Title Page

Lesson Ten

Hebrews 11:32-34

Hebrews 11:32-3432 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

Hebrews 11:35-37

Hebrews 11:35-3735 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

Hebrews 11:38-40

Hebrews 11:38-4038 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

Focus Verse

Matthew 13:16-17But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and

your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men

have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those

things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

Focus Thought

We have God’s best—the new-birth experience of the Holy Ghost. This is the ultimate experience for which others in

times past longed.

IntroductionIntroduction

The Book of Hebrews was written to first-century Jews who had accepted Jesus as the Messiah, had been baptized in His name, and had been filled with the Holy Spirit. Its target audience was probably the Jewish believers living in and around Jerusalem; but like the other epistles, believers undoubtedly copied and dispersed it throughout the Mediterranean region. We should not conclude, however, that the message of this book is exclusively for Jewish Christians. Like the rest of the Bible, its message has application to all believers of all generations.

IntroductionScholars are uncertain who authored the Book of Hebrews because there is no salutation. All indicators, however, point to Paul. For example, Peter referenced a letter that Paul wrote in which there were “some things hard to be understood,” an apt description of the Book of Hebrews. (See II Peter 3:16.) The style of the Book of Hebrews is more poetic than that of Paul’s other epistles, but Hebraic forms of expression tended to be more poetic than that of the Greeks and Romans.

IntroductionFurthermore, at the end of the epistle, the author had knowledge of Timothy’s release from prison and expressed his hope that he and Timothy would soon visit those to whom he was writing (Hebrews 13). It is hard to imagine that this could be anyone but Paul.

IntroductionThe situation that the author of the Book of Hebrews was addressing concerned the inclination of some Jewish Christians to retreat from their life of faith back to the Judaic ceremonial system, referred to as simply “the law.” Many of them had suffered great persecution for their acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah, and some were caving in to the pressure.

IntroductionBy going back to the ritual offerings, the holy days, and other elements of the Mosaic law, they could avoid the hardships and mistreatment that came continually upon the Christians. The problem was that as believers they could not have it both ways. Believers cannot live simultaneously by religious ritual and by faith in Christ, for the one cancels out the other. As Paul warned the Galatians, “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4).

IntroductionThe choice that these people faced was between shadows and substance. The shadows of the law had served their purpose for a time, but now that the substance had arrived—the Messiah who had come and poured out His Spirit—the shadows had lost their purpose and ceased to be effective. This meant that anyone retreating to the shadows was abandoning God’s current plan for the salvation of mankind.

IntroductionToday we can apply the principles of the Book of Hebrews to anyone who is seeking salvation through any means other than faith in Christ. This could pertain to any system based on rules and ceremonies (known as “legalism”) rather than grace and truth. Such systems focus on the outward man and can never effect change in the heart.

IntroductionThis is not only the basis of denominational Christianity but also the mindset of some Pentecostals. It is possible to retreat from an active, living, spiritual relationship with Christ into the practice of mere Pentecostal ritual (raising hands, singing songs, even mindlessly speaking in tongues); but this is no different from those first-century Jews who retreated into the shadows of Mosaic law.

IntroductionPaul declared to the Galatians, “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:2-3). Fleshly religion, regardless of the name we put on it, can never bring about spiritual growth and maturity, which comes only through Jesus Christ.

I. A Better Salvation (A)A Better Salvation

The argument that the Book of Hebrews uses to persuade its readers to persevere in the faith is founded in the superiority of Jesus Christ over every element of Old Testament Judaism. For example, the first two verses emphasize the Son’s superiority over all of the prophets. The balance of chapter one describes His superiority over the angels.

I. A Better Salvation (A)After all, if the heavenly angels worship this Man, then He must be greater than they! In chapter three, the Son of God is said to be greater than Moses; in chapter four He is described as greater than Joshua; and in chapter five, He is described as greater than Melchizedek, the mysterious priest-king who greeted Abraham with bread and wine.

I. A Better Salvation (A)All of these Old Testament figures—the prophets, the angels, Moses, Joshua, and Melchizedek—served as types and shadows of the One who was to come, Jesus Christ. They each had something to teach us about Christ, providing glimpses into His character and work, but they all were subordinate to Christ Himself. They served as an outline, but Jesus is the fleshing out of the essay. They provided a future portrait, but Jesus is the reality.

I. A Better Salvation (A)As we look further into the Book of Hebrews, we discover other important types and shadows that have found their fulfillment in Christ. We should keep in mind that all of these were highly valued elements of the Jewish religion. To the Jews, to undermine their religious value was tantamount to undermining God Himself.

I. A Better Salvation (A)When Paul came to Jerusalem, for example, the religious people accused him of teaching the Jews who lived among the Gentiles to “forsake Moses” (Acts 21:21). This teaching was a crime that they considered punishable by beating and death. We must never underestimate the hold that religious traditions and rituals can have in the hearts of those who highly esteem them.

I. A Better Salvation (A)A. A Better Priesthood

At the time the Book of Hebrews was written, the Old Testament figures mentioned above were from the past, long gone from the current religious scene. However, a priesthood was still at work in Jerusalem overseeing the Temple worship as it had for hundreds of years. Every day, these priests sounded the holy trumpets, received the holy sacrifices, and led the Jews in their various ceremonies and traditions.

I. A Better Salvation (A)They were an entrenched part of Jerusalem as was the Temple itself. However, this Old Testament priesthood had an inherent shortcoming in that it could “never take away sins” (Hebrews 10:11).

I. A Better Salvation (A)The work of these Old Testament priests was merely a portrait of that which was to come. (See Hebrews 10:12, 14.) The priesthood of Jesus Christ is infinitely superior to the temporary priesthood of the Temple.

I. A Better Salvation (A)Because He continues forever, Jesus has an unchangeable priesthood and is therefore “able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). The exhortation of the Book of Hebrews is this: Why look to a temporal human priest when the eternal High Priest is so close at hand?

I. A Better Salvation (B)B. A Better Tabernacle

The Temple in Jerusalem was built according to the same pattern given to Moses in the wilderness for the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle had been a portable dwelling place for God during the time when the Israelites were a nomadic people, but once they settled in the Promised Land, they constructed the Temple to serve as a permanent dwelling place.

I. A Better Salvation (B)However, from God’s perspective, He intended neither the Tabernacle nor the Temple to be His permanent residence on earth. Instead, Christ came “by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building” (Hebrews 9:11).

I. A Better Salvation (B)The tabernacle that Jesus provided was His own body: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). The word dwelt literally means “tabernacled.” When Jesus visited Jerusalem, He declared, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). John then explained, “But he spake of the temple of his body” (John 2:21). The exhortation of the Book of Hebrews is this: Why look to a temporary earthly temple when the eternal temple made without human hands is so near?

I. A Better Salvation (C)C. A Better Sacrifice

From the days of Abel in Genesis 4 to the time of the writing of the Book of Hebrews, animal sacrifice was a central element in Israel’s worship of God.

Hebrews 10:3-4

“But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins

every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should

take away sins” (Hebrews 10:3-4).

I. A Better Salvation (C)At the time of this writing, the Jewish priests offered a continual parade of animals on the large bronze altar that stood before the white marble Temple. However, only a reminder of sins was in those sacrifices. This does not mean that forgiveness was unavailable during the Old Testament period but only that it did not derive from animal blood.

I. A Better Salvation (C)According to the Scriptures, Jesus Christ was “slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). This means that in the mind of God, the blood of Jesus has always been the basis of salvation, even before the actual shedding of His precious blood.

I. A Better Salvation (C)The Temple sacrifices were merely shadows of the sacrifice of Christ (Hebrews 9:23). The Temple was only a pattern—an exhibit for imitation—of the spiritual temple. Being a shadow, the shadows ceremonially purified it. The exhortation of Hebrews is this: Why rely on temporal animal sacrifices when the eternal, all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ is so readily available?

II. A Better Covenant (A)A Better Covenant

In the days surrounding the writing of the Bible, a covenant was an absolute commitment between two parties—like a modern contract, but with more severe penalties for failing to keep it. In some circumstances, the breaking of a covenant was punishable by death.

II. A Better Covenant (A)The Book of Hebrews speaks of two covenants—the old and the new. The old covenant, declared and initiated by Moses, was between God and the people of Israel. It is variously known as the first covenant, the law of Moses, or simply the law. The new covenant is more commonly called the New Testament. Like a last will and testament, it was declared by Jesus Christ and initiated upon His death. It stands today as the divine relationship between God and all who obey the gospel, regardless of ethnic origin. (See Galatians 3:28.)

II. A Better Covenant (A)The blood of bulls and goats inaugurated the old covenant, and the blood of Jesus inaugurated the new covenant. Contrasting Jesus with Moses, the Book of Hebrews informs us that Jesus has a “more excellent ministry” and is the “mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises” (Hebrews 8:6). The writer further declared, “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second” (Hebrews 8:7). What is it then that makes the new covenant so superior to the old?

II. A Better Covenant (A)A. Laws Written in the Heart

The first attribute we notice of the old covenant is that it was “written and engraven in stones” (II Corinthians 3:7). Perhaps this is because it was for a people whose hearts were hard like stone. Like the law that called for all adulterers to be stoned to death, the old covenant eventually became little more than an instrument of spiritual death, effective in condemning the guilty but impotent in restoring the condemned.

II. A Better Covenant (A)In contrast to the old covenant, God says of the new, “I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people” (Hebrews 8:10). This was accomplished by the Holy Spirit, which not only writes the law on the heart but also transforms the heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. (See Ezekiel 11:19.)

II. A Better Covenant (A)One of the great superiorities of the new covenant over the old is that it contains power to change the heart. When the rule of God merges with a soft and yielded heart, living out the righteousness of God is not difficult but comes as naturally as breathing.

II. A Better Covenant (B)B. New Testament Established

Some believers have received the Holy Spirit but, like the Galatians, still hold onto some of the elements of the old covenant. For example, some today insist that believers should keep the Sabbath. Others believe that the means to developing spiritual people is simply by imposing rules on them. However, the Book of Hebrews proclaimed, “He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Hebrews 10:9).

II. A Better Covenant (B)The old covenant served its purpose for its time, but in the end it proved to be weak and unprofitable, making nothing perfect or mature. For the new and better to be established, it was necessary to remove the old. By bringing in a new covenant, God has implicitly declared the previous covenant to be old.

II. A Better Covenant (B)The Bible indicates that there was a transitional period when both the old and the new were practiced by some Jews. But as the new began to proliferate, the old began to fade away. (See Hebrews 7:18; 8:13.)

II. A Better Covenant (B)The old covenant and all that it carried with it—including the whole concept of leading people only by the imposition of rules—is finished forever. It has been divinely disannulled (canceled, put away). Any attempt to drag it into the present is an affront to the grace and truth established in the new covenant for our salvation.

III. A Better Experience (A)A Better ExperienceThe Book of Hebrews informs us that one of the key reasons why the new covenant is better than the old is that it was established on “better promises” (Hebrews 8:6). What are these promises, and how do they impact the spiritual experience that God has made available to mankind? To understand this, we should look at some familiar characters of the Old Testament.

III. A Better Experience (A)A. Looking Forward in Faith

We often refer to Hebrews 11 as “The Hall of Fame of the Faithful.” The chapter begins by defining faith as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

III. A Better Experience (A)It then describes the men and women of the Old Testament who walked by faith, concluding with the words, “And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:39-40).

III. A Better Experience (A)From Abel through the patriarchs, Moses, David, the prophets, and others who persevered through great persecution, there remained a promise of God that they could see only from a distance, unable to receive and possess it.

III. A Better Experience (A)These Old Testament brothers and sisters based their faith primarily on what they heard rather than what they experienced. The Spirit certainly spoke to them, but the Spirit did not indwell them as it does believers today. We do well when we follow their example and base our faith not on subjective spiritual experiences, but on the Word of God. Let us establish our experiences by truth, not truth by our experiences.

III. A Better Experience (B)B. Desiring the Ultimate

Jesus told His disciples, “For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them” (Matthew 13:17). Throughout the ages, godly people looked ahead to the promise of the coming Messiah. They longed to see Him and to experience His heavenly presence.

III. A Better Experience (B)Jesus declared to the Jews, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56). However, the writer stated, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13).

III. A Better Experience (B)The promises included the coming of the Messiah—God manifested in flesh—and the redemption from sin that He would provide through the new-birth experience, including receiving the Holy Spirit with the initial sign of speaking in other tongues.

III. A Better Experience (B)These messianic promises, when fulfilled, would bring heaven’s ultimate to mankind. Knowing this, we ought to have even greater appreciation for our own revelation of the oneness of God in Christ and our redemptive experience with the indwelling Spirit of God.

III. A Better Experience (C)C. Being Born Again

From the eternal perspective, to be born is good, but to be born again is vastly better because “that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6), and “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (I Corinthians 15:50). To be born spiritually is a prerequisite for inheriting the kingdom of God: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).

III. A Better Experience (C)The promise of a new birth—a new start, a new life—is the “better thing” that God has provided for us through the new covenant (Hebrews 11:40). It was not that the Old Testament believers could not receive eternal life; it was that they could not receive the divine power that would transform their lives. It was not that they could not know the true God at all; it was that they could not know Him intimately through the indwelling Spirit. It was not that they had no knowledge of the Messiah; it was just that they could see Him only afar off as a distant figure yet to come.

III. A Better Experience (C)In contrast, we can look back and see Him clearly as the virgin-born Messiah who had miraculous power yet submitted Himself to beating and crucifixion—all that we might receive something better than what was available under the old covenant.

IV. A Better HopeA Better Hope

To many people today, hope is little more than wishful thinking. Many people say that they hope certain things will happen, but they have little confidence that those things will occur. In the Bible, hope is something else altogether. Biblical hope always is based on a promise of God. In other words, the reason we can hope for something is that God has promised it.

IV. A Better HopeFor example, if God says He will heal us, then we can have hope in the midst of our sickness. If God says that He will provide for us, then we can have hope even when we have no food or money. Without an explicit promise of God there is no basis for hope.

Hebrews 7:19

“For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope

did; by the which we draw nigh unto God” (Hebrews 7:19).

IV. A Better HopeThe “better hope” was the Holy Spirit, which is available to us through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. This gift alone has the power to “present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Colossians 1:28).

IV. A Better HopeWhen Peter proclaimed the availability of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, he said, “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:39).

IV. A Better HopeBecause God has promised this life-transforming Spirit to all who obey the gospel, New Testament believers have a better hope than those of the Old. This better hope not only pertains to our future eternal life but also to our present life and the possibilities now available to us through the Spirit.

IV. A Better HopeThe Holy Spirit has the power to change believers today. Our hearts do not have to remain hard like stone; our minds do not have to remain darkened with such limited understanding. Today we can become like Jesus—transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2), which results in our being “conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29). We can now display the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

IV. A Better HopeToday we have available to us “all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (II Peter 1:3). Because we have this hope of a transformed life, we are inspired to draw near to God, who is able to save every one of us to the uttermost.

IV. A Better HopeIn addition to these things, our hope of eternal life is intricately connected to the second coming of Christ. Whereas the Old Testament believers had a vague hope of life after death, we have a specific hope that when Jesus comes, He will “change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Philippians 3:21). Therefore, “unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28).

ReflectionsThe Old Testament priesthood was designed to teach us about the work of Christ and His relationship to us as the mediator between God and mankind (I Timothy 2:5). Both the Tabernacle and the Temple were designed to teach us about the body of Christ and our need for separation from the world.

ReflectionsThe animal sacrifices taught us about God’s judgment on sin, the cost of forgiveness, and our responsibility to sacrifice for the work of God. Each was only a shadowy portrait of the reality that is now available to us in Jesus Christ.

ReflectionsAs the exhortation of the Book of Hebrews proposes, why live under the earthly priesthood, worship at the earthly Temple, or offer up earthly animals when the heavenly priesthood of Jesus, the living tabernacle of the body, and the sin-removing sacrifice of Calvary are available? Why settle for the good now that the better has come?

ReflectionsJesus taught the principle that “unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48). Compared to what was given to the Old Testament believers, every believer today qualifies as one who has been given much. This means that much will be required of us.

Reflections

“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let

them slip” (Hebrews 2:1).

ReflectionsThe writer then warned that if the old covenant was steadfast and every disobedience justly recompensed, “how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him . . .?” (Hebrews 2:3). The message to us is that if those who disobeyed the law of Moses were condemned, how shall we who have been given so much more escape the righteous judgment of God if we fail to earnestly heed the Word of the living God?

ReflectionsWe have seen that the elements of the new covenant are universally superior to those of the old. But in the same way, we must not fail to understand that the judgments of the new also are superior to those of the old. If the rejection of the shadow brought severe judgment, how much more severe would be the rejection of the substance? (See Hebrews 10:28-29.)

ReflectionsDuring the period of the old covenant, God winked at many of the failures and transgressions of His people, tolerating conduct that is completely unacceptable today. But for those of us to whom much has been given, from us much will be required. Therefore, under the old covenant, God prohibited adultery; but under the new, He also prohibits sexual lust. Under the old, He prohibited murder; but under the new, He also prohibits wanton anger.

ReflectionsUnder the old, He required love for one’s neighbor; but under the new, He also requires love for one’s enemies. Jesus described this as a kind of righteousness that exceeds “the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees” (Matthew 5:20).

ReflectionsEverything about the new covenant is better than the old—a better priesthood, a better tabernacle, a better sacrifice, a better covenant, a better promise, a better experience, a better hope, and a better expectation. Moreover, we also have received a better and more glorious revelation of the only true God, who has revealed Himself to all mankind as the Lord Jesus Christ.