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Tag: hebrews

  • Hebrews 12- Reject Not God’s Grace

    Therefore, strengthen your listless hands and your weak knees

    Hebrews 12:12 NET

    The author of Hebrews assures us: “We have a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us;” therefore do not grow weary and lose heart.

    Life’s race shall not be to the finish of death, but to our completion in eternity.

    In Christ we have grace. So many witnesses of faith, as the writer of Hebrews points out, from Noah to Moses and David. These pointed to a more perfect place and worship.

    The imagery of the Priest making offerings to the Lord in the Holy of Holies is an earthly imitation of true worship and perfect offering made by our Holiest and Perfect Son of God, Christ Jesus! He alone sanctifies us. By His grace we are saved.

    Hebrews 12:

    a Few Cautions

    14 Pursue peace with all men… and the sanctification…

    The author of Hebrews cautions to believers echo: “Love one another,” and be holy before the LORD your God.

    15 Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God…

    Who is the author addressing? Brothers (and sisters) who believe in the Lord. Yet what is their understanding of the grace of God?

    We often reject the grace of God when roots sprout from our selfishness. He cautions next to make sure ‘that no root of bitterness springs up…

    A ‘root of bitterness‘ springing up draws on the imagery of weeds (among the good crop), an extreme wickedness and hatred growing from the depths of your heart. He compares this by example to the attitude of Esau, of whom the Lord said: ‘but I have hated Esau.’

    Come to the Mountain

    crowd worship at base of Mount Sinai
    Worship at Mount Sinai

    You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai.

    Hebrews 12:18 NLT

    Sinai or Zion: Fear or Joy

    20 [CSB] for they could not bear what was commanded: If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned. 21 The appearance was so terrifying that Moses said, I am trembling with fear.

    וְזֹאת הַבְּרָכָה אֲשֶׁר בֵּרַךְ מֹשֶׁה אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לִפְנֵי מֹותֹֽו׃

    וַיֹּאמַר יְהוָה מִסִּינַי בָּא וְזָרַח מִשֵּׂעִיר לָמֹו הֹופִיעַ מֵהַר פָּארָן וְאָתָה מֵרִבְבֹת קֹדֶשׁ מִֽימִינֹו אשֶׂדת לָֽמֹו׃

    Devarim (Deuteronomy) 33:1-2 (WLC)

    Do you fear Almighty GOD!?

    Moses did, many prophets did, Saul of Tarsus and others all fell prostate before Almighty God.

    … and his face was shining like the sun at full strength.

    When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.

    The REVELATION of Jesus Christ to John 16B-18 CSB

    Since the generations of Moses, priests entered the Holy of Holies with an expectation of meeting the LORD.

    Moses placed a veil over his face after descending Mount Sinai with his face shining with the glory of the Lord. The Holy of Holies was separated from other rooms of the Temple by a veil.

    The LORD is fearful and awesome! What mortal may face Him?

    Mount Zion, above all the high places

    To enter the Holy of Holies is to step across the threshold of holiness to encounter the LORD in a place above His creation.

    Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. – Matthew 27:51-53 NKJV

    22 Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem)…

    The author of Hebrews describes, in part, the heavenly abode of the Lord God and Christ Jesus. Moses could not fully explain the Face of God. Ezekiel and other Prophets could not fully describe the glory of the Lord. John could not fully reveal the Heavenly Place of the Lord or the Apocalypse of this created heavens and earth.

    Yet here the author assures us of the joy we have in Christ Jesus. He describes this holiest place of the Lord as the place of our Priest making His Perfect Sacrifice.

    … 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel.

    Do Not Refuse the Voice of Jesus

    New Covenant, therefore, a new Priest – a Perfect Sacrifice and Perfect Mediator between the LORD God and sinful man. Which will you choose?

    25 “See that you do not refuse Him… “ states the NKJV. Once again, the author of Hebrews invokes our natural fear of the Lord quoting well-known scripture. HE WARNS YOU FROM HEAVEN!

    Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.

    Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord,
    at the presence of the God of Jacob.

    eXODUS 19:18; pSALM 114:7

    28 [NIV] Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”

    Two covenants, two mountains, two types of High Priests to intervene for you before Almighty God. Will you worship by the grace of Christ Jesus?

    To be continued...

  • Hebrews 12-Grow Not Weary and Lose Heart

    For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

    Hebrews 12:3 NASB

    Endurance for the race

    Life wears me out – daily and year to year. My faith fades into a fog of uncertainty as I wonder if the Lord has any use for me at all. I am weary of sin and sinners, my heart broken and soul suffering. How will I endure this marathon of mortal life?

    Can you relate to that? Do your days run endlessly with all around you asking you to sprint to their end rather than endure the race of hope to finish?

    It was no different for a persecuted church, yet in Christ we have found our Hope and Light to victory over death and the joy of the prize.

    The author of Hebrews has just connected a genealogy of Jewish faith where ‘faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now he urges us to continue in Christ by faith.

    Lay aside every burden

    Cast your burden on the LORD,
    and he will sustain you;
    he will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

    Psalm 55:22 CSB

    Many know well the comfort of our Lord’s invitation to give to Him the great weights of our lives which hold us down.

    At that time Jesus said,

    “All things have been entrusted to me by my Father.

    “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

    excerpt from Matthew 11:25-28

    The author of Hebrews has just shown us many witnesses who have gone before us in this long journey of faith. He has provided the evidence.

    Hebrews 12:

    Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us.

    Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith.

    Hebrews 12:1b-2a CSB

    Clear imagery of our remaining days, as well as the persecuted lives of the early Christians to whom the author of Hebrews wrote his letter. We are not in the race alone, but have run it with Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, the many Prophets of God and all the others.

    We have received a baton of hope from our forefathers, which we may place gently into the hand of our children by faith. Jesus, the Messiah is our hope of winning the prize joyfully awarded by our Heavenly Father.

    Fix your eyes upon Jesus

    It bears repeating: Jesus IS our pacesetter. He has run this same race of mortality before us.

    Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

    ἀφοράω – aphoraō

    • to turn the eyes away from other things and fix them on something

    He exhorts us to turn away from things that are not part of the race of eternity and fix our eyes on the finisher of our faith.

    The once-familiar hymn based on this passage expresses the authors same desire.

     
    O soul, are you weary and troubled?
    No light in the darkness you see?
    There’s light for a look at the Savior,
    And life more abundant and free.
     
    Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
    Look full in His wonderful face,
    And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
      In the light of His glory and grace.
    2
    Through death into life everlasting
    He passed, and we follow Him there;
    O’er us sin no more hath dominion
    For more than conqu’rors we are!
    3
    His Word shall not fail you, He promised;
    Believe Him and all will be well;
    Then go to a world that is dying,
    His perfect salvation to tell!

    Do not lose heart

    These three verses appear as an introduction to Hebrews 12, but they comprise the heart of the author’s conclusion continuing in chapter 13.

    3 For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.

    Fix your eyes upon Jesus. Our race is not ended, but Christ our Redeemer assures our victory!

    Striving against Sin

    Have your forgotten the exhortation, the admonition and encouragement of scripture?

    Proverbs 3:11 Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son,
    and do not loathe his discipline;
    12 for the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
    just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

    7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline?

    Are you an obedient son or daughter of God our Father? The author of Hebrews continues with the example of earthly fathers. They discipline their child because the love them. It’s just for a few days, but God’s discipline to our holiness ‘yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.’

    Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees…

    Hebrews 12:12 CSB

    Walk the straight and narrow so that your woundedness may be healed.

    ἁγιασμός – Sanctification

    We are all broken though perhaps we have not yet shed blood for the sake of God. Our lives, disjointed by the sin that surrounds, wander the paths of unrighteousness.

    What is needed? How will a sinner like me ever get to the holiness required of heaven?

    The writer of Hebrews will continue to chastise us as a loving father when we continue in chapter 12.

    To be continued…

  • Hebrews 11- a Genealogy of Faith

    Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

    Hebrews 11:1 NKJV

    Faith is the Substance

    What is your greatest hope? Your eternal longing?

    ἐλπίζω elpizō – to hope

    How can you be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see?

    Matthew used this same word for hope pointing back to the prophesy of Isaiah.

    “And in His name the [nations] Gentiles will hope.”

    Matthew 12:21 NASB

    Previously the author of Hebrews has called on us to ‘draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.’How do we know that the new covenant in Christ now replaces the old?

    In the same way that our forefathers had hope – by faith.

    πίστις pistis – faith

    Faith is the substance, faith is the reality, faith is the assurance – many descriptions, all showing it as evidence of our hope.

    We may discuss and dissect the reasons for our hope in God, our confidence in Christ. And we may wander from the path of true faith from time to time. Yet its evidence remains as the light of our hope eternal.

    faith – conviction of the truth of anything

    • a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things
    • the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things
    • relating to Christ a strong and welcome conviction that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God
    • belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ, springing from faith in the same

    Our faith is the evidence of things hoped for. Yet some have faith in that which is not reality or truth, therefore the writer of Hebrews follows with evidence from history.

    2 For by it our ancestors won God’s approval.

    a genealogy of Jewish faith

    אֱמֶת = Faith is real and true; faith is truthfulness

    Hebrews 11:

    Without elaboration on the author’s entire genealogy of faith, take a brief look at: the verse – person exemplifying faith – Old Testament verse equivalent.

    6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

    Hebrews 11:6 CSB

    13 These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth.

    The author of Hebrews takes this genealogy of faith and applies it as evidence that these jewish ancestors had not yet received the Lord’s certain promise. He continues with Moses, who of course recorded these genealogies along with the Law in five books.

    Moses – Mosheh – מֹשֶׁה

    23 By faith Moses, after he was born, was hidden by his parents for three months… reference to Exodus 2:2.

    He proceeds with a more extended biography of Moses relating it to institutions of faith established for a later time, that is, fulfillment by the Messiah. Yes, Moses was a savior of the Hebrews, even when they resisted the Lord. But the Law and Covenants of Moses were imperfect forerunners of the Perfection to come.

    By faith he instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the Israelites.

    Hebrews 11:28 CSB; מֹשֶׁה

    From Moses to Christ

    30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down … 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.

    32 And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, 33 who by faith…

    Familiar stories of faith follow (also worth your time in brief here). He races through the generations from the Judges, past King David and to the prophets. Then addition of a prophetic reminder of what these persecuted Hebrews, both Jews and Christians were beginning to experience.

    Persecution by the world

    … Other people were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection.

    36 Others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated.

    Are you familiar with the persecution of Jews and Christians by Roman rulers like Claudius, Nero, Domitian and later many others?

    Those who received these letters to the church either needed or would need encouragement due to these cruelties for followers of Jesus. Even in this day Christians suffer and die for our faith.

    According to Open Doors, every month:

    • 255 Christians are killed
    • 104 are abducted
    • 180 Christian women are raped, sexually harassed or forced into marriage
    • 66 churches are attacked
    • 160 Christians are detained without trial and imprisoned

    More Christians died for their faith in the 20th century than in the 1st, yet Christians living in a world of hatred have always suffered for the sake of Christ.

    Christians martyred since the time of Jesus at 70 million

    David B Barrett, researcher, Christian Today

    Returning to the author of Hebrews’ argument for those suffering for Christ:

    39 All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised…

    And he assures us that God provided something better for us, in Christ.

    To be continued...