Religion so often gets caught up in ritual or activity and the writer to the Hebrews constantly calls us back to the originator of our faith, Jesus himself. Having just said that Jesus has brought many sons to glory (v.10), making us children of God (v.13,14), acting as a great high priest (v.17) the writer exhorts us again to focus on the one who has done all this.

Having declared that Jesus is greater than angels, he know compares Him to Moses, who was also very highly esteemed by Jewish believers, for he too had delivered many people in the Exodus. Continuing the household idea, the writer points out that Moses was merely a servant in the household of God, whereas Jesus is both the one who originated or built this new house (the Christian church), and is the Son who rules over the household. In this he is vastly superior to Moses and therefore demands our full attention.

The descriptions of Jesus here also need noting. He is the apostle we confess or acknowledge, He is the sent one to establish and build the church, He is its cause for being. He is also the high priest, the One who continues to intercede on behalf of the people, a picture that will be repeated in this book again and again.

D. Application:

1. Do we focus more on the doing of church or on the head of it?

2. Jesus is the builder and the ruler over the church. Worship Him.

Chapter: Hebrews 3

Passage: Hebrews 3:7-13

A. Find Out:

1. What was the quoted Scripture warning against? v.8

2. What had the people done? v.9

3. What had God felt? v.10

4. So what had he declared? v.11

5. So what does the writer warn against? v.12

6. What does he exhort them to do? v.13

B. Think:

1. What does this passage say about our hearts?

2. What is the main point being made in this passage?

3. How can the past be an example for us?

C. Comment:

The writer moves into a straight forward exhortation to hold fast to God and be obedient to Him. He has been extolling Jesus and had challenged us to take note of what we have heard because it came from the very Son of God (2:1-4). The potential for unbelief is in every one of us, tainted by sin as we were (but now dead to it - Romans 6) and every good pastor or teacher has to be constantly exhorting against it, and that is what the writer is doing here.

He uses the Old Testament to illustrate, remind and warn. Israel had failed to believe in the wilderness and had incurred God's anger and judgement, the lesson was very plain. Very well, says the writer, make sure that you don't have a sinful, unbelieving heart that leads you to turn away from God.

Our heart condition is always the crucial issue, that inner state of being that is either all out for God, half hearted or all out for self. It would be the half-hearted believers that would need this exhortation, for if the heart is not totally directed to God, it is easy for unbelief to prevail with a gradual drifting away from God. What you need to do, the writer continues, is to encourage one another daily, while we still have the opportunity, so that sin isn't allowed to harden us. Resist it together, he says. We must!

D. Application:

1. Unbelief is the first step to moving away from God.

2. Unbelief needs resisting by mutual encouragement.

Chapter: Hebrews 3

Passage: Hebrews 3:14-19

A. Find Out:

1. What condition is there on sharing in Christ? v.14

2. What warning and illustration is repeated? v.15

3. Who had that referred to? v.16

4. What happened to them? v.17

5. Who did God promise would not enter His rest? v.18

6. So what conclusion is drawn? v.19

B. Think:

1. Check the number of expressions of what the Israelites did.

2. How does that follow on from the previous passage?

3. What is the warning for us today?

C. Comment:

The writer has been warning against having an unbelieving heart (v.12) that results in us turning away from God. He applies this to us holding on to out inheritance in Christ and says that a condition of us having that inheritance is that we hold on in faith. If unbelief comes in then that inheritance in Christ will be lost.

To confirm this he uses the illustration of the people of Israel who had been chosen by God, delivered out of Egypt and called into relationship with Him at Sinai. You might have thought that this made them totally secure but history shows otherwise. Unbelief crept in and almost from the word go they turned to idolatry, then complaining and then refusal to believe God's promise of a land of plenty. In today's passage they are described as rebelling, being disobedient and full of unbelief. As a result of that God refused to let them enter the land and kept them wandering in the wilderness until all but two died there. Such was the anger of God on them.

The warning and application is strong and should create the fear of the Lord, that awesome respect of God, in us. Unbelief produces the anger of God which in turn prevents us from receiving the things previously promised.

D. Application:

1. Beware unbelief and disobedience.

2. The Cross covers our sin - when we confess and repent.

Chapter: Hebrews 4

Passage: Hebrews 4:1-6

A. Find Out:

1. What promise still stands and what do we need to do about it? v.1

2. Why was the message to “them” of no value? v.2

3. What is available to us today? v.3a

4. What is the rest being referred to? v.3b,4

5. Yet what had stopped some entering it? v.5,6

B. Think:

1. What was “the rest” that is being spoken of here?

2. What stops anyone entering it?

C. Comment:

The writer continues to drive home the point about needing to believe and be obedient and continues to do it by reference to the experience of the Israelites. Several times he has made reference to God saying “They shall never enter my rest” and now he gives clues as to what he means by that.

When the Lord finished Creation he rested, i.e. his rest was an indication of His finished work. When He spoke of the promised land He spoke of it as Israel's rest, i.e. the final place of His choosing for them, having completed the work of redeeming them from Egypt. When it refers to our rest, it refers to us entering into the finished work of Christ, achieved on the Cross, implemented now by the Spirit and one day sealed for eternity in heaven.

The key point the writer continues to make is that in the same way that the Israelites coming out of Egypt failed to enter their rest because of disobedience, so it is possible for us to fail to enter into the fullness of Christ's work for us for the same reason. This possibility comes up a number of times in Hebrews and it is one of which we should take serious note. Our “rest” is the place that we don't have to strive to achieve, it's all been done for us, so all we have to do it believe and receive.

D. Application:

1. God has made total provision for us but it does require that we go in and

receive it.

2. Unbelief and disobedience prevent that happening.

Chapter: Hebrews 4

Passage: Hebrews 4:7-11

A. Find Out:

1. When did God also speak about this rest? v.7

2. Who was supposed to have given them rest? v.8

3. What does there remain? v.9

4. What happens when we enter God's rest? v.10

5. What should we do therefore? v.11a

6. Why? v.11b

B. Think:

1. Read Deuteronomy 3:20 & 12:10 and Psa 95:7-11

2. What is the main point that continues to be made?

C. Comment:

These are difficult verses, both yesterday and today, for the writer goes backwards and forwards in his argument which is typical of a Jewish scholar's arguing. Let's try and put it simply.

David wrote in Psalm 95 those same words about not hardening your hearts, inferring that on THAT day, in THAT time there was still a rest to be entered. But, says the writer, didn't Joshua take the people into the rest, the rest that was the Promised Land? It therefore means that there is a rest beyond the Promised Land, which is more like the Sabbath rest whereby there is nothing further we can do but simply sit back and look at what has been achieved and enjoy it, just like God did when he completed creating the world, after the sixth day. Our rest NOW is to be like His rest on the 7th day!

The argument seems to be two edged: first learn from the Israelites and realise that disobedience can stop you entering into God's provision for you, and second, realise that there is something more to be received from God than simply settling into a certain geographical location, as the Jews (Hebrews - see title of book) expected. God's inheritance for us goes much further than certain promises limited to material well-being. The inheritance means receiving and living in a state of rest where we can do no more ourselves to receive God's love.

D. Application:

1. Disobedience and unbelief can stop us inheriting God's blessing.

2. There is much more than material blessing!

Chapter: Hebrews 4

Passage: Hebrews 4:12-13

A. Find Out:

1. How is the word of God described? v.12a

2. What 2 things does it do? v.12b

3. What are we told about God? v.13a

4. What happens to everything? v.13b

5. Why? v.13c

B. Think:

1. How many times in the previous chapters has the writer quoted

Scripture to justify what he is saying?

2. How does verse 12 justify all this use of Scripture?

3. What does verse 13 warn us and follow on from verse 12?

C. Comment:

The writer has been using Scripture (the Old Testament) extensively to warn against unbelief and to exhort them to take what God has given. Now it is as if he justifies the use of such Scriptures.

Note first the NATURE of God's word: living, active, sharp. When God speaks it is not dead language. His words are creative, powerful, live bringing, and causing things to happen. Why? Well consider next the EFFECT of God's word: it penetrates and judges. It goes deep, deep in, to where humanly nothing else can go and it weighs up, assesses and makes a judgement in respect of all we are thinking and all we are viewing. Whereas another person might rebuke us and we shrug it off, when God's word comes to us and is applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, it so often seems to devastate and convict us, in a way that nothing else can do. So, this is God's word, let it have that effect in you.

Then the writer warns us, that even as His word penetrates right into us, so God Himself sees right into us and knows the genuine heart response that we have when He speaks. The word may penetrate but we may rebel against it and be disobedient; that is what the writer is warning us against, and God sees that! We don't “get away with it”.

D. Application:

1. God's word has effect. We may accept it or rebel against it.

2. God sees our reaction. We can hide nothing from Him.

Chapter: Hebrews 4

Passage: Hebrews 4:14-16

A. Find Out:

1. How is Jesus' role & activity described? v.14a

2. What are we told to do as a result of this? v.14b

3. What don't we have? v.15a

4. But what do we have? v.15b

5. What are we encouraged to do? v.16a

6. For what reason? v.16b

B. Think:

1. What instructions are we given in this passage?

2. What grounds of reassurance are we given in it?

3. How does this flow on from the previous two chapters?

C. Comment:

Sometimes when we are doing verse by verse study we can lose the overall context so let's remind ourselves of that. In chapters 1 & 2 the writer had been extolling Jesus and in the beginning of chapter 3 had referred to him as an apostle and high priest. But then he had warned us to avoid unbelief and exhorted us to enter into the inheritance that was ours because of Jesus. At the end of this exhortation he tells us to hold firmly to our faith (4:14). He then gives us reasons why we can. To do this he picks up again the description of Jesus as our high priest. The high priest in the Old Testament times had the role of coming before God on behalf of the people. He was their intermediary. So Jesus is the same for us. First of all, we're told, he's gone into heaven, so he's in the right place to speak on our behalf. Second, we're reminded he is the Son of God, so he has perfect access to the Father on our behalf. Third, he's experienced all that we've experienced, so he knows what we feel, he knows what we go through, and therefore he can fully sympathise with us.

The writer closes with an encouragement for us to pray, to come before God in confidence that Jesus is there and he's for us! If that is so we may be sure of receiving what we need from him.

D. Application:

1. Jesus intercedes for us (also 1 Jn 2:1)

2. Jesus understands us fully, and is for us.

RECAP: "Greater than Moses" - Heb 3 & 4

SUMMARY :

In this second group of 7 studies we have seen :

- Christ being compared to Moses

- Warning to not be like Israel with unbelief

- Reminder of what happened to Israel in the desert

- Speaking of the future rest of the people of God

- Exhortation to enter that rest and not lose it with unbelief

- Reminder of the work of the word of God

- Reminder that God sees all things

COMMENT :

Having compared Jesus with angels, the writer then compares Jesus with Moses. The traditional Jew would always look back to Moses and see him as the saviour of the nation, but Jesus is greater than Moses. When we think of Moses we should remember that he was not able to take all the people into the promised land. An entire generation (with the exception of Caleb) died in the wilderness because of unbelief. They did not enter in. Yet that was a picture of something much greater, the rest of God, the home of the people of God in eternity. The fear the writer has is that his Jewish readers will forfeit their inheritance and go back into a place of unbelief. The warning and challenge is clear.

LESSONS?

1. We are to focus on the builder of the Church, not the building.

2. Unbelief goes hand in hand with disobedience.

3. Unbelief and disobedience can rob us of our inheritance.

4. We have an inheritance to be taken in eternity.

5. We need to make every effort to take that inheritance.

PRAY :

Thank the Lord for the wonder of your present & future salvation that is your inheritance through Christ.

PART 3 : "Jesus, a new type of Priest"

In this next Part the writer starts to show that Jesus is a priest king of a new order. He also warns us to make sure of our hope, to understand these wonderful things. Let's read carefully.