Today’s passage: Hebrews 9:1-10

Helpful thoughts:

• Today’s passage describes aspects of worship under the Old Covenant.
  • The “Most Holy Place” is also called the “Holy of Holies.”
• The “Holy” and “Most Holy” rooms in the tabernacle/temple and the restrictions for who could enter and what needed to be done for atonement all pointed forward to God’s plan for our redemption through Christ.
  • Without atonement there is separation between God and man.
  • Not just anyone could enter into the Most Holy Place to bring that blood atonement.
• Keeping all the commands and rituals in the temple could point people to the truth, but simply carrying out all the details was not sufficient in itself to change people’s hearts.
  • The Law revealed hearts, it didn’t change them.
  • The New Covenant brings change in the inner man, “perfecting the conscience.” (See 8:10-12)

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways did the sacrifices and temple worship point forward to Jesus’ sacrifice and priestly service on our behalf?  How does understanding the promises made and portrayed in the Old Testament give us a proper understanding of the promises kept in the New Testament?
2. What should we learn from the truth that simply obeying the commands (Keeping all the religious rules) was not enough to save?  From where does salvation come?
3. How does this understanding transform our motive for good works?  Being free from the self-interest of earning myself a spot in Heaven, why now do I do what is right?

Today’s passage: Hebrews 8:8-13

Helpful thoughts:

• This passage quotes Jeremiah 31:31-34.
• This New Covenant is unconditional (God is going to bring it about by His grace alone) and it is final (There will be no further need of ways to forgive sin).
• With the announcement of a New Covenant, the Old began to age and was now ready to pass away (Verse 13).  The Hebrew people needed to let it go.  God has made the Old obsolete, therefore trying to keep it alive is rejection of God.

Questions to consider:

1. Where was the fault found in the Old Covenant?  Who is “them” in verse 8?  Who would it have been if we had been commanded to keep all the commands of that covenant?
2. How does God’s promise of inner transformation (Verse 10) compare with passages like 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Ephesians 2:1-7?
3. In what ways do John 19:30 and Revelation 21:1-4 serve as bookends to the fulfilments of the New Covenant?

Today’s passage: Hebrews 8:1-7

Helpful thoughts:

• In keeping with the theme of the letter, the writer moves on to explain the superiority of the New Covenant.
• The “true tent” in verse 2 refers to God’s presence in Heaven.  The earthly tabernacle served as a picture (“A copy and a shadow of the heavenly things”).
• The Old Covenant law was not wrong, but it did not bring the people to complete sanctification.  The people failed to keep it.
  • More on the fault of the Old and the superiority of the New will be explained in the next passage.

Questions to consider:

1. In what way does today’s passage bring us back to the main message of the whole book of Hebrews?  What is this book about?  What were the first century Jews needing to understand in order to move forward and persevere in faith?
2. Why couldn’t Jesus have been a priest while on earth during His earthly ministry (Verse 4)?  To which tribe did He belong?
3. Why didn’t Jesus just become a priest and really try hard to get people to keep the Old Covenant instead of ushering in the New Covenant?

Today’s passage: Hebrews 7:23-28

Helpful thoughts:

• Jesus is a priest forever because He lives indestructibly (Verse 16).  The Levites could not serve indefinitely, they were prevented by death (Verse 23).
• When we were saved, our salvation was (And will remain forever) a salvation “to the uttermost.”
  • All our sin is paid for and forgiven…
  • …for all time.
• Verses 26-28 serve as the summary statement as to why Jesus is the superior priest.

Questions to consider:

1. Who is saved to the uttermost (Verse 25)?  How does this verse reinforce the idea of salvation not by works, but by grace through faith in Jesus?
2. What reasons can you find in this summary as to why Jesus is the superior priest?  What has Jesus done?  What is Jesus doing?  What will Jesus do forever?

Today’s passage: Hebrews 7:11-22

Helpful thoughts:

• Today, we see explanation as to why the Old Covenant Law was set aside with Jesus as our High Priest and the New Covenant that came with Him.
• The Messiah’s connection to the priesthood of Melchizedek was not a new idea.  It had been prophesied in Psalm 110:4 (Verse 17 and 20).
• Jesus serves forever as our priest for at least two reasons:
  • His own blood is a once and for all acceptable sacrifice.
  • His life is indestructible (Verse 16).  He will never die and will never need replacing.

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways do we see in today’s passage that Jesus’ priesthood is superior to the Levitical priesthood?
2. If someone asked you a question about why we don’t keep all the Old Testament laws anymore, how could this passage help you give them a good answer?
3. How does this mention of the priesthood in the order of Melchizedek in the Old Testament help us to better see God’s eternal plan for our redemption and Christ’s glory?  What did the Old Testament Law teach us (Galatians 3:24)?

Today’s passage: Hebrews 7:1-10

Helpful thoughts:

• After referencing Melchizedek a few times already in the letter, we now see the explanation for his inclusion in chapter 7.
• Melchizedek’s name means “King of Righteousness.”  Salem means “Peace.”
• Melchizedek surely had a father and mother.  He was surely born and died.  We are only told enough about him in Genesis 14 to point forward to the King and Priest who would come after him.
• Melchizedek was not a Jew, not a Levite, not a priest in Israel.  He came before all that was established, before the nation even existed.
  • In Abraham, all Israel gave a tithe through Melchizedek.  And through Melchizedek, Abraham and his descendants were blessed by God.

Questions to consider:

1. Before Christ came, and before Israel even existed, who was the intercessor between God and Israel through Abraham?  Who was their priest?
2. Why might the Jews have struggled to see how the priesthood of Melchizedek was superior to their own?  What would be the potential stumbling blocks in their understanding?
3. Why does this superiority matter (Verse 7)?  How did the sacrificial system of the Levitical priesthood fall short?  Were the priests without sin?  Were their sacrifices good for all time or did they need to come again? (More on this tomorrow…)

Today’s passage: Hebrews 6:13-20

Helpful thoughts:

• God cannot lie.  It is impossible for Him to do so.  All of His promises are sure!
• It should not have been a surprise that Christ came and died for the sins of the world, He fulfilled the promises of God in doing so.  Christ became our High Priest forever.
• Abraham is given as an example of believing in the promises of God and thereafter obtaining them.
• With the record of God’s fulfilled promises, with His righteous and truthful character, and with the sure promises we still have ahead, we have “strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope” and “a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.”

Questions to consider:

1. How does this passage tie into and complete the progression of thought from the previous one (See verse 12)?  What turns our sluggishness into hope and earnestness?
2. On whom does our future rely?  If we were counting on ourselves alone to make it to glory, what reason would we have for hope?  How does faith in Christ give us true rest for our souls?
3. If Jesus is our forerunner within the veil, where does that permit us to go?  Is there any barrier to the glory of God for those who are in Christ?

Today’s passage: Hebrews 6:9-12

Helpful thoughts:

• The writer of Hebrews is confident that his readers are genuine followers of Christ because of the fruit that is apparent in their lives.
• This fruit (Work, love and faithful service) is given as reason for believers to have assurance of their faith.
• Our faith and hope in the promises of God give us endurance and patience in any difficulties in this life.

Questions to consider:

1. If someone is struggling with assurance of their salvation, does the Bible instruct us to think of the moment we prayed or does it instruct us to look at the changes apparent in our life?  Or is it both? (Romans 10:13, 1 John 2:3-6)
2. When you struggle with a lack of “earnestness” or “sluggishness” in your life, what is the biblical help you can find in this passage?  What awaits the saints at the end of this life?  What kind of thinking will turn our sluggishness into action and faithful service?

Today’s passage: Hebrews 6:1-8

Helpful thoughts:

• Remember while reading this passage:  The original audience was Hebrew people who had lived under the Old Covenant who now needed to transition to the New Covenant.
  • The people of God in the Old Covenant looked FORWARD to the coming of Christ.
  • The people of God in the New Covenant believe in the Christ who CAME, died, was buried, who rose again…and is coming again.
    • Therefore, remaining under the Old Covenant is not an option.  Choosing to remain is disobedience to God.
• The Hebrew people who were being taught about Jesus Christ and declaring Him to be a false Messiah, were condemning Him to death all over again (“Crucifying again”).
  • If Jesus was not the Messiah and He claimed to be the Son of God, it would have been right to declare and punish His guilt.  But if He truly is the Messiah, to reject Him is to reject God!
• These Jewish people had been part of the people of God (The visible Israel) prior to Christ’s coming, but if they rejected Christ, they would not be a part of the people of God (The Church) in the New Covenant.
  • This is how they could be “in” and then “out.”  Those Jews who live in the time of Christ and then rejected Him as their Lord would have enjoyed the benefits of God’s blessings on His people (The “rains”) but then never bore the fruit (“Thorns and thistles”). – Verses 7-8
  • This means those Jews who rejected Christ were taught the truth about God (They had been “enlightened” – verse 4), but they never truly surrendered and believed.

Questions to consider:

1. How do Jesus’ words of rebuke to the Pharisees in John 5:36-47 help us to better understand this passage today?  Were the Pharisees ever truly believers?  What did Jesus say?
2. Why then is it wrong to view this passage as saying that Christians can lose their salvation?  Who is the original audience?  What/When is the occasion for the writing?  What does the text actually mean?
3. With all this being said, what is it that we are to do with the truth of God’s Word?  How does one move on from “elementary doctrines?”

Today’s passage: Hebrews 5:11-14

Helpful thoughts:

• The Hebrew readers are rebuked for being hard to teach in this first verse!
  • The writer desires to explain how Christ fits into the priestly line of Melchizedek.
• The word translated as “dull” in verse 11 comes from a Greek idiom and it means, “Lazy as to one’s ears.”  The word is translated as “sluggish” in 6:12.
• There is a skill that can be acquired in handling the Word of God through “constant practice.”  And this constant practice, when pursued rightly with a heart to learn and grow will produce maturity in the faith.

Questions to consider:

1. God promises to complete the sanctifying work He has started in us (Philippians 1:6), but what is required from us in order to grow in this life?  What does it mean to be dull or sluggish in our hearing?  What would repentance look like?
2. With that being said, are time and life experiences the biggest difference makers for growth as a Christian?  As valuable as those can be (When rightly understood through the lens of Scripture), what practice makes a Christian ready for solid food from the Word of God?
3. Why is it hard so often to get started reading the Bible and yet so easy to watch a tv show or listen to the radio (Or other media)?  How would you like to grow in your learning from Scripture?