Transcript Hebrews - God's Character

Hebrews
• “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)
Trust
• 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)
Melchizedek
• “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 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 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?
• “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)