Bible Story: Hebrews

Introduction

And now we come to the rich and resplendent book of Hebrews. There has never ever been a more eloquent book in all of world literature. I never shall forget a few years ago in Adelaide, Australia, talking to the head of the speech department of the University of Adelaide, a man from Scotland, a brilliant man with clear blue eyes, and never we’ll forget him. We talked for about two hours, and he said he didn’t believe in God and he didn’t believe in the Bible. And I said, Do you mean in your speech and drama courses you never ask your students to read the Bible? And a light came up and glistened in his eyes, and he said, Oh no, preacher, you have it wrong. He said, I demand they read the book of Psalms in the Old Testament and the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament.

They are the most eloquent pieces of literature I’ve ever read. Now, if an unbeliever, an infidel could say that about the book of Hebrews, surely Christians ought to read it more. It is just that great. There would be no way to extol its virtues and praise its contents too highly. There are three major teachings in the 13th chapter book of Hebrews. Chapters 1 through 7 tell us of the supremacy of Christ. Christ is superior. The key word in Hebrews is the word better, the better things of the new covenant. And then in chapters 8 through 10, he tells us that the old law had fulfilled its purpose. And in chapters 11, 12, and 13, he closes out by telling us of the need for practical faithfulness, constant fidelity as children of God.

Let’s capture the background in Sedding. Written to Hebrew Christians who were on the verge of leaving Christ and going back to Judaism. He warns them that first of all they would be leaving a superior system to go to an inferior one. Then he tells them that the old law had been abrogated anyway. There was nothing to go back to. And finally he spanks them a little and says, Why don’t you just be faithful and zealous and fruit bearing for the Lord and go on down the road with him and quit turning back because of persecution? He said, Don’t you forsake the assembling of yourselves together, for he has said he’ll never leave you nor forsake you. Hebrews 13, verses 5 and 6. Now let’s go back and pick up the outline.

1. Christ Is Superior

It’s a very vibrant one. In chapter 1, he tells us in Hebrews that Christ is superior to angels. These Hebrew Christians evidently had a superstitious attitude about angels. There was even a teaching prevalent in the first century that you had to work your way up to God through a succession, an elevation, step by step, evangelic hosts, and even had names and labels for each succeeding step that drew you nearer to God because of angels. In the first chapter, he says, Christ is superior to angels. God never said to any angel, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And he said, When this earth rolls up like an old vesture and is cast aside, you’ll wish you’d be tied on to Jesus, for he’ll endure forever.

And so in chapter 2, he says, Christ is superior as the captain of our salvation, and we must not neglect so great salvation. If we do, we have no reward. We must not slip away from these things. We must keep our moorings in the Lord. He is superior to angels, he is the captain of our salvation who blazed the trail before us. One translation says he is the pioneer of our salvation, made perfect through sufferings. And because of his death, his sinless life and powerful death, he destroyed the power of the devil over death. And in that he has suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them who are tempted. Hold on to Christ, don’t go back to Judaism. In chapter 3, he says, brethren, Christ is superior to Moses.

Moses was a servant in God’s house, but Christ is a son over his own house, whose house are we? And except the Lord build a house, they labor and vainly build it. Every house is built by some man, but he that built all things is God. And if you follow Moses, remember he died short of the promised land. But if you follow Christ, you can go on into the holy of holies heaven itself. Christ is superior to angels, he’s superior as the captain of our salvation. He is superior to Moses. And fourth, he is superior to Joshua. Joshua, one of the unsung heroes of the Bible, picked up the work of Moses, who died short of the promised land, led the people into the conquest of Canaan for fifty glorious, power-packed years, and yet all he could give men was a physical, earthly, temporal land of promise.

If you follow Christ, there yet remains a rest for the people of God, Hebrews 4 9, and that rest is heaven itself. And the powerful, piercing word of God, the perfect high priest, the privilege of prayer, and the all-seeing eye of God should motivate you to go on to the promised land of heaven itself, where Christ, superior to Joshua, leads you into the conquest of glory. In chapter 5 of Hebrews, he tells us that Christ is superior to Aaron and the Levitical priesthood system. Those priests had to be replaced because of infirmity, because they died. But there’s only one high priest in Christianity, and that’s Christ Jesus, who is alive forevermore. Revelation 1, verses 17 through 19. So Christ is superior to Aaron and the Levitical priesthood system.

This is a better way, a superior way, the supreme way. And then in chapter 6, and this is a lovely chapter, he tells us that God keeps his promises. He cannot lie. And he promised us access to heaven through Abraham’s seed, even Christ. And Christ is our forerunner to heaven. John the Baptizer was the forerunner of Jesus. He blazed the trail, paved the way for Christ. Christ is the pioneer of our salvation who paved the way into heaven itself, into the Holy of Holies. You remember when he died, the veil of the temple was rent in twain, Matthew 27. Access into the Holy of Holies was made possible. Up until that time, on the day of atonement, Leviticus 16, the high day of the Jewish economy, the Levitical High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies once a year, and he had to offer for his own sins, for he was a man of infirmity and weakness, as well as the sins of the people.

But now Christ Jesus, the one and only irreplaceable high priest of the new covenant, entered into the Holy of Holies, and has paved the way for us to have ready access to heaven itself. This gives us hope as an anchor of the soul of entering in through the veil of his flesh into a new and living way into heaven itself. And then in Hebrews 7, in a very deep treatise, he goes all the way back to Genesis 14 and talks about a man named Melchizedek, who was both king and priest of Salem, and that’s the earliest mention of Jerusalem. The early name of Jerusalem was Salem. And this man king and priest of Salem. You remember the story of Abraham returning from the battle of the kings, victorious, resplendent, and yet he met a man in the way that was more powerful and more authoritative than he was.

And he paid tithes to Melchizedek and received a blessing from him. And he that is blessed is not greater than the one who blessed him. And so Melchizedek was superior to Abraham. But, and get this point, out of the lawns of Abraham came the Levitical Hebrew system. But before that system ever existed, Abraham did obeisance to, paid honor and homage to one who was greater than he. Now here’s the punchline in Hebrews 7. Christ is a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. And so he is superior to the Levitical priesthood system, and there is one high priest, and once in the end of the world he put away sin by the death of himself. And the unique thing is he is our one and only high priest, and the perfect sacrifice he offered was himself.

2. The Old Law Had Fulfilled Its Purpose

Christ is superior. Christianity is the better way. Don’t leave it for Judaism, he says to these Hebrew Christians. And then in chapters 8, 9, and 10, he says, and gentlemen, there’s nothing to go back to anyway. It’s been annulled, abrogated, taken out of the way. Christ is the mediator of a better covenant, established upon better promises. And the point he makes here is, based on Jeremiah 31, that new covenant which God promised has now come. It is not written on tables of stone, but upon the heart. It is not for the Jews only, but for all mankind. It is not applied in a family inheritance way, but individually, yet universal in its scope. And thanks be unto God, sins are not retained under it, but forever forgiven.

Notice verses 12 and 13 of Hebrews 8. In that he saith, A new covenant he hath made the first old. Now that which waxeth old and decayeth is ready to vanish away. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

For a testament is not of force while he who made it liveth. If a man writes a will, it is not binding until he dies. While Christ was on earth, he lived under the old covenant. But when he died and shed the blood of the new covenant, Matthew 26, 28, and the terms were probated in the halls of heaven and preached on the day of Pentecost forward, the terms of the will of Christ had to be binding after his death. Thus we come to after the cross of Christ, for the terms God has for us under the New Testament, the last will and testament of Jesus Christ. And in Hebrews 10 we read that the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin. The sacrifices they offered continually could not make the comers thereunto perfect.

3. Live a Faithful, Fruitful, Heaven-Bound Life

The sacrifices the priest offered daily under Judaism could never take away sin. But now notice the punchline, Hebrews 10, 12. But this man, Christ, after he had made one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of God. Hebrews is a powerful book. Christ is superior, the old Lord fulfilled his purpose. And then the ultimate exhortation, beginning in chapter 10, verse 19, and going to the end of the book, in view of the exaltation of Christ, in view of the abrogation of the Old Testament, you live a faithful, fruitful, glorious, God-centered, Christ-honoring, heaven-bound life. And in chapter 11 of Hebrews, he lists the great heroes of the faith. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Moses, Joshua. And he said, Time would fail me more to tell you of Samson and Barak and Gideon and so forth.

These all died in faith, not having received the promise. God having provided some better thing for them that they without us should not be made perfect. And then in Hebrews 12, we have the marvelous distinction between the Old Testament and the new. He goes back to Mount Sinai, where the mountain billed with smoke and quivered with fear, and three thousand were slain, and even if an animal touched the mount, they were thrust through with a dart. The awesome presence of God, where men were slain. With the new covenant, the gospel of Christ preached on Mount Zion from Pentecost forward that ties us to God spiritually, where three thousand were saved that day. And he speaks of the unmovable, unshaken kingdom, which Daniel foretold, Daniel 2 44, Hebrews 12 28.

The church of the firstborn ones, whose names are enrolled in heaven, with the spirits of just men made perfect. For our God is a consuming fire. In Hebrews 13, he says, Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware. Let your life be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have, for he has said, I’ll never leave thee nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do unto me. And then he says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Don’t be carried away with divers doctrines. Hold on to Christ. You go out unto him, he suffered outside the gate for us.

Conclusion

Let’s identify with the Lord and share in his death and sufferings and thus in its benefits through the blood of the everlasting covenant. And let us offer the fruit of our lips, the thanksgiving of our hearts, continually unto God. And he closes this wonderful treatise called Hebrews. Exalting Christ, showing the old Lord fulfilled its purpose, had been taken out of the way, and that we’re to identify with Christ in a faithful, fruitful life. Faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11 1. Without faith it’s impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11 6. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God, Romans 10 17, and we walk by faith and not by sight.

2 Corinthians 5 7. Emerson said, All that I have seen causes me to trust in God for all that I have not seen. And friend, I guarantee you, if you’ll read the book of Hebrews prayerfully and carefully and honestly, you’ll love the Lord more, and you’ll turn to New Testament Christianity and be his servant.