Introduction to Hebrews

Hebrews:

A book that all of us are familiar with because it’s in our Bibles

But honestly, probably is somewhat of a mystery to many of us

We know pieces of the book:

verses like

English Standard Version Chapter 4

4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 11, that great chapter on faith

Hebrews 12:1–2 “1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

So, we know pieces of the book, but how does it all fit together?

And what are those pieces in between that provide context for the pieces that we know?

I confess that in the past, I have found this book confusing and hard to understand.

I took a Hebrews class when i was at Moody, but I have since seemed to have misplaced my notes from that class and don’t remember much (that was 27 years ago now)

But while I don’t remember a lot of specifics from that class, what I do know is that my Hebrews class awoke me to the richness of this book

This book is full of pictures and types, and deep theological themes

And because it is part of our preserved Scriptures, I think we would do well to increase our understanding of its message

So, for the next period of time, I want us to go on a journey together through this book and while we do that,

my prayer is that the glory and majesty of Jesus will be increased in our minds and hearts.

What is this book?

is it a letter?

Most scholars seem to agree that it is a letter.

And at the end of the book, the author does say, “I have written to you briefly”

However, it doesn’t read like most of the other letters in the NT read. Certainly not Paul’s letters

Prior to the book of Hebrews, we have 13 letters from the Apostle Paul.

And for the most part, his letters sort of have the same structure

He identifies himself by name: Paul

He identifies himself by calling: I am an apostle

He identifies who is there with him and helping him write the letter (if anyone)

He says to whom he is writing

He extends grace and peace to his listeners

And in many of his letters, he has a prayer or an expression of thanks to God for the faith of his readers

This book, however, has none of that. The writer just launches into his subject without any greetings or identification

In fact, this book reads more like a sermon than a letter

in chapter 13:22, the writer calls his epistle a “word of exhortation”.

The reason this is significant is because in Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas are in a synagogue in Antioch, and the synagogue rulers say to them:

if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it

whereupon, Paul stands and gives a sermon

So, possibly this author is thinking of his writings as a sermon rather than a letter

But for the sake of simplicity, I will just call it a letter

The Author

Jeopardy clue: “Paul’s letter to them is the NT epistle with the most OT quotations”

The KJV title: The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews”

And that is probably where Jeopardy got their clue from

However, the earliest manuscripts that we have of Hebrews do not have this title and don’t attribute the book to Paul

And there are reasons to believe that he didn’t write it

writing style and use of the Greek language are different than what you see in Paul’s letters

scholars tell us that the use of the Greek language is much more masterful and polished in Hebrews than it is in Paul’s letters

There are 169 Greek words found in Hebrews that are found nowhere else in the NT

themes in Hebrews are different

Paul concerned about how do Jews become Christians

circumcision

justification by faith

resurrection, etc

Hebrews

focuses on the high priestly nature of Christ

talks about the ascension of Christ to God’s right hand

Interested in the kind of faith that allows Christians to persevere and endure

Does this mean Paul didn’t write it? No. It just means that we aren’t sure who wrote it

Some early Christians speculated that maybe

Luke

Barnabas

Clement of Rome (a 1st century Christian leader who is not mentioned in our Bible)

Martin Luther thought that perhaps Apollos wrote this book because in Acts 18:24, Apollos is described as an eloquent man, and competent in the Scriptures

The author shall remain a mystery

The audience

Again, we aren’t entirely sure

The title “To the Hebrews goes back at least to the late 2nd century” which is pretty early

So, it’s very possible that this was part of the author’s original inscription

But just saying “To the Hebrews” is pretty general, isn’t it

it’s like me writing a letter “to the Mennonites”

Well, Mennonites are pretty diverse. Who exactly are you writing to?

And that’s what we aren’t sure of

It’s probable that it was written to a certain group or church because at the very end of the book, the author passes along the news that Timothy has been released and that he plans to come and visit them with Timothy soon

And it’s possible that this group is in Italy, maybe even in Rome

Hebrews 13:24 “24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings.”

The author, it appears, was with a group of Believers from Italy, and they were all sending their greetings to their loved ones in Italy

The Date

Again, not entirely sure

However, most regard this letter to have been written during the time of Nero’s persecution, somewhere around AD 64

It is pretty certain that it was written before the end of the first century

Clement of Rome, near the end of the first century, wrote a letter to the Corinthian church in which he makes strong references to the letter to the Hebrews

meaning that it was already written and in circulation

The Purpose

The letter is written in order to encourage Believers who were going through some tough times and who had been through some tough times

some cast into prison

ridiculed in public

Even physically assulted

Some believers had accepted this adversity joyfully, but others had shrunk back from their earlier allegiance to Christ and became apostates, or unbelievers, people who have renounced their faith

Some, maybe hadn’t gone that far, but they were in danger of compromising their faith

And the letter appeals to all believers who have gone through testing

an encouragement to endure and to press on to Christian maturity and stability

So, how do you encourage Believers to endure?

how do you encourage them to hold fast? and go on to maturity?

The author does it by turning their eyes, not to themselves. Not inward to try and find strength in themselves, but rather to Christ! “Fix your eyes on Jesus” he says in Hebrews 12.

And that is the main point of this entire book. Fix your eyes on Jesus

No believer can cope with adversity unless Christ fills his horizons, sharpens his priorities and dominates his experience. Raymond Brown “The Message of Hebrews”

And that is the whole point, right? This is something that we could never hear too much

Our faith in Christ must be an active, living faith. It’s one thing to acknowledge with your mouth that Jesus is LORD.

it’s one thing to have the knowledge that that Jesus came, and lived, and died and rose again, and ascended to heaven

But it’s quite another thing to have Jesus dominate our entire life, filling our horizons, sharpening our priorities, and dominating our experiences

But when that is our experience, this is where endurance comes from.

Endure. That is what I have chosen as a title for this series

The Message

Two main themes:

Revelation: What God has said to us

Redemption: What Jesus has done for us

These are things we are going to be looking at more closely, but just briefly

Revelation

God’s Word has come to us in many ways through various human channels and in different historical contexts

But, in Christ, God’s word because a “personified word” which means God’s word, His message to us, was given through His Son, Jesus

Redemption—what Christ has done for us

When it comes to the work of Jesus Christ, this book of Hebrews give us probably the clearest picture of any book of the Bible and goes into the most detail

contains the deepest theology about the work of Jesus

The author uses vivid word pictures in

contrast

OT priesthood is temporary, but Christ is a permanent priest

The OT priests, were “beset with weakness” and sinfulness, but Christ was sinless

The OT sacrifices reminded us of the seriousness of sin, but by Christ’s offering sin can be taken away

Types

He points out that the OT symbols were “types” of things to come

A type is a picture or an example of something greater

For example, the bronze serpent was a type of the cross

They were shadows of the perfect things that were to come later

And so the writer of Hebrews makes it clear that the priests, the tabernacle, the things in the tabernacle, the sacrifices, were examples to point us toward something and someone much greater

The Relevance

Why is this letter important? If we read over it hastily or at a surface level, as 21st century Christians, we might tend to think, “It’s antiquated, mostly irrelevant. We like those parts about faith, but other than that, what’s the point?”

The famous British preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, recalled an experience that he had with the book of Hebrews as a young person.

And with some humor, he is reported to have said this:

‘I have a very lively, or rather deadly, recollection of a certain series of discourses on the Hebrews, which made a deep impression on my mind of the most undesirable kind. I wished frequently that the Hebrews had kept the Epistle to themselves, for it sadly bored a poor Gentile lad’

Maybe that is the way you have felt (hopefully not)

But here’s the thing

While we may have a bit of trouble identifying with some of the word pictures used in the book (priests, sacrifices, etc)

The message of the book is undoubtably relevant

In a number of different ways that it is relevant

Firstly “The only way that we can come to God the Father is through Jesus Christ”

Other religions talk about the basic needs of mankind, the Gospel asserts that only in Christ can those needs be met

Many people try to find ways of saying that Christ and His Gospel are merely one expression among many of the “idea” of salvation.

but Hebrews leads us to believe that the work of Christ is unique meaning that it is not one among many.

But it stands on it’s own as being the only way

other Modern theologians try to downplay the work of Christ, His atoning death on the cross

saying that His death was like that of a martyr dying for whatever cause he was living for

One theologian compared Jesus to Martin Luther King Jr.

saying that the only way that MLK could bring civil rights to African Americans was by risking his life

not only did he have to be prepared to be roughed up by the police, he had to be prepared to be assassinated

and the greater his success, the greater became the likelihood that he might have to give his life

and this guy said, “Same way with Jesus. Living a life of love and teaching others about love brought the likelihood that He might have to give His life”

And so, Jesus was like a martyr, who was killed because of what He believe in

this is what many modern theologians, doubtless some of them in our Mennonite circles are teaching

But Hebrews would say, No, Jesus didn’t simply die for a good cause. He wasn’t simply a martyr

The cross wasn’t just likely, it was necessary

He died in our place and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin

Men like MLK were good men, I’m sure. But you can’t possibly set them alongside or as equals with Jesus

Another point that Hebrews makes which is relevant to us is that we as people don’t simply need to be forgiven

We need to be brought near to God and made holy

we don’t only need to have our consciences cleansed

Many people may feel like they have been forgiven, yet they still lack purpose in life

Hebrews makes the point that outside of Christ, mankind is not all that we were meant to be

but “the perfect man”, that is, Jesus Christ came so that He could do for us who were alienated and enslaved what we couldn’t possibly do for ourselves.

We read that Jesus became like us so that we could become like Him

He delivers us and makes us holy

Thirdly, Another very relevant point that Hebrews makes

The Christian life is an on going journey of faith and repentance

We’ve all known people who once walked with Jesus, they were active in church, or in Christian work. They had immense spiritual potential, but now have walked away from the faith, from Christian fellowship

or they have outright declared that what they used to believe, they no longer believe

And the writer of Hebrews is deeply convinced that the Christian life must be expressed in an ongoing journey of faith and growth

I think that he would tell us that “becoming a Christian” is not just something that happened. It is something that must continue to happen

The Christian life is not a “Get your ticket stamped to Heaven” sort of deal

You don’t get saved and then think of it as an event that has happened in the past

That is important, yes, but salvation is a continuing process

Being a disciple of Jesus is what salvation is all about

and in light of that, the author of Hebrews gives his readers heartfelt exhortation to stay true to Jesus and not lose the faith that they received

And he includes solemn warnings about the consequences of turning their backs on their faith

The book of Hebrews is relevant

And it is “meaty”. It’s hard to understand and it’s going to ask us to think hard about things

he says in chapter 6, “Let’s leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity. We shouldn’t need to keep trying to lay a foundation of repentance and faith and instructions about ceremonies.”

Those are all necessary things to talk about

But at some point we need to move on from there and live it out

And that is where the rubber meets the road

And that is where we are asked to think hard about

English Standard Version Chapter 13

Benediction

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Final Greetings

In this benediction, or prayer of blessing, we see the Gospel summed up in a few short phrases

The God of peace—Do you know this God? Do you know Him as being The God of Peace.

Many people see God as a God of anger, vengeance,

maybe, if they have heard much about God at all, all they have heard is “hellfire and brimstone”

and they think of God like He appeared to the children of Israel on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19 where it says that

the mountain was wrapped in smoke, like the smoke of a kiln

And the mountain trembled and there was a sound of the trumpet the grew louder and louder

And the presence of the LORD came down on the Mountain

And the people could not come near, lest they touch the mountain and die

and many of us doubtless know what it is like to be “at odds” with God

To live most of our lives under a sense of condemnation and guilt, and fear that somehow we just will never mange to have a right relationship with God

And the idea of God being “The God of Peace”.

yeah, we know it says that in the Bible, but that isn’t something we have really experienced

and we all want peace with God, but maybe this is something that has eluded us

And so we seek peace in other ways that always end up falling short

But the author here identifies God as being “THE God of peace”

Meaning that it was God who put a plan in place for the relationship between us and Him to be healed

He came to us in order to bring us near to Him

indicating that there is no other way to find true peace, except in a right relationship with Him

He did it by sending Jesus who willingly sacrificed Himself by dying on the cross

But that wasn’t the end—God brought Him back from the dead. He raised Jesus up

And it was that sacrifice, willingly dying, and being raised from the dead that sealed that offer of peace with God

Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins

But without Jesus raising to life, there is no hope of new life for us

And we simply receive it by faith

And this passage identifies Jesus as “The Great Shepherd of the Sheep”

He is the one who equips us to do His will

It is not us who do His will by practicing and getting good at it

He is the one who equips us. He gives us the tools to do what He wants from us, and we then we go out and do His will with the equipment that He give us

I think of my first solo flight as an MAF pilot in Mozambique.

I was a bit nervous. But I had to stop and remember, “Hey, I’ve been equipped to do this job”. I’ve been given all the tools that I need to go out there and be an effective MAF pilot

And that’s the same way for us. He has given us all that we need for life and Godliness

This speaks of a life of faithfulness and discipleship which is what this book of Hebrews is all about

We live to do the will of God

And that’s the Gospel in a nutshell. That’s the good news

PRAYER

English Standard Version Chapter 13

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.