XA Hebrews

Notes

1:1-2 - Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but 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.

2:1-4 - Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how 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, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

3:7-11 - if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9  where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10  Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ 11  As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.

4:1 - Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.

4:9 - So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

Personal Thoughts

translatable circumstances & exhortations

the audience of Hebrews - self-proclaimed believers, wavering Jewish believers, or wavering Jewish AND Gentile believers - were drifting from the essence of faith and were tempted/trying to resume Jewish practices as a veneer and/or comfort

Christian religiosity & moralism are not sufficient, satisfying, or beneficial for those that desire true rest from God