Hebrews Archives - Page 2 of 2

Daily Devotional-August 1

August 1, 2020

For the next 13 days we will be spending time together walking through the book of Hebrews! Hebrews is written to Jewish Christians who were undergoing persecution for their faith and considering running back to Judaism. The author of Hebrews takes an in-depth look at the practices and regulations of the Old Testament as articulated in the Torah and argues for how Jesus is both superior to each of them and supreme over all of them! The author also warns his audience of the grave danger facing them should they choose to now reject Jesus and return to their former way of life. These warnings can and should make us feel uncomfortable as we read through the book together; allow the Spirit to do what He wants to do in your heart through them! Overall, the message of Hebrews is that Jesus, the Son of God as well as our Savior and Messiah, is infinitely superior to anything or anyone else we could give our lives to, and He is worthy of all our devotion and worship. Jesus is greater!

In the beginning of this chapter the author explains that not only is Jesus greater than the angels, but He is also far greater than Moses himself! Moses led God’s people out of slavery in Egypt; Jesus delivered God’s people from the slavery to sin. Moses built the tabernacle; Jesus built the entire universe! Moses was faithful in his calling and was a servant of God; Jesus was faithful in His and is God’s own Son!

After demonstrating the superiority of Jesus over Moses, the author goes on to give another strong warning concerning the rebellion that the people of Israel who followed Moses participated in. This time the author, having just contrasted Moses with Jesus, contrasts the response of those who followed Moses with the response we who follow Jesus ought to have to His leadership.

Quoting extensively from the Old Testament (Psalm 95 specifically), the author reminds his audience that those who followed Moses were unable to enter the rest that God had prepared for them in the Promised Land due to their hard hearts, their willful rebellion and unbelief. In contrast, he calls followers of Christ to exhort and encourage one another to continue in the faith!

If Moses was great (and he was), and if the revelation of God through Moses was great (and it was), then how much greater should our devotion and belief towards Jesus be? If Christ is so vastly superior to Moses and all that Moses represents, we must take great care not to fall into the same trap that Moses’ followers fell into. We must hold fast to Jesus and give Him our all!

Hebrews 3

Jesus Greater Than Moses

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

A Rest for the People of God

⁷Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

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

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

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

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

Family Discussion Question:

How can we know if our hearts have been hardened by the deceitfulness of sin? What are some ways we can encourage and exhort one another every day, as we are commanded to in this passage, and take this warning seriously?

Devotional

Daily Devotional-July 31

July 31, 2020

This chapter begins with the first of the author’s warnings to his audience. He has just finished arguing that Jesus is greater than the angels and therefore the revelation which is in Him is greater than that which was delivered by the angels (i.e. the Law of Moses). He now warns that, if those who disobeyed the Law of Moses were punished for their transgression, how much greater will the retribution be against us if we neglect the far greater revelation which is in Christ, this great salvation which is in Him alone!?

This warning should cause us to pause and consider: have we somehow neglected this great salvation? Have we truly and fully surrendered to the absolute authority of Jesus over our lives? Have we truly given ourselves and our all over to Him? Consider this warning carefully; the author is clear that those who fail to heed it will not escape.

The author then goes on to complete his case for the superiority of Jesus over the angels. This time he uses the Old Testament to point to the supreme rule of Jesus over everything! Because Jesus willingly took on flesh and humbled Himself to the point of death, the Father crowned Him with the highest glory and honor and put all things in subjection under Him! Jesus holds all the authority and all the glory, far above the angels!

The end of this chapter is very good news for us. After explaining how Jesus had to be made like us (humans) in order to accomplish God’s purposes in salvation, he says that Jesus’ death on the cross not only atoned for all of our sins, and not only did He taste death in order that we might not have to, but it also made Him a great high priest for us so that He is now the mediator between us and God!

The author tells us that “because he himself suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (v.18). Jesus is able to help us in our weakness because He not only experienced weakness for Himself but also overcame it once and for all! Let’s celebrate His victory and His priesthood on our behalf today!

Hebrews 2

Warning Against Neglecting Salvation

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

The Founder of Salvation

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

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

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

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

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

¹³And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”

And again,

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

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

Family Discussion Question:

How does the warning in verses 1-4 make you feel? How might the Lord be calling you to repent, to change, and to seek the mercy of our great high priest, Jesus, through this passage?

Devotional

Daily Devotional-July 30

July 30, 2020

The author begins the book of Hebrews with a sort of thesis statement explaining what he’s going to be talking about for the rest of the letter. He says that Jesus is the ultimate revelation of who God is, far above all of God’s revelation which came before Him. He calls Jesus “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (v.3). His point is clear: Jesus is supreme over all things!

The author then begins making an argument for the superiority of Jesus over the angels. This may seem strange to a modern audience, but to first-century Jews angels were the object of much curiosity and speculation. Angels worship God in His very presence, before His throne, and carry His messages to mankind; their job description is one of awe and wonder!

Besides this, the author’s argument concerning superiority of the revelation of God in Jesus to any other revelation has everything to do with Him also being superior to angels, since Jewish tradition also teaches that the Torah was delivered to Moses by angels (see Deuteronomy 33:2). Angels revealed God to humanity through the Law of Moses, but the revelation which is in Jesus is so much greater!

The author quotes numerous Old Testament passages concerning Jesus as well as the angels to make his case for Christ’s supremacy over them. The author’s point in this chapter is clear: the way that God has chosen to reveal Himself in and through Jesus Christ, His Son and His very Word, is far superior to any other revelation! Jesus reveals God perfectly to us because He isGod, and He alone is worthy of all glory and worship!

Hebrews 1

The Supremacy of God’s Son

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, ²but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.³He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,⁴having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

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

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

Or again,

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

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

“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

⁷Of the angels he says,

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

⁸But of the Son he says,

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

¹⁰And,

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

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

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

¹⁴Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Family Discussion Question:

How does the supremacy of Jesus over all things move us to worship Him and to pursue Him?