My study of the Book of Hebrews by Anna
God increased my spiritual understanding as I read and
reflected on His words in the New Testament book of Hebrews. The words and the accounts of God’s faithful
in the Old Testament became a connecting bridge to my understanding of the New
Testament. This thirteen chapter book
bridged God’s temporary Old Covenant plan of the Law and compared it to His
greater permanent plan of redemption through Christ in the New Covenant. Faith was given and the Messiah promised in
the first thirty nine books of the Bible.
God’s Son was given to all in God’s perfect and completed plan as seen
in the twenty seven books of the New Testament.
God knew that man would fall from His Grace. We are now reconnected to our Creator (A
Creation has to have a Creator and we are God’s creation) as we believe in and
receive His Son, Jesus, into our hearts and into our lives.
Jesus became man, was born, and became “the Face of God”. Jesus returned to Father God and left His
Spirit, “the Holy Spirit” in us on earth
to continue teaching and bringing us into His peace and presence.
Lord, teach us, touch us, fill us, and use us to your Glory
in our own lives and in the lives of others as you flow through us. Thank you Lord for your Love, your Grace, your
Word, and your plan; the New Covenant.
The book of Hebrews shows the great plan which God has
revealed in His New Covenant. The old
Covenant was a temporary plan giving us rules to live by, laws, while waiting
for the completion of His plan; the promised Messiah. The new Christians of that time and each of
us today are told to believe in and commit ourselves to the new reality in our
faith walk; Christ, our redeemer. When we believe in Christ, our high priest,
we have an eternal kingdom which cannot be shaken.
Christ is superior to the Angels.
Jesus was made man, lower than the angels, so He might taste
death for all of us.
Jesus broke the power of the devil and freed us from the
fear of death.
In Jesus there is a Sabbath rest for the people of God. We are to enter into that rest.
The Word of God is alive and active. It is sharper than any double edged sword.
Our high priest empathizes with all of our weaknesses and
sufferings. Christ suffered.
We are to approach His Throne of Grace with confidence to
receive mercy and find grace in our time of need.
We are to seek, study, and learn the truths of God’s
Word. We are to go from feeding on the
milk of the Word to feeding ourselves the meat of the Word. We are to grow from Christian infancy into
Christian maturity. This growth is an
active process which happens as we study the Word. We cannot know, love, and trust God if we do
not know Him and do not know what He tells us in His Word. We must seek in order to find.
Christ, our High Priest, sacrificed for our sins once and
for all; forever.
Christ is a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
By reading the word we are taught about the lives of
faithful believers who through faith and patience inherited the promise. We are to be encouraged by the faith of
others. We observe how they believed and
hoped in the Lord. In faith, they had hope in the One True God and believed in His promises.
Their lives, as recorded in the Bible’s faith chapter, Hebrews 11, have
each become a testimony throughout the generations. Faith is contagious. May each of us also have contagious faith; a
faith which shines God’s light through us as it touches the lives of others.
Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of
sins. The Old Covenant, God’s initial
temporary plan, had a man made tabernacle and temporary forgiveness which was
given to worshipers by the sprinkling of animal blood. The New Covenant, the greater Covenant, was
given to us by the shed Blood of Jesus Christ.
We read about God’s plan, prophesy, promises, and fulfilled Messiah
throughout the 66 books of scripture.
Jesus is the final sacrificial lamb given to us as atonement for our
sins one time and forever when we believe and let Him into our hearts. We are now His temple. He is in us and we are in Him. “He set aside
the first to establish the second” (Hebrews 10:9)”.
As God’s people we are to encourage each other and meet
together to learn and worship God. The
Lord will judge His people, “Vengeance is Mine”, says God (Hebrews 10:30). Hebrews 10:38 tells us that “The just shall
live by faith”. This was the main truth
from the Word which was as a light to Martin Luther. Faith is a gift from God and it is God’s free
gift to all who seek and believe. Relationship
with God is not what we do. It is what
we believe! Hebrews 11:6 tells us, “And
without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him
must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him”. Everyone goes through trials. We are to endure hardships. God does discipline His children as an
earthly parent teaches and guides a child through difficulty or
disobedience. God allows things to be
shaken in our lives. We must hold on to
that which cannot be shaken; Christ, God’s Word, and our faith. Hebrews 12:29 tells us that God is a
consuming fire. We are to worship Him
with thanksgiving, reverence, and awe.
Awe is Godly fear and respect! In
Hebrews 13 we are told that God will never leave us or forsake us. He is the same yesterday, today, and
forever. We are extorted to keep our
lives pure and prioritized. We are to
love one another, show hospitality to strangers, remember those who are
suffering or in prison, submit to authority, and do good and share with
others. Verse 15 says, “Through Jesus,
therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is,
the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name”.
I am on an earthly journey.
Everyone is on an earthly journey.
Yes, our journey is physical, mental, educational, and emotional but so
many of us forget about the growth of our spiritual being; the person we are on
the inside. I find the answers to the
questions, “who am I?”, “what is my earthly purpose?”, and “what is my physical
and spiritual destiny?” in God’s Word, the Bible. I thank the Lord every day for the gift of
faith and the spiritual understanding which He has given to me. I praise Him
and thank Him for His grace, His presence, His Word, my family, my friends, and
the many material things which I possess.
I do not take any of it for granted.
Thank you Lord!
