Introduction to Hebrews

Twin Cities Grace Fellowship

Hebrews

Made Better: A Study Through Hebrews

Introduction to Hebrews

Hebrews 1:1–4

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” — Hebrews 1:1–4

Introduction

Opening

• Hebrews is the letter that lifts our eyes to Christ and keeps them there. Everything the Hebrew believer had trusted came from God (the prophets, the angels, Moses, Joshua, the priesthood, the sanctuary, the covenant, and the sacrifices), and the writer shows that Christ is better than every one.

• Historically, it was written to Jewish believers who had come to Christ while the temple stood and the old system was all around them. The pull back was strong, and the letter showed them the shadows had given way to the substance.

• Presently, for unbelieving Jews it makes its case from their own Scriptures. For the believer, every “better” magnifies Christ.

• In the future, Hebrews through Revelation looks ahead to the day God resumes His program with Israel after the dispensation of grace. It will establish a believing remnant in Christ, and it will still set before the unbelieving the One who is better than everything they have trusted in.

Why This Matters

• If we don’t understand Hebrews, we can end up embracing the law and Christ together, when the law was meant to bring people to Christ.

• God has now spoken by His Son, and there is something better. Without seeing that, we attach Christ to what is inferior when He is superior.

• That is why the letter carries warnings: against not moving forward, not going to Christ, and not leaving certain things behind. We’ll meet five of them along the way:

• Drifting (2:1–4): give heed to what we’ve heard, lest we let it slip and neglect so great a salvation.

• Departing (3:7–4:2): don’t harden your hearts; an evil heart of unbelief departs from the living God.

• Dullness (5:11–14): dull of hearing, still needing milk when you should be eating strong meat.

• Despising (10:26–39): sinning willfully after knowing the truth, and treating the Son of God with contempt; drawing back.

• Defilement (12:15–17): a root of bitterness that troubles and defiles many; Esau as a profane person.

Thesis and Roadmap

• Thesis: Hebrews highlights Christ as the fulfillment of, and better than, everything spoken before Him: a better Moses, a better Joshua, a better covenant, and better than the angels. Even though we are not Hebrews, we can learn from this letter and believe what it tells us about Him.

• I. When it was written

• II. Authorship

• III. The name: why “Hebrews”

• IV. The outline of the letter

• V. Christ better than

TRANSITION Let’s begin with when this letter was written, because the setting explains what its first readers were facing.

Sermon

I. When It Was Written

State

• Hebrews was written in the early days of the church, to Jewish believers who had recently come to Christ.

• The temple still stood and the priests still ministered (10:11), though the old order was ready to vanish away (8:13). The pull back to it was strong.

• It was written while God was extending mercy to Israel, as the nation was diminishing and the dispensation of grace had begun.

• Anchor: Hebrews 8:13 and 10:11.

Develop

A. What they were going through

• They had paid a price for following Christ. After they came to the light, they endured a great fight of afflictions: reproach, tribulation, and the loss of their goods.

– Hebrews 10:32–34: reproach and tribulation, joyfully taking the loss of their goods because they had a better and enduring substance.

• The cost was real, but it had not yet reached the shedding of blood in their struggle against sin.

– Hebrews 12:4: they had not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

B. What they were being called to

• Called to look to Christ, the Apostle and High Priest of the confession they had made.

– Hebrews 3:1: consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession.

• Called to hold fast to that confession and not let go under pressure.

– Hebrews 4:14: having a great high priest who has passed into the heavens, hold fast our profession.

– Hebrews 10:23: hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful that promised.

• Called to go out to Him, leaving the camp of the old order behind and bearing His reproach.

– Hebrews 13:13: go forth unto Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.

C. When it was written: the old order still established

• The tabernacle system was still standing and still operating, and it was the thing pulling them back.

– Hebrews 9:8–9: the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest, and the first tabernacle was a figure for the time then present.

• Priests were still standing day after day offering the same sacrifices, which could never take away sins.

– Hebrews 10:11: every priest standing daily and offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

• Yet the old covenant had been made old and was nearing its end.

– Hebrews 8:13: He has made the first old, and what decays and grows old is ready to vanish away.

D. The dispensational framework: mercy extended while the nation diminished

• God was still reaching out to a disobedient nation, even as it diminished and only a remnant remained.

– Romans 10:21: all day long He stretched forth His hands.

– Romans 11:5: a remnant according to the election of grace.

– Romans 11:12: their diminishing meant riches for the Gentiles, but their fullness is still to come.

• The offer to Israel stayed open, from the early chapters of Acts to Paul’s last word at Rome.

– Acts 3:19–21: repent and be converted, that times of refreshing may come and He may send Jesus Christ.

– Acts 28:25–28: Paul’s last word to the Jews at Rome, and salvation sent to the Gentiles.

• Hebrews itself speaks of a day still open, “To day,” and of a coming that was near.

– Hebrews 3:13: exhort one another daily while it is called “To day.”

– Hebrews 4:7: again He sets a certain day, “To day,” if you will hear His voice.

– Hebrews 10:37: yet a little while, and He that shall come will come.

• Peter, writing to Jewish believers, saw the Lord’s longsuffering as salvation.

– 2 Peter 3:9: the Lord is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish.

– 2 Peter 3:15: account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.

Land

The old order still stood, but God was calling His people out of it and into Christ.

TRANSITION Before we look at what Hebrews says, we should ask who is speaking, and the letter tells us in its first word.

II. Authorship

State

• The human author of Hebrews is unnamed, and that matters.

• We shouldn’t get caught up in the debate over who wrote it. With no human name given, the author is plainly and clearly God.

• We need to understand why that matters.

• Anchor: Hebrews 1:1.

Develop

A. The common views

• The letter never names its human author, and that has left people guessing for centuries.

• Paul, Barnabas, Apollos, Luke, Clement of Rome, and Priscilla have all been suggested, and some say Timothy.

• We don’t need to settle the debate, because the letter itself tells us who is speaking.

B. God is the author

• The letter opens with God speaking, not a man: first by the prophets, and now by His Son.

– Hebrews 1:1–2: God spoke in time past by the prophets, and has in these last days spoken by His Son.

• God keeps speaking through the letter, in the words of the Old Testament and by the Holy Ghost, from the first chapter to the last.

– Hebrews 1:5: to which of the angels did He ever say, “Thou art my Son”?

– Hebrews 1:13: “Sit on my right hand.”

– Hebrews 3:7: as the Holy Ghost says, “To day if ye will hear his voice.”

– Hebrews 4:4–7: He spoke of the seventh day, and again of “To day.”

– Hebrews 5:5–6: He who said “Thou art my Son” also says a priest forever.

– Hebrews 8:8: the new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

– Hebrews 10:15–17: the Holy Ghost as witness, that sins and iniquities will be remembered no more.

– Hebrews 12:25–26: refuse not Him that speaketh; His voice once shook the earth.

– Hebrews 13:5: “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

C. Why this matters for this epistle

• God established the old covenant with the Hebrews, and He is now establishing the new covenant with them.

– Hebrews 8:6–13: the mediator of a better covenant on better promises, with the house of Israel and the house of Judah; the first made old.

• His word and His name stand behind it, as when He made promise to Abraham and swore by Himself.

– Hebrews 6:13–18: God made promise to Abraham and swore by Himself, because He could swear by no greater, giving two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie.

• The Hebrews were tempted to go back, and God Himself is calling them forward in Christ.

– Hebrews 12:25: see that you refuse not Him that speaketh from heaven.

Land

The author is God: the One who spoke in the law, the Psalms, and the prophets now speaks in His Son, who fulfills them all, and He is calling His people forward in Him.

TRANSITION We’ve seen who is speaking. Now, who is He speaking to?

III. The Name: Why “Hebrews”

State

• The letter is titled “Hebrews,” not “Jews” or “Israel,” and there is a reason.

• The name takes the mind all the way back to Abraham, who came from the line of Eber.

• Anchor: Genesis 10:21 and 11:14–16.

Develop

A. Eber and Abraham

• The name “Hebrew” goes back to Eber, in the line of Shem and down to Abraham.

– Genesis 10:21: Shem, the father of all the children of Eber.

– Genesis 11:14–16: the line from Shem down to Eber, and from Eber to Peleg, on the way to Abraham.

• The letter itself keeps returning to Abraham.

– Hebrews 2:16: He took on Him the seed of Abraham.

– Hebrews 6:13–15: God’s promise to Abraham, and Abraham obtained it by patient endurance.

– Hebrews 7:1–10: Abraham meets Melchizedek and gives him tithes, and the letter makes much of it.

– Hebrews 11:8–10: Abraham went out not knowing where he was going and looked for a city whose builder is God.

– Hebrews 11:17–19: Abraham offered up Isaac, counting that God was able to raise him from the dead.

B. Melchizedek

• Melchizedek first appears in Genesis, in Abraham’s day.

– Genesis 14:18–20: king of Salem and priest of the most high God, he brought out bread and wine, blessed Abraham, and received a tithe from him.

• He was a priest of the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth, so his priesthood was far greater than the localized and limited Levitical priesthood. It was a priesthood at large.

– Genesis 14:19: he blessed Abraham in the name of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth.

– Hebrews 7:1: Melchizedek, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham and blessed him.

– Hebrews 7:4–10: he was great enough that Abraham gave him tithes, and Levi, in Abraham, paid tithes to him.

• The Psalms bring him back as the pattern for a priest who lasts forever.

– Psalm 110:4: the Lord has sworn that He is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

• Hebrews makes that order central.

– Hebrews 5:6, 5:10: Christ called of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

– Hebrews 6:20: Jesus has entered as forerunner, a high priest forever after that order.

– Hebrews 7:1–3: Melchizedek as a picture of an unending priesthood, made like the Son of God.

– Hebrews 7:15–17: another priest arises after the likeness of Melchizedek, by the power of an endless life.

C. The purpose God established with Abraham

• Abraham and Melchizedek take us back to what God set out to do from the start: His purpose with Abraham, with his seed, and through them with the whole world.

– Genesis 12:1–3: God calls Abraham, promises to make of him a great nation, and says all the families of the earth will be blessed in him.

– Genesis 22:18: in Abraham’s seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

– Romans 4:13: the promise that he would be heir of the world came not through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

• The seed is Christ, which is why the letter keeps Abraham in view.

– Galatians 3:16: the promises were spoken to Abraham and his seed, and the seed is Christ.

– Hebrews 2:16: He took on Him the seed of Abraham.

• That purpose stands behind the promise God swore to Abraham, and the letter builds on it.

– Hebrews 6:13–18: God swore by Himself to Abraham, so those who fled for refuge might have strong consolation.

Land

“Hebrews” is more than a name: it takes us back to the promise made to Abraham, and to the Seed through whom the whole world is blessed, in the order of Melchizedek, which was never only for the Jew but for the reaching of the whole world.

TRANSITION We know who is speaking, when it was written, and who it was written to. Now let’s see the shape of the letter itself.

IV. The Outline of the Letter

State

• Hebrews builds step by step. It begins with the Son who speaks, shows Him better than each person and thing the Hebrew trusted, and then turns to what that calls them to do, and what we can learn from it.

• Part I, Made Better Than, shows Christ better than the prophets, the angels, Moses, Joshua, the Levitical priesthood, and the sanctuary, covenant, and sacrifice.

• Part II, Made Better Exhortations, calls us to faith, hope, and love.

• Anchor: Hebrews 1:4.

Develop

A. Part I: Made Better Than

• Introduction and the prophets (1:1–4). God, who spoke through the prophets, has now spoken by His Son, who is heir of all things and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty.

– Hebrews 1:1–2: God’s speaking in time past by the prophets, and now by His Son.

– Hebrews 1:3: the Son purged our sins and sat down on high.

• Better than the angels (1:4–2:18). The Son is above the angels, and yet He took flesh to save His people.

– Hebrews 1:5–6: God never said to an angel what He said to the Son, and the angels worship Him.

– Hebrews 2:5–9: the world to come was not put in subjection to angels, and Jesus, made lower for a time, is now crowned.

– Hebrews 2:14–18: He shared in flesh and blood to become a merciful and faithful high priest.

• Better than Moses (3:1–4:2). Moses was faithful as a servant in God’s house, and Christ is faithful as a Son over His own house.

– Hebrews 3:1–6: the contrast between a servant in the house and a Son over it.

– Hebrews 3:7–4:2: the warning against hardening the heart and unbelief.

• Better than Joshua (4:3–13). Joshua did not bring God’s people into the rest that remains.

– Hebrews 4:8–9: if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day; a rest remains.

– Hebrews 4:12–13: the word of God is living and searches the heart.

• Better than the Levitical priesthood (4:14–7:28). Christ is a great high priest after the order of Melchizedek, whose priesthood lasts forever.

– Hebrews 4:14–16: a great high priest who has passed into the heavens, and a throne of grace.

– Hebrews 7:11–19: perfection was not by the Levitical priesthood, so another priest was needed.

– Hebrews 7:23–25: He continues forever and is able to save to the uttermost.

• Better sanctuary, covenant, and sacrifice (8:1–10:25). The true tabernacle, a better covenant on better promises, and one offering for sins.

– Hebrews 8:1–6: the true tabernacle, and the mediator of a better covenant.

– Hebrews 9:11–14: His own blood purges the conscience.

– Hebrews 10:10–14: one offering has perfected forever those who are sanctified.

– Hebrews 10:19–25: boldness to enter the holiest by His blood, and the call to hold fast.

B. Part II: Made Better Exhortations

• Faith (11). Faith is the way the people of God have always lived, and the better thing was provided for them.

– Hebrews 11:1, 11:6: what faith is, and that without it, it is impossible to please God.

– Hebrews 11:39–40: they did not receive the promise, God having provided some better thing.

• Hope (12). A race run looking to Jesus, with a kingdom that cannot be moved at the end.

– Hebrews 12:1–2: lay aside every weight and run, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith.

– Hebrews 12:28–29: receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved.

• Love (13). How the letter ends in the life of the people of God.

– Hebrews 13:1: let brotherly love continue.

– Hebrews 13:8: Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.

– Hebrews 13:13: go forth to Him outside the camp.

Land

The letter climbs from the Son who speaks, to Christ better than everything, and then calls them to live in the light of Him, and through that we learn to hold fast.

TRANSITION Before we walk that road, let’s go through it again, one “better” at a time, and see what makes it worth walking.

V. Christ Better Than

State

• The word “better” runs through the whole letter, and each time it points to Christ.

• Everything that came before was from God, and He is better than all of it.

• This is what we are about to examine, and it should excite us.

• Anchor: Hebrews 8:6.

Develop

A. Better than the angels

• We start at the top, with the name He has obtained, which is more excellent than the angels’.

– Hebrews 1:4: made so much better than the angels, with a more excellent name by inheritance.

B. More glory than Moses, and the rest Joshua could not give

• Moses was faithful, but the One who built the house has more glory than the house.

– Hebrews 3:3: He was counted worthy of more glory than Moses.

• Joshua did not give the people the rest God spoke of.

– Hebrews 4:8–9: if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day; a rest remains.

C. A better priest, a better hope

• The old priesthood could not bring perfection, so a better hope was brought in, by which we draw near to God.

– Hebrews 7:19: the bringing in of a better hope, by which we draw nigh to God.

• Jesus is the surety of a better testament.

– Hebrews 7:22: made a surety of a better testament.

D. A better covenant, on better promises

• The One who mediates it is greater, and the promises behind it are better.

– Hebrews 8:6: the mediator of a better covenant, established on better promises.

E. Better sacrifices, and a better and enduring substance

• The heavenly things themselves needed a better sacrifice than the blood of animals.

– Hebrews 9:23: the heavenly things purified with better sacrifices than these.

• What the Hebrews lost for Christ was not the greater loss, because they had something better and lasting.

– Hebrews 10:34: a better and enduring substance in heaven.

F. A better country, a better resurrection, a better thing

• The faith of the fathers looked ahead to a better country, a heavenly one.

– Hebrews 11:16: they desired a better country, that is, a heavenly.

• Some endured so that they might obtain a better resurrection.

– Hebrews 11:35: that they might obtain a better resurrection.

• God had something better in mind for us as well.

– Hebrews 11:40: God having provided some better thing for us.

G. Better things than Abel’s, and better things that accompany salvation

• The blood of sprinkling speaks better things than the blood of Abel.

– Hebrews 12:24: the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

• The writer is persuaded of better things for his readers, things that accompany salvation.

– Hebrews 6:9: persuaded of better things, and things that accompany salvation.

Land

Every “better” in this letter points to one Person, and the more we see of Him, the more we’ll want to hold Him fast.

Conclusion

Spine

Through when it was written, who wrote it, who it was for, and how it unfolds, one thread runs the whole way: Christ is better.

Conviction

If we are still holding on to the law, still holding on to inferior things, or still caught up in something like the worship of angels, then we do not yet understand the significance of what God is speaking through the book of Hebrews.

– Colossians 2:16–17: the feasts, new moons, and sabbaths are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.

– Colossians 2:18: let no one beguile you into the worshipping of angels.

Application

Christ is better than everything we might go back to, and better than every good thing we go after.

• What are some areas of your life in which you go back to things that are not after Christ?

• What are some good things you go after that are not better than Christ?

• Which “better” in this overview stands out to you most, and why?

CLOSING PRAYER

Father, You spoke in time past by the prophets, and in these last days You have spoken to us by Your Son. Thank You that the author of this letter is You, and that what You spoke in the law, the Psalms, and the prophets, You have spoken by Him and revealed Him, that we may know.

Lord, show us where we hold on to what is inferior, whether it is the law, or lesser things, or anything we put alongside Christ. Keep us from going back, and call us forward in Him, as You called the Hebrews. As we study this letter, let us see Him better than all, and hold Him fast.

In Christ’s name, amen.