Let Brotherly Love Continue

Hebrews 13 speaks with specificity regarding moral conduct. Here are some key points:

* Let brotherly love continue, v1
* Do not forget to entertain strangers (by doing so, some have entertained angels), v2
* Remember those who have been mistreated, v3
* Marriage and the bed undefiled are honorable among all, v4
* Be content with what you have, v5
* Do not be carried about by various strange doctrines (let the heart be established in grace), v9
* Let us continually praise and thank God, v15
* Do not forget to do good and to share, v16

Let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing  some have unwittingly entertained angels. Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also. Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Let  your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The Lord  is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. Jesus Christ is  the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it  is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably. But I especially urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Hebrews 13:1-21 NKJV

Chastening of the Lord

The following passage refers to the joy (not happiness) that Jesus knew He would have once He endured the cross. He had a promise that He could look forward to receiving that helped Him endure the race of faith.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us,and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:1-2

The following goes on to explain one of the best teachings I have ever heard on discipline from a father.

 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paidthem respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. Hebrews 12:3-12

Desire a Heavenly Country

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. Hebrews 11 1-3 NKJV

It takes faith and humility to understand that we are the creation. The Creator spoke, and it was by His words (the unseen) that the worlds were made. That is difficult to comprehend when we build things from materials that are seen.

I believe that faith is believing and trusting in the word of God. We simply take Him at His words. What He says is truth – He does not lie. In order to do that, God must speak to us. He has given us the written word and He also speaks to us in His own way (visions, spoken word, by our senses, etc.).

Hebrews goes on to tell us the accounts in which others heard from God and acted in faith (or belief) in what God said.  Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, etc. There is an important verse burried within.

But without faith it  is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11 6 NKJV

Two things stood out to me. The first is that we must believe God lives. So, faith is required to please Him. The second is that it was not just belief in Him, it is also a belief that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. God is good and it is a blessing to diligently seek Him. I ask myself why then is it so hard to diligently pursue Him when it should be my joy. This is a great part of Hebrews to keep me anchored day-to-day.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. Hebrews 11 13-16 NKJV

I have often heard Christian material that we are aliens or strangers to this world. But, this verse puts it beautifully: we desire a better/heavenly country. God has a beautiful country awaiting, which is why we should look forward to being with Him in eternity.

Exhort One Another

I believe one of the primary reasons believers should get together is to exhort one another. Basically, we need accountability. The Holy Spirit testifies to us who God is. When believers are around each other, they can encourage each other, admonish one another, remind one another and advise one another.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one  another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:23-25 NKJV

Once for All

…

Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in  them ” (which are offered according to the law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for  all. Hebrews 10:8-10 NKJV

“Once for all.” I like the sound of that.  The offering of animals is no longer needed where there has been forgiveness of sins. The offering was a reminder to us of our sins. Although I am glad we no longer need to sacrifice animals, it is a greater responsibility to have accepted the Lord’s offering and Spirit.

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? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:28-31 NKJV

We have a responsibility to honor what He has done and who He is.  The Holy Spirit continually testifies to us who the Lord is. Christ has blotted out our sin so that we may enter the Holiest. This is our continual sanctification.

But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord : I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” then  He  adds,  “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Now where there is remission of these, there  is no longer an offering for sin. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:15-22 NKJV

Amen.

The Testament and the Death of the Testator

Our lives are our own. They are like our property. God has given us life, our thoughts, our emotions, etc. We choose how to live each and every day. At the end of our life, we leave some kind of legacy. The decisions we made have been committed or dedicated. To whom? Certainly to the people around us – family, friends, etc. They are impacted by our choices made during life. However, our Creator is the ultimate being that our actions are committed to and judged by. Our lives are an offering before Him.

In Hebrews 9, we see words such as testament and testator. When we leave this life behind, we have the opportunity to express how we would like our earthly possessions dispersed in a will, or a testament. The testator is the person who owns the will and must die in order for the will to be carried out.

That is our earthly possessions. What about our choices made during life? Our sins, or transgressions against God’s divine laws, are recorded. Our life, our legacy, is offered up before the Lord. I have sinned and will sin again, most likely in ignorance, but it is still sin. How can I live with a clean conscience knowing that?

Hebrews 9 also says the following:

And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. Hebrews 9:22 NKJV

For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people… Hebrews 9:19 NKJV

Under the first covenant, dedication was made with blood. “Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.” Christ, the eternal being, cleansed us with His perfect blood. It is by His death that we can receive eternal inheritance upon our death. This is the new covenant. We can serve God with a clean conscience by accepting His covering and cleansing blood.

It was God’s will that we receive eternal inheritance. His will was set forth legally by the death of His son. I hope to live a life honorable to God with a conscience cleansed by His purifying blood.

And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. Hebrews 9:15-17 NKJV

 

 

The Eternal Inheritance – A Better Covenant

The Lord found fault with the first covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. They did not continue His covenant and the Lord “disregarded them.” However, the Lord established a new covenant – a better covenant.  This new agreement offers an eternal inheritance.

A high priest was appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices to the Lord. The tabernacle was prepared with a sanctuary and the Holy of Holies. These things were to be a reflection, a pattern, of the things in heaven.  The Lord had established laws, or divine ordinances, that needed to be kept. The first covenant required the blood of goats and calves to sanctify the flesh. It was symbolic, a reflection, of what was to come. Food, drink, washings and fleshly ordinances were imposed to remind mankind of cleanliness in the presence of the Lord.

Now, we have a High Priest. Christ was an offering, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with the eternal blood of the Son of God. The new tabernacle is not built with hands of the earthly creation. I love Hebrews 9 13-14:

For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Hebrews 9:13-14 NKJV

Jesus entered the Holy of Holies once for all – an eternal redemption. The new covenant is not written in stone on this Earth. The Lord said, ” I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people… For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

What a beautiful covenant and an even more amazing God! Praise Him for putting away sin with His own heavenly blood.

Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience— concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. Hebrews 9:6-10 NKJV

But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Hebrews 9:11-12 NKJV

A Better Hope with a New Priest

Hebrews Chapter 7 speaks of Melchizedek and his greatness.

Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils. Hebrews 7:4 NKJV

However, Chapter 7 also refers to a new priest that has come who belongs to another tribe, from which no man as officiated at the altar. Plus, if there was a change a priesthood, there was also a change of the law. That man was Jesus, who came from Judah. Jesus did not become a priest because a man appointed Him either. Jesus’ life is eternal. Man is held back by death and sin. Therefore, priests had to offer up sacrifices for their own sins and then for the people. Multiple priests had been established because they would die and a new one would be appointed.

We are so fortunate to live under Jesus Christ as our High Priest. He is without sin and does not need to offer up sacrifices. He made the ultimate sacrifice by becoming the perfect sacrifice Himself. Jesus can save all who come to God through Him. He does not die and can always make intercession for us. The law made nothing perfect. Jesus is the one who brought a better hope through which we can draw near to God.

For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God. Hebrews 7:18-19 NKJV

But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever. Hebrews 7:24-28 NKJV

Hope is an Anchor of the Soul

One of the most profound things I believe I have learned is that God’s promises are an anchor to our soul. In the past, I believed that hope was having faith in the “unknown.” In other words, we need to dive in to something believing that God will bless us no matter what – as long as we are doing what we “think” He wants us to do. If we are doing the “right” thing, why wouldn’t He bless our course of action and make it happen.

However, Hebrews chapter 6 speaks of God’s promises. God made a promise with Abraham, for example, that He would bless him and multiply him. The following passage reveals a lot about God and His promises.

For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 6:13-20 NKJV

First, I noticed that God can swear by no one greater than Himself. So, what does He do? When He made the promise with Abraham, He swore to Himself. Oaths are important. When we enter into an oath, we need to be careful who we are making that oath with and what promises we are making. Our words are a very powerful thing.

Second, it is impossible for God to lie. If that is the case, then we can have complete confidence in what He says. God does not lie to us. There is one who does speak lies. And, does he ever make his words sound like that of the Father God. It is important to know when God speak because His words are true.

So, we can conclude that when God speaks a promise, He cannot lie. Therefore, hope is created in us when we have heard His promise and have faith that God is who He says He is. God’s promises set hope before us and it is up to us to “lay hold of” it. Then, when adversity strikes (as it surely will), hope is an anchor to our soul in troubled times. Abraham had to “patiently endure” time before he obtained the promise of God.

The most obvious example of this in my life (where this lesson made such a profound impact on me), was when my wife and I lost our baby boy. We knew he had a major medical problem. We sought the best care we could at the time and we prayed for him.  A friend and teacher of ours helped us find the words to express what we wanted to pray. However, I personally never received a promise from God that our son would survive. He only live about 34 days.

However, after my son had passed away, I did hear from the Lord that my wife and I would have another child. I specifically heard that we were young and that we would have another healthy child. Now, that was a promise from God! That was something that gave me hope in what was to come because of faith (because I believed God spoke to me and that He doesn’t lie).

That hope became an anchor to my soul as my wife and I were tested shortly after my daughter was born. Here she was, the promise of God delivered. However, we received a letter in the mail that she had a life threatening condition detected by her blood work. Confronted with this news, the fear and pain began to swell up  again.  The only thing that held those feelings at bay was God’s promise. The anchor was there and I stood on the promise He had given me for this little girl. I prayed God’s protection around my family and I was standing on the power of the promise He had given me. We would not accept this lie because God’s spoken word was true.

We took our daughter in to be tested, hoping and praying for a negative test result. Talk about patiently enduring on a promise. The pressure was on. But, I will never forget the peace I felt because of God giving me a promise this time around. Sure enough, the test results came back negative and our daughter is healthy. That is one of the closest encounters I have had with the Lord. I am so thankful that He spoke a promise to me and I will always treasure that.

 

Spiritual Immaturity

Having a young daughter helps me understand Hebrews 5:12. God’s word can be considered spiritual food. We need the word to live the life that God has for us. Ignoring His word leaves us starving for His truth.

Much like my daughter learned to drink milk first, there are first principles of God’s word that are key to obtaining spiritual maturity. As my daughter learned to drink milk, she also matured as she learned to eat solid foods – which is not a quick process. She must learn how to chew, use her tongue, swallow and use hand-eye coordination. These are all basic principles of eating.

Hebrews describes spiritual maturity as having the reason to be able to discern both good and evil. Can we recognize God’s righteousness? Knowing the basic principles of God gives us the building blocks for spiritual maturity – being able to think on our own two feet and discern good from evil. I believe that people have a responsibility to learn and to teach others so that spiritual maturity can be passed on from one generation, or one person, to another.

Going back to the hardened heart, our aim must be that we do not become “dull of hearing”, as Hebrews says. For this does not allow spiritual maturity.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Hebrews 5:12-14