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In Genesis 18 & 19 we read of events leading to and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham had done some negotiating with God and God had agreed not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if just 10 righteous people could be found in those cities.
Unfortunately only four could be found; Lot, his wife and their two daughters. It would be a mistake however to equate their righteousness with faultlessness. Lot doubted God’s instruction to leave Sodom and wanted to stay. Lot’s wife violated the angel’s instruction not to look back and was turned into a pillar of salt. The two daughters got their father drunk and got pregnant by him so they could have children.
Lot and his family were righteous and were saved by God from destruction in spite of their weaknesses and that should be very comforting for people like you and me. God isn’t going to rain “fire and brimstone” upon us for the occasional weakness that might sprout up in our lives. Try to be righteous. All God has ever wanted from us is our best effort and the right attitude.
God did two really big things that he set aside days of the week to commemorate. He created the earth and set aside the last day of the week, the Sabbath day, to celebrate that event. He set rules for how to celebrate the Sabbath day and punishment (death) for violating those rules.
The other huge thing God did was to give up his only son as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind and set up the first day of the week, the Lord's Day, to celebrate that event. Like the Sabbath day there are rules and punishments for not believing in Jesus Christ and not celebrating his day.
The Sabbath day commemorates God’s creation of earth and all its peoples. The Lord’s Day commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let’s not forget either day.
Hebrew 7:19. (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
A concept is stated here that we have the ability to become very close to God. The question arises… why would we want to be close to God. The answer? Because he can do things for us.
That was especially true of primitive people. They had limited food storage abilities (refrigeration, food preservation, etc.) and could quickly run out of food and starve. They had limited ways of having access to water (no reservoirs, water pumps, etc.) for their crops and had to rely upon timely rains. Locusts could strip their fields. Disease could ravage them because they had no vaccines or effective medications. Other nations could attack and exterminate them.
So, not having the ability to help themselves they had a very real need for a God to intervene and worked hard to build a relationship with one. The Israelites could come closer to God than any of the other people because God gave them commands to follow to make them “acceptable”. In addition, he set up a system to repair the damage to the relationship when Israel could not keep the commands perfectly. The offering up of sacrifices, specifically, the blood of animals.
Even pagan peoples recognized the need to seek help from their Gods and offered up the most precious things they had… their children.
As a society we have advanced greatly but we still need God. We still have times of great need.
The above scripture indicates that we can come closer to God than ever before. That’s possible by accepting the free gift of the greatest sacrifice ever… Jesus Christ and by following his example and living sacrificial lives.
All people can claim God as their father and receive a superficial level of blessings, but true Christians are closer to God than anyone else and as a result live lives that are continually blessed by God until the final blessing comes… eternal life in the very presence of God. God takes care of his people.
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…”
