Grace Fellowship 9/24/06 Introduction to the Study of Hebrews Heb 1:1-2:3a.
If you would, please turn with me to the book of Ephesians as we begin a new study today in the book of Hebrews. If that sounds confusing, just be patient. Having spent the last nine months or so studying the Old Testament book of Exodus, it is appropriate that we look at that book and the rest of the Old Testament in light of the New Testament's interpretation of it. The book of Hebrews gives us the best and most comprehensive inspired view of Israel and Old Testament Judaism. Someone has said that if we want to understand the Old Testament correctly, and the Jewish mindset at the beginning of the New Testament period, we need to understand the book of Hebrews.
It is always helpful, if not absolutely necessary, to understand the context within which a book of the Bible is found. It may seem odd to some people that a book by this name is found within the New Testament. But we need to be constantly reminded that the New Testament is built upon the foundation of the Old. At the time when Hebrews was written, there was no New Testament as we have it today. It was still being written.
A second matter which we need to bear in mind as we venture into the pages of Hebrews is that the first converts to Christianity were all Jews. Nearly all of them. There was almost no such thing as a non-Jewish Christian. To us, that seems very strange if not almost impossible that there was ever a time when the visible Church consisted of a 100% Jewish population. Jesus said to the Canaanite woman in Matt 15, whose daughter was demon-possessed, that He did not come to minister to the Gentiles, but to the lost sheep of Israel. Even so, there were some, relatively few, Gentiles during Jesus' ministry who believed on Him, but even they presumably became Jewish proselytes.
Jews who were converted, who trusted in Jesus as the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, did so at the risk of their lives. It was not then, and it is not now a popular thing when a person trusts Christ, and especially for a Jew. But, as you know from reading the book of Acts, Jewish converts were persecuted, jailed, and killed for what was interpreted as apostasy from the Jewish faith, with the blessing of the Sanhedrin.
The most prominent persecutor of Jewish Christians in the New Testament, Saul of Tarsus, became the preeminent missionary of the Gospel to the Gentile world. If the Jews in general were troubled by the conversion of fellow Jews to Christianity, Jewish Christians had serious trouble with the concept of Gentiles becoming Christians. They had difficulty believing Gentiles could be among God's chosen people. But Paul's own conversion was astounding, not only in the sense that this cruel persecutor of Jewish Christians became a follower of Christ, but that God specifically called him to minister the Gospel to the Gentiles.
Paul explained the "new creation," the New Testament church in Ephesians 2. I want to read what he says there, beginning in verse 1 and reading through the entire chapter. Speaking to Gentile Christians in the city of Ephesus, he says:
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands-- that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:1-22, NKJV).
Also please turn over to Galatians 2, and I want to read just a few verses there.
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26-29, NKJV).
The formation of the New Testament church was the result of calling people of all races and cultures to faith in the One who came from Israel, who Himself was Jewish, through whom the people of Israel and the whole world are blessed. He is the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham to make him a blessing to all the nations of the world. Gentiles were called TO the commonwealth of Israel. Gentiles were called to become fellow citizens with the Jewish saints. Gentiles, through Paul's ministry, were called to become members of the household of God, because they too were Abraham's offspring if they had faith in Christ. But they were called to the believing house of Israel, to join with them in this new creation in which racial and ethnic differences are taken away. They are part of a new creation, the Church.
The foundation of Christianity is in the Old Testament. The God we worship is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Messiah in whom we trust is a Jewish Messiah. But when the book of Hebrews was written, the Jews themselves were struggling with the identity of Christ, including Jewish Christians. In John MacArthur's Study Bible, he makes this statement in the preface to Hebrews which I believe is correct:
"A proper interpretation of this epistle requires the recognition that it addresses 3 distinct groups of Jews: 1) believers; 2) unbelievers who were intellectually convinced of the gospel; and 3) unbelievers who were attracted by the gospel and the person of Christ but who had reached no final conviction about Him. Failure to acknowledge these groups leads to interpretations inconsistent with the rest of Scripture."
Unless we can place ourselves into the mindset of the Jews of the first century, we will have great difficulty understanding the Book of Hebrews. As a nation, they were still wrestling with the identity of Jesus Christ. In Deut 18:15, Moses spoke to the people of Israel and said:
"The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, (Deuteronomy 18:15, NKJV).
Was Jesus really the one whom Moses spoke of? Peter was convinced of it in Acts 3:22&26.
"For Moses truly said to the fathers, `The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities." (Acts 3:22&26, NKJV).
In Acts 7:37, 52-53, Stephen believed Jesus was the Promised one. He believed it, and was stoned to death because of it by his own countrymen.
"This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, `The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.' Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, "who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it." (Acts 7:37, 52-53, NKJV).
The coming of Christ turned the world upside down, according to Acts 17:6. It most definitely caused great joy and great sorrow within Israel. The Prince of Peace said,
"Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to `set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; "and `a man's enemies will be those of his own household.' He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. (Matthew 10:32-41, NKJV).
Thus the turmoil within Israel, and within the Jewish Church. You have those Jews who are convinced of Christ as the Messiah. You have others who are convinced He is not the Messiah. Then you have those in the middle who see the claims of the Gospel, understand that these claims are true, but they are not yet willing to commit familial and cultural suicide in order to embrace the Lord Jesus.
The persecution of the Jewish Christians was quite severe. Listen to how one author describes the cultural difficulty of a Jew becoming a Christian in the first century:
"Festus died about the year 63, and under the high priest Ananias, who favored the Sadducees, the Christian Hebrews were persecuted as transgressors of the law. Some of them were stoned to death; and though this extreme punishment could not be frequently inflicted by the Sanhedrim, they were able to subject their brethren to sufferings and reproaches which they felt keenly. It was a small thing that they confiscated their goods; but they banished them from the holy places. Hitherto they had enjoyed the privileges of devout Israelites: they could take part in the beautiful and God-appointed services of the sanctuary; But now they were treated as unclean and apostates. Unless they gave up faith in Jesus, and forsook the assembling of themselves together, they were not allowed to enter the Temple, they were banished from the alter [sic], the sacrifice, the high priest, the house of Jehovah.
"We can scarcely realize the piercing sword which wounded their inmost heart. That by clinging to the Messiah they were to be severed from Messiah's people, was, indeed, a great and perplexing trial; that for the hope of Israel's glory they were banished from the place God had chosen, and where the Divine Presence was revealed, and the symbols and ordinances had been the joy and strength of their fathers; that they were no longer children of the covenant and of the house, but worse than Gentiles, excluded from the outer court , cut off from the commonwealth of Israel. This was indeed a sore and mysterious trial. Cleaving to the promises made unto their fathers, cherishing the hope in constant prayer that their nation would yet accept the Messiah, it was the severest test to which their faith could be put, when their loyalty to Jesus involved separation from all the sacred rights and privileges of Jerusalem."
These Jews whose faith was not placed in Christ, preferred the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises over the symbols of the promises. But the vast majority of the Jews preferred, and still prefer symbols over substance; tradition over reality. Consequently, the Jews as a nation forfeited salvation and their Messiah for the sake of their rituals. In other words, they were guilty of the "We've-Always-Done-It-This-Way" syndrome. And it cost them their eternal lives, as well as their symbols and rituals and the Temple and everything else outwardly associated with the worship of Jehovah.
But the writer of Hebrews, whoever he is (because no one really knows), makes a very powerful argument to his Jewish brethren to encourage those who believe, and to warn and challenge those who don't.
For instance:
"…how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation…. (Hebrews 2:3a, NKJV).
Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; (Hebrews 3:12, NKJV).
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. (Hebrews 6:4-6, NKJV).
Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:28-29, NKJV).
See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, (Hebrews 12:25, NKJV).
This writer obviously understands the Old Testament scriptures. More of the Old Testament scriptures are quoted in the book of Hebrews than in any other New Testament book. The audience that this letter is addressed to is very familiar with their Bible. He quotes passages that would have been familiar to them and he begins in chapters 1 and 2 with both encouraging words, and words of severe warning, and this sets the tone for the entire letter.
MacArthur gives a simple outline for Hebrews which you may find helpful for getting a bird's eye view of the entire book:
I. The Superiority of Jesus Christ's Position (1:1-4:13)
II. The Superiority of Jesus Christ's Priesthood (4:14 - 7:28)
III. The Superiority of Jesus Christ's Priestly Ministry (8:1 - 10:18)
IV. The Superiority of the Believer's Privileges (10:19 - 12:29)
V. The Superiority of Christian Behavior (13:1-21)
VI. Postscript (13:22-25)
I do not often make it a point to encourage you to read during the week the texts from which I plan to preach. But I do want you to make a special effort during your Bible study times each week to read from Hebrews and study it along with me. In many ways, the Christian church today is similar to Israel when Jesus came to them. There are those who are true believers in Christ within the church. Then there are those who are Christians in name only, but who do not genuinely believe the Scriptures, nor is their faith in Christ. Then there are those who we like to refer to as "seekers". They aren't sure about any of this stuff called Christianity, but they are interested in knowing more. Some will believe, while others will come close but finally fall away and reject the only hope we have, which is Christ Himself.
In my opinion, this book is second only to the book of Romans in doctrinal importance in the New Testament. It presents Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of all the hopes of Israel, and consequently the fulfillment of our hopes as well. If it was true that the Jews should be careful not to neglect the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, how much more so is this true of us who have the completed revelation of God? The neglect of Christ is the neglect of one's own soul. So I invite you to join me in delighting in the Lord Jesus as we move through this book together. In closing, let's read together 1:1 through 2:3a.
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did He ever say: "You are My Son, Today I have begotten You"? And again: "I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son"? But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: "Let all the angels of God worship Him." And of the angels He says: "Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire." But to the Son He says: "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions." And: "You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail." But to which of the angels has He ever said: "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool"? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation…." (Hebrews 1:1-2 3a, NKJV).