives demonstrate a trust read more...
For all of eternity, Christ is in the bosom of the Father, exchanging love and being loved. He is forever the Beloved Son of the Father, in Whom God is well pleased. The mutual love within the Trinity is incomprehensible to mere human beings, and yet for three very significant hours of deep darkness, Christ was separated from the Father He loved so dearly, and the Spirit Who had been the ever-present Lover of His soul throughout His earthly life.
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As soldiers of the Cross, we are called to live by faith like so many in that great list of Old Testament saints whose exploits were recorded in Hebrews 11. They were men and women who trusted the Lord despite the terrible circumstances many of them had to face, but as we move into Chapter 12, that great cloud of witnesses is replaced by one wonderful Witness - the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the supreme Witness, for read more...
Hebrews is a book that focuses on faith, which is simply believing God's Word. We are to have faith in God the Father and faith in His Son. We are to have a faith that holds firm through all the changing scenes of life, whether we face trouble or joy. We are called to live by faith in the Word of God, for without faith it is impossible to please Him, and we are encouraged to remember His faithfulness towards us and to avoid the unfaithfulness exhibited by the read more...
The writer of Hebrews often directs the gaze of those who read his epistle, to words and wisdom in the Old Testament as a warning to avoid their mistakes. The counsel in Proverbs 3 is to accept that chastening rod of God, for as an earthly father corrects his son, so our Heavenly Father disciplines His children. And in Hebrews, we are similarly admonished to endure suffering as a discipline, because God is dealing with us as sons, mature sons, adult sons, blessed read more...
The Father generally trains His children through trials, difficulties, and sufferings, just as the Lord Jesus also learned obedience: "Through the things that He suffered." But when a believer is disciplined or chastened by the Lord, we often imagine that God does not love us anymore, or that He is inflicting some cruel punishment on us, from which we make every endeavour to escape. But chastening from the Lord is a sign of love that comes from read more...
Too often we shy away from words like chastening, discipline, correction, and submission, because our lives have experienced the world's efforts at chastening, discipline, correction, and submission, which falls far short of its godly meaning in the Bible.
We need to recognise that God's chastening is not His wrath or some angry punishment or penalty, but rather God graciously deals with us as a loving Father Who seeks to mould us read more...
How important to patiently endure the child-training we all must receive from our gracious Heavenly Father. How wise to willingly submit to the godly discipline and necessary chastening that every child of God receives from our Father in heaven so that we may be conformed into the image and likeness of our Saviour, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Were we not chastened by the Lord, we would not be His sons but illegitimate children, but read more...
The training and discipline of earthly parents which is given during infancy and childhood, is compared and contrasted with the perfect instruction and chastening rod that we receive from our heavenly Father.
The correction given by earthly parents is, too often, far from perfect, even though they try to rear their offspring in the way they think their children should be brought up. The Bible tells us that our parents disciplined read more...
Before we were born again, we were children of the devil and estranged from God. We were dead in our sin and under eternal condemnation. Before we were born again, we were enslaved in sin and under the curse of the Law, en route to the lake of fire and eternal separation from our Creator God. However, since we have been saved by grace through faith, we have become children of God and joint-heirs with Christ. Now we have the promise of eternal life, a read more...
Following a beautiful chapter on faith, which reminds us of our privileged position in Christ and the glories that are yet to be realised in Him, Hebrews 12 exhorts the Church to maintain our hope in Christ; the Author and Finisher of our faith.
We are reminded that this world is not our home, and as sojourners in a foreign land, we will have to undergo the same sort of hostility the Lord Jesus endured, from sinners who opposed read more...
The Word of God tells us that if we allow bitterness to creep into our hearts and if we become bound up in resentment, discontent, acrimony, and grudges against others, we come short of the grace of God and have allowed the ungodly characteristic of bitterness to sink its deadly root into our heart. This bitterness defiles us before the Lord and causes no end of trouble in our own lives and in the lives of others too.
Bitterness read more...
Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are called, "the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn," and through faith in Christ's sacrificial work on the Cross and His glorious Resurrection, our names are, "enrolled in heaven." The book of Hebrews explains that the privileges we receive through the new and better Covenant which was cut on Mount Zion - at Calvary, are so much superior to those given to Israel - at Mount Sinai, for read more...
The Old Covenant was given, through Moses, to the nation of Israel and although it was good, it was unattainable. God chose Israel out of the sea of fallen humanity to be His special people, and God's perfect Law was given to imperfect Israel at Mount Sinai. It was given to separate them from the swamp of fallen humanity and show them how God wanted His people to live - it was designed to expose the imperfections of fallen man. read more...
We have been saved in the same way as that great cloud of witnesses who were listed earlier in the book of Hebrews; saved by grace through faith. They believed the Word of God as they looked forward to the arrival of the promised Seed of Abraham, man's Kinsman-Redeemer Who was the greater Son of David. We also believe the Word of God as we look back to the Cross of Christ to Jesus, our God and Saviour, our risen, ascended, and glorified Lord.
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When God speaks, His children should listen, and when God repeats Himself, His children should pay extra special attention to the Word of the Lord.
It was the prophet Haggai that first announced to Israel that God was going to shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land. Haggai challenged God's people to re-examine their priorities and practice, and to re-establish God back into the centre of their lives and to trust read more...
Hebrews is a book that was mainly written to Jewish believers in the early Church who found it very difficult to let go of many of their former traditions and Jewish rituals. It was written to help them come to terms with the New and better Covenant, which was promised by the mouth of Jeremiah, cut through the precious blood of Jesus Christ our Saviour, and will be fully and finally ratified when Jesus returns to set up His Millennial Kingdom on earth.
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While Galatians was a book that was written to warn Gentiles not to be lured into legalistic, Jewish practices, the target audience of Hebrews was predominantly towards Jewish converts to Christianity in the early Church.. who were being lured back into Jewish legalism.
Both books are equally relevant to Christians today who are continually being enticed back into the legalistic practice of the pre-Cross dispensation of Law... read more...
The book of Hebrews was particularly important for Jewish believers in the early Church. Step by step it showed that Christ was superior to angels and of greater importance than Moses, Aaron, and Joshua. It identified Jesus as preeminent among prophets, priests, kings, and the entire angelic realm. Hebrews is the book that showed believing Jews that the New Covenant promised through Jeremiah, had been cut at Calvary.
It explains read more...
The book of Hebrews points us to the unique person and work of the Lord Jesus and calls us to trust God in all things, for without faith it is impossible to please Him. It warns us to beware of falling short of the calling God has on our lives and cites Israel as an object lesson on pitfalls to avoid, as well as identifying a great cloud of faithful witnesses who trusted God in all the twists and turns of their lives.
In the read more...
While the title and content of Hebrews suggests that its initial audience were immature converts from Judaism who were in danger of leaving their Christian faith and returning to the Law of Moses, the subject matter, instructions, and warnings offered in Hebrews are equally pertinent to Christians of today who have legalistic teachers, or trust in a works-based salvation message.
The book of Hebrews cautions believers who have a read more...
Exalting the Person and work of the eternal Son of God, and detailing His incarnation, His substitutionary death, His heavenly Priesthood, and the importance of faith, are the broad themes that flow through the book of Hebrews. This is not a book that is written to unbelievers. Hebrews is an epistle that targets maturing believers, and its clarion call is to live godly lives in Christ Jesus - the Author and Finisher of our faith.
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The direction of our life, the tenor of our conversation, and the disposition of our hearts should always be pleasing to the Lord, for we are God’s children. We are to be holy for God is holy. We are to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. We are to grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, as, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we are being transformed into His image, day by day.
Inner contentment read more...
If only our faith were simpler and we were more childlike, we would take all that God says in the Scriptures and simply trust in His Word – and that's called FAITH! Faith is simply maintaining confidence in all God says. It is believing that His Word is true. It is trusting that the Lord will honour His pledges and promises.
In the previous verse, the Lord Himself promised, "I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake read more...
"All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness," and Jesus came as the fulfilment of God's written Word. Quoting from the Psalms, He Himself declared, "Behold, the volume of the book is written about Me - and I have come to fulfil your will, O God."
The Jewish leaders searched through Scripture, read more...
The book of Hebrews is of tremendous spiritual importance and has significant doctrinal value to all Church-age believers. However, much of its content was of special relevance to Jewish believers in the early Church who found difficulty in letting go of the long religious history of Judaism - which was deeply rooted in Mosaic Law - in exchange for Christianities post-Cross doctrine.
It compares and contrasts the important read more...
The Law of God demanded that only the shed blood of a perfect, sacrificial 'Lamb' could be accepted as a trespass-offering - a sin offering to pay for the price for humanity's sin. The Lord Jesus Christ achieved this on Calvary's cross when He became our sin-substitute. God was fully satisfied when His only Begotten Son took on human flesh, lived a sinless life and drank the cup of suffering on our account and walked to the cross, to die in our read more...
The Lord Jesus offered up His sinless life to His Heavenly Father as the full, final, and sufficient sacrifice for the sin of the whole world. It was by willingly giving up His own perfect life as an offering to the Father at Calvary that the purpose for which Christ was born was accomplished. He became the full and sufficient payment for the sin of the whole world, and all who believe on Him receive forgiveness of sins because He died in our place.
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What a beautiful prayer is being prayed for all those that are one with Christ.
We do not have a distant, ineffective God but a God of peace Who made peace with us through the death of the Lord Jesus, and Who gives us His own perfect peace as we remain in fellowship with Him.
We do not have a vague, impotent God, but one who is our Good Shepherd Who works on our behalf, Who guides our feet into read more...
The writer to the Hebrews prayed the most wonderful prayer - that God would prepare and equip all believers in Christ with every good thing that is pleasing to God. He prays for a life that carries out every good work that God has prepared for us to do in the power of His Spirit, a life that lives and functions in the grace and sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ, a new-life in Christ that can say "it is not I that live but the mighty power of Christ read more...