HebrewsHebrews

• “I beg you, my friends, to listen patiently to this message of encouragement; for this letter I have written you is not very long.” (Hebrews 13:22 – GN)

• “God, who gave our forefathers many different glimpses of the truth in the words of the prophets, has now, at the end of the present age, given us the truth in the Son. Through the Son God made the whole universe, and to the Son he has ordained that all creation shall ultimately belong. This Son, radiance of the glory of God, flawless expression of the nature of God, himself the upholding principle of all that is, effected in person the reconciliation* between God and man and then took his seat at the right hand of the majesty on high.” (Hebrews 1:1-3, JB Phillips)

• *washed, purified, cleansing

• “This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave Him is greater than their names. For God never said to any angel what He said to Jesus: ‘You are My Son. Today I have become Your Father.’ God also said, ‘I will be His Father, and He will be My Son.’ And when He brought His firstborn Son into the world, God said, ‘Let all of God’s angels worship Him.’” (Hebrews 1:4-7 NLT)

• “About the Son, however, God said: ‘Your kingdom, O God, will last forever and ever! You rule over your people with justice. You love what is right and hate what is wrong. That is why God, your God, has chosen you and has given you the joy of an honor far greater than he gave to your companions.’ He also said, ‘You, Lord, in the beginning created the earth, and with your own hands you made the heavens. They will disappear, but you will remain; they will all wear out like clothes. You will fold them up like a coat, and they will be changed like clothes. But you are always the same, and your life never ends.’” (Hebrews 1:8-12 – GN)

• “But we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, so that through God’s grace he should die for everyone. We see him now crowned with glory and honor because of the death he suffered. It was only right that God, who creates and preserves all things, should make Jesus perfect through suffering, in order to bring many children to share his glory. For Jesus is the one who leads them to salvation. He purifies people from their sins, and both he and those who are made pure all have the same Father.” (Hebrews 2:9-11 – GN)

• “But we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, so that through God's grace he should die for everyone. We see him now crowned with glory and honor because of the death he suffered. It was only right that God, who creates and preserves all things, should make Jesus perfect through suffering, in order to bring many children to share his glory. For Jesus is the one who leads them to salvation. He purifies people from their sins, and both he and those who are made pure all have the same Father.” (Hebrews 2:9-11 – GN)

• “Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind.” (Romans 12:2 – GN)

• “Since all of these sons and daughters have flesh and blood, Jesus took on flesh and blood to be like them. He did this so that by dying he would destroy the one who had power over death (that is, the devil). In this way he would free those who were slaves all their lives because they were afraid of dying.” (Hebrews 2:14-15 – GN)

• “Therefore, it was necessary for Jesus to be in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. He then could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.* Since he himself has gone through suffering and temptation, he is able to help us when we are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:17-18 – NLT)

• *propitiation, atone, a means of reconciliation

• How?

• “My Christian friends, who also have been called by God! Think of Jesus, whom God sent to be the High Priest of the faith we profess. He was faithful to God, who chose him to do this work, just as Moses was faithful in his work in God's house…Moses was faithful in God's house as a servant, and he spoke of the things that God would say in the future. But Christ is faithful as the Son in charge of God's house. We are his house if we keep up our courage and our confidence in what we hope for.” (Hebrews 3:1-6 – GN)

TrustTrust• Those who traveled with Moses in the desert:

“And to whom did God swear that they should never enter his rest? Was it not these very men who refused to trust him? Yes, it is all too plain that it was refusal to trust God that prevented these men from entering his rest..” (Hebrews 3:18,19, JB Phillips)

• “The LORD said to Moses, ‘How much longer will these people reject me? How much longer will they refuse to trust in me, even though I have performed so many miracles among them?’” (Numbers 14:11 – GN)

• “Let us, then, hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we have a great High Priest who has gone into the very presence of God---Jesus, the Son of God. Our High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin. Let us have confidence, then, and approach God's throne, where there is grace.” (Hebrews 4:14-16 – GN)

MelchizedekMelchizedek

• “We have this hope as an anchor for our lives. It is safe and sure, and goes through the curtain of the heavenly temple into the inner sanctuary. On our behalf Jesus has gone in there before us and has become a high priest forever, in the priestly order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 6:19-20 – GN)

• “If it be possible to bring men to spiritual maturity through the Levitical priestly system (for that is the system under which the people were given the Law), why does the necessity arise for another priest to make his appearance after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 7:11, JB Phillips)

• “The former way of doing things, a system of commandments that never worked out the way it was supposed to, was set aside; the law brought nothing to maturity. Another way--Jesus!--a way that does work, that brings us right into the presence of God, is put in its place.” (Hebrews 7:18,19, JB Phillips)

• “But Christ, because he lives for ever, possesses a priesthood that needs no successor. This means that he can save fully and completely those who approach God through him, for he is always living to intercede on their behalf.” (Hebrews 7:24,25, JB Phillips)

• “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25, ESV)

• “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.” (Hebrews 4:16 – NLT)

• “I have been speaking to you in parables - but the time is coming to give up parables and tell you plainly about the Father. When that time comes, you will make your requests to him in my own name, for I need make no promise to plead to the Father for you, for the Father himself loves you.” (John 16:25,26 – JB Phillips)

• “…and I do not promise to intercede with the Father for you, for the Father loves you himself…” (Goodspeed)

• “If there had been nothing wrong with the first covenant, there would have been no need for a second one. But God finds fault with his people when he says, ‘The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will draw up a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. They were not faithful to the covenant I made with them…Now, this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel in the days to come, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. None of them will have to teach their friends or tell their neighbors, 'Know the Lord.' For they will all know me, from the least to the greatest.’” (Hebrews 8:7-12 – GN)

“Now the first agreement had certain rules for the service of God, and it had a sanctuary, a holy place in this world for the eternal God. A tent was erected: in the outer compartment were placed the lamp-standard, the table and the sacred loaves. Inside, beyond the curtain, was the inner tent called the holy of holies in which were the golden censer and the gold inlaid ark of the agreement, containing the golden jar of manna, Aaron's budding staff and the stone tablets inscribed with the words of the actual agreement. Above these things were fixed representations of the cherubim of glory, casting their shadow over the ark's covering*, known as the mercy seat. (All this is full of meaning but we cannot enter now into a detailed explanation.)” (Hebrews 9:1-5, JB Phillips)

*Place of atonement

• “Seeing that that first tabernacle was a parable (a visible symbol or type or picture of the present age). In it gifts and sacrifices are offered, and yet are incapable of perfecting the conscience or of cleansing and renewing the inner man of the worshiper.” (Hebrews 9:9 - Amplified)

• “…how much more is accomplished by the blood of Christ! Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will purify our consciences from useless rituals, so that we may serve the living God. For this reason Christ is the one who arranges a new covenant…” (Hebrews 9:14 – GN)

• …Through Christ was to be fulfilled the purpose of which the tabernacle was a symbol…In all, God desired His people to read His purpose for the human soul. It was the same purpose long afterward set forth by the apostle Paul, speaking by the Holy Spirit: {Ed 36.2} ‘Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.’ 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17.…Thus in labor and in giving they were taught to co-operate with God and with one another. And they were to co-operate also in the preparation of the spiritual building--God’s temple in the soul.” (Education, 34-37)

Cleansing of the templeCleansing of the temple

• “In this way he will perform the ritual to purify the Most Holy Place from the uncleanness of the people of Israel and from all their sins. He must do this to the Tent, because it stands in the middle of the camp, which is ritually unclean.” (Leviticus 16:16 – GN)

• “On that day the ritual is to be performed to purify them from all their sins, so that they will be ritually clean.” (Leviticus 16:30 – GN)

• “…and perform the ritual to purify the Most Holy Place, the rest of the Tent of the LORD's presence, the altar, the priests, and all the people of the community. These regulations are to be observed for all time to come. This ritual must be performed once a year to purify the people of Israel from all their sins.” (Leviticus 16:33-34)

The spiritual templeThe spiritual temple– “Come to Christ, who is the living cornerstone

of God’s temple. He was rejected by the people, but he is precious to God who chose him. And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple. (1 Peter 3)

– “I will make those who are victorious pillars in the temple of my God, and they will never leave it” (Revelation 3:12).

• “You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus himself. He is the one who holds the whole building together and makes it grow into a sacred temple dedicated to the Lord. In union with him you too are being built together with all the others into a place where God lives through his Spirit” (Ephesians 2:20-22).

• “Surely you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you! God will destroy anyone who destroys God's temple. For God's temple is holy, and you yourselves are his temple” (1 Corinthians 3:17 - GN).

• “Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who was given to you by God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19 - GN)

• “For we are the temple of the living God! As God himself has said, ‘I will make my home with my people and live among them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people’” (2 Corinthians 6:16 - GN).

• “We are his house if we keep up our courage and our confidence in what we hope for” (Hebrews 3:6 - GN).

• “Out of one of these four horns grew a little horn, whose power extended toward the south and the east and toward the Promised Land. It grew strong enough to attack the army of heaven, the stars themselves, and it threw some of them to the ground and trampled on them. It even defied the Prince of the heavenly army, stopped the daily sacrifices offered to him, and ruined the Temple. People sinned there instead of offering the proper daily sacrifices, and true religion was thrown to the ground. The horn was successful in everything it did.

• “Then I heard one angel ask another, ‘How long will these things that were seen in the vision continue? How long will an awful sin replace the daily sacrifices? How long will the army of heaven and the Temple be trampled on?’ I heard the other angel answer, ‘It will continue for 2,300 evenings and mornings, during which sacrifices will not be offered. Then the Temple will be restored.’ (Daniel 8:9-14 – GN)

• “Do not let anyone deceive you in any way. For the Day will not come until the final Rebellion takes place and the Wicked One appears, who is destined to hell. He will oppose every so-called god or object of worship and will put himself above them all. He will even go in and sit down in God’s Temple and claim to be God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 – GN)

What is the function of the priest?What is the function of the priest?

• “It is the duty of priests to teach the true knowledge of God. People should go to them to learn my will, because they are the messengers of the LORD Almighty. But now you priests have turned away from the right path. Your teaching has led many to do wrong. You have broken the covenant I made with you.” (Malachi 2:7-8 – GN)

• “The people of Judah have broken their promise to God and done a horrible thing in Jerusalem and all over the country. They have defiled the Temple which the LORD loves.” (Malachi 2:11 – GN)

• “And according to the law, I may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.” (Hebrews 9:22 – ASV)

• “…if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day. For my flesh is the real food; my blood is the real drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them.” (John 6:53-55).

• “The Jewish Law is not a full and faithful model of the real things; it is only a faint outline of the good things to come. The same sacrifices are offered forever, year after year. How can the Law, then, by means of these sacrifices make perfect the people who come to God?...As it is, however, the sacrifices serve year after year to remind people of their sins. For the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins.” (Hebrews 10:1-4 – GN)

• “He was hated and rejected; his life was filled with sorrow and terrible suffering. No one wanted to look at him. We despised him and said, ‘He is a nobody!’ He suffered and endured great pain for us, but we thought his suffering was punishment from God. He was wounded and crushed because of our sins; by taking our punishment, he made us completely well.” (Isaiah 53:1-5 – CEV)

• “We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him--our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed.” (Isaiah 53:4,5, TMB)

• “So, by virtue of the blood of Jesus, you and I, my brothers and sisters, may now have complete confidence to enter heaven's Most Holy Place by a fresh and life-giving way through the curtain, that is, his own human nature. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God's house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him, knowing that our inmost souls (consciences) have been purified by the sprinkling of his blood.” (Hebrews 10:19-22, JB Phillips)

• “But anyone who is right with me thrives on loyal trust; if he cuts and runs, I won't be very happy. But we're not quitters who lose out. Oh, no! We'll stay with it and survive, trusting all the way.” (Hebrews 10:38-39, The Message)

• “The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.” (Hebrews 11:1-2, The Message)

• Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, “the prostitute Rahab”

• “Should I go on? There isn't enough time for me to speak of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.” (Hebrews 11:32 – GN)– “Then Samson prayed, ‘Sovereign LORD,

please remember me; please, God, give me my strength just this one time more, so that with this one blow I can get even with the Philistines for putting out my two eyes.’” (Judges 16:28 – GN)

• “What a record all of these have won by their faith! Yet they did not receive what God had promised, because God had decided on an even better plan for us. His purpose was that only in company with us would they be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:39-40 – GN)

• “Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith (trust) depends from beginning to end.” (Hebrews 12:2, GNB)

• “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries.” (Hebrews 10:26-27 – ASV)

• “But what about people who turn away after they have already seen the light and have received the gift from heaven and have shared in the Holy Spirit? What about those who turn away after they have received the good message of God and the powers of the future world? There is no way to bring them back. What they are doing is the same as nailing the Son of God to a cross and insulting him in public!” (Hebrews 6:4-6 – CEV)

• “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries.” (Hebrews 10:26-27 – ASV)

• “For if we go on deliberately and willingly sinning after once acquiring the knowledge of the Truth, there is no longer any sacrifice left to atone for [our] sins.” (Hebrews 10:26 – Amplified)

• “But what about people who turn away after they have already seen the light and have received the gift from heaven and have shared in the Holy Spirit? What about those who turn away after they have received the good message of God and the powers of the future world? There is no way to bring them back. What they are doing is the same as nailing the Son of God to a cross and insulting him in public!” (Hebrews 6:4-6 – CEV)

• “For when people have once been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, become sharers in the [Holy Spirit], and tasted the goodness of God’s Word and the powers of the [future world] — and then have fallen away — it is impossible to renew them so that they turn from their sin, as long as for themselves they keep executing the Son of God on the stake all over again and keep holding him up to public contempt.” (Hebrews 6:4-6 – JNT)