January 17, 2024
Praying Friends,
The Book of Hebrews is a beautiful unveiling of the Lord Jesus Christ. It features the uniqueness and supremacy of His person, work, and purposes. There is nothing and no one who comes close to Him. He is the incomparable One.
The introduction says it all: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory, and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3). He is the effulgence, the brilliance, the shining forth of who God is and the accurate precise expression of God’s nature.
The unknown author seeks to direct early believers to the fact that Jesus is their only answer. Jesus is superior to all they had previously known and experienced. Before, they had the laws of Judaism, they had the leadership of Moses, they had had the Levitical priesthood, and they had the sacrifices linked with the old covenant. Now in Jesus Christ they have the full package deal, the fulfillment of all that the previous system had pointed to.
When you take a closer look, you find that Jesus is greater than angels who were created to give God’s Word, the Torah (Hebrews 2:1-4). He is the salvation provided by God.
He is the Word of God that surpasses the word of angels!
When you think of Moses' faithfulness and the resulting rest of the Promised Land, you learn that Jesus is greater. His faithfulness and His rest surpass anything that Moses could offer. (Read chapters 3 and 4).
He is our hope for a new creation!
When you consider the priests of the past with their human weaknesses and flaws, and eventual death, Jesus, who will never die, is far superior. Hebrews 7:25-28 says:
Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.
Jesus is our eternal priest!
When you think of all the sacrifices that needed to be made daily and annually, the one final sacrifice of Jesus is supremely unique. “Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:28).
Jesus is the perfect sacrifice that never needs repeating!
To sum up the first 10 chapters, Jesus is elevated as the unrivaled, unmatched, unparalleled reason that living for Him and not succumbing to popular pressure is what God desires.
Mixed in with these details are strong warnings. Warnings not to turn back to the old way of living. Warnings of the consequences of leaving Christ and embracing the empty shadows. These warnings should cause uneasiness, but to those who are trusting in Christ, they should not bring fear.
The writer is encouraging us to live by faith, to be faithful to our superior Savior. “But my righteous one will live by faith” (Hebrews 10:38). This, as he expounds in Chapter 10, will be evident in our confidence toward God, in our practical acts of love and kindness to others, and in our commitment to church fellowship (Hebrews 10:22-25).
Then the writer gives a full chapter on select, faithful saints to encourage us to do the same. People like Enoch, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Joseph, Rahab, and a host of others who all had failures, yet in their imperfection had faith in God.
We too, have the same faithful God and Jesus who lead the way of true faith. He is presently with His Father and now we are challenged to be faithful as we live in close relationship with Him.
Thank you for praying for our prodigals and for revival among us.
Love in Christ,
Bryan and Rachel