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Under the Mosaic Law God instituted a class of people called Priests. There were lessor priests and one great High Priest. The Priests served to administer the Law that God gave to Moses. They performed this by teaching the people the Law and by administering both the moral and ceremonial components of the Law.
Among these things were the appeasement of God through animal sacrifices to him. The lessor priests administered the ordinary sacrifices for the people but the High Priest administered a special sacrifice for the people once a year. He did this by entering the most holy of holy places in the Jewish Temple once a year with a blood sacrifice.
Fast forward to New Testament times. Jesus is now both our King and High Priest. However his priesthood descended from a character named Melchizedek which was superior to the Priesthood that descended from Moses’ brother Aaron. He too enters the most “Holy of holy places” with a blood sacrifice. However he doesn’t enter into a man made temple with animal blood he enters into Heaven itself to give his own blood directly to Jehovah God. A sacrifice which is so excellent that mankind can come closer to God than they ever have (historically).
In addition, the “lessor priests” who at one time offered a blood sacrifice for the people on a daily basis are now ordinary followers of Christ. There is no longer a spiritual class distinction among God’s people. We, as Christians, are all priests. We no longer offer up blood sacrifices but instead offer up spiritual sacrifices… our own lives (like Jesus) that sacrifice for the benefit of others.
“As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:8-9.
Let’s understand who we are and where we came from that we might serve better.
The Book of Hebrews was written to prevent Hebrew Christians from losing their faith in Jesus Christ by returning to the dead system of faith in the Mosaic Law.
In chapter 5 the author informs them that the reason they are contemplating returning to Moses is because of their own failure to incorporate the basics of the teaching of Christ into their own spiritual DNA and because they had failed to develop spiritually.
In this section we can learn what God expects of us by looking at their failures. Here we go.
- The new Christian should be attentive in learning the basic tenets of Christianity (5:11-12).
- Once the basics have been learned it’s time to move on to other things… like teaching. At some level all Christians should be able to teach… even if it is a parent teaching a child (5:12).
- The developing Christian needs experience in “the word of righteousness”. Professor Experience is a powerful teacher and his lessons are not soon forgotten (5:13).
- A Christians “senses” need to be used and exercised. Otherwise those senses are handicapped when it comes time to differentiate between good and evil (5:14).Developed senses can keep us on the right path to spiritual completeness.
- A Christian, with all his effort and energy, should “press on” to become spiritually complete (6:1).
- And finally the spiritually complete Christian is like seed planted into deep and rich tilled soil that receives regular rain. That seed will not fail but will receive rich blessings from God (6:7-8).
Follow this formula and never look back and all will be well.
The book of Hebrews was written to encourage Jewish Christians not to reject Jesus Christ by returning to Judaism.
There are three “rests” found in the book of Hebrews; the “rest” of the promised-land for the Jews, God’s “rest’ on the seventh day after creating the earth and the eternal “rest” promised for God’s people that lasts for eternity.
The promised-land “rest” was a conditional rest. It was conditioned based upon obedience. A whole generation of Jews could not enter the promised-land due to their disobedience to God. They died in the wilderness and never received their rest (Heb. 3:19)
God worked and rested when he created the earth (Heb. 4:4) and he expects his people to follow his example.
God’s people, and in this case these Jewish Christians, have to maintain their obedient faith in Jesus Christ to enter into eternal rest. Their so called work is similar to the work of faith required of the Jews to enter the promised-land and is similar to God’s work of creating the world and then resting.
The message in the Book of Hebrews written to Jewish Christians is a call of warning to us all… our promise rest is conditioned upon obedient faith.
“Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
For the word of God (Jesus Christ) is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account”. Hebrews 4:11-12
“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. 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.”
Usually these verses are used to describe attributes of the Bible. The Bible is living and active, etc. Let me suggest that the “word of God” described in these verses is Jesus Christ. Note the masculine pronouns “his” and “him” used in describing the “word of God”. These masculine pronouns suggest that the “word of God” is a masculine person.
The progression of these verses climaxes in verse fourteen where Jesus the Son of God is identified as our High Priest.
Let’s try this…
“For Jesus Christ (instead of 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. 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 having then a High Priest, Jesus the Son of God…”
The Apostle Paul when going to a new city to teach about Jesus Christ ordinarily started his teaching in the Jewish synagogue. When he came to the city of Thyatira (Acts 16) there apparently was no synagogue. So he inquired about where people went to pray and found out it was down by the river. So that’s where he went.
Social media, like Facebook, is the new river… that’s where the people are.
I write articles which are available on my blog. The interesting thing about a blog is that you can track views. The other day I wrote an article and sent it and the link to it out to my email lists and also published it on the Parkway Facebook page. It garnered about thirty views. Then I put the article and the link to it on my personal Facebook page and it garnered sixty-five views.
Keep in mind that the article can be read without clicking on the link. So these views were of people who not only read the article but clicked on the link. What does that mean? It means that many more people read it than those who clicked on the link.
Some people don’t like Facebook and say things like… “nobody has that many friends”. I have friends on my Facebook page who are clients, family members, volleyball players (my hobby), etc. Why? So they can see a side of me that they would not ordinarily see… the side of me that is devoted to the scriptures and its interpretation.
Don’t be content to just teach in the “synagogue”. Go look for them down by the river or wherever they are so that many, not few, can hear God’s word.
God gave his laws on marriage for a reason…. not to be overly restrictive on humanity but to to give man a great gift. That gift is the experience with a spouse that teaches how God loves mankind. The relationship of sacrificial love between a man and a woman mimics God’s sacrificial love for us and previews for us our relationship with him in eternity.
Sometimes when the road gets a little rough or takes some turns we hadn’t anticipated or we see another road that looks more attractive we bail out on our responsibilities to our spouses and on our responsibilities to God and end up on a road that leads to unhappiness and eternal destruction.
God has prepared us a road that leads to earthly happiness and eternal salvation. Stay on that road even if it gets a little bumpy. Swallow a big helping of patience and righteous living and everything will turn out just fine. And don't forget to trust in God.
Not long after Jesus was “transfigured” on the mountain the Gospel of Luke records three incidents in which Jesus had to correct the behavior of his disciples.
The first incident (Luke 9:46) the disciples were discussing who of the disciples were the greatest. Jesus took a little child and told them that the disciple who cares more about little children than about the noble of the world was the greatest disciple.
The second incident (Luke 9:49) occurred when the John, the beloved disciple, saw a fellow casting out demons and told him not to do it because he was not one of the ones following Jesus. Jesus told John to leave the guy alone.
The third incident (Luke 9:54) occurred when the James and John were insulted by the negligent actions of some Samaritan villagers and wanted to kill them suggesting to Jesus that he send down fire from the sky to do so. Jesus rebuked them for their anger towards the villagers.
Sometimes we are just like these disciples, we focus on personal achievement and fame when we should be focusing on the needs of others… especially the needs of those who can’t help themselves.
Sometimes we’re quick to condemn other religious groups who are doing wonderful things for Christ because they may not understand the Bible just like we do.
And sometimes we are too easily offended and tend to over react against those who have offended us.
Jesus knew the weaknesses in his disciples and worked with them until they overcame those weaknesses. He’s patient and working with us too.
