Category: Hebrews

“Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many. Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal. You know that afterward, when he wanted his father’s blessing, he was rejected. It was too late for repentance, even though he begged with bitter tears.”

Sometimes in my house my kids say, “Well, I didn’t TRY to break it…” I always respond with the same statement: “I know you didn’t try to break it. You have to try NOT to break it.” The Christian life isn’t about accidentally falling into sin and seeing it after the fact. It’s about working hard NOT to sin by leading a holy life. It’s about working hard to live at peace with everyone. We hear the same excuses over and over: “Well I didn’t TRY to get into that fight…” or “I didn’t TRY to have an affair.”

What are you watching out for today? Are you on the lookout for bitterness in your life? Are you simply catching yourself after the fact and wishing you had done something differently? Esau’s story is captured in Genesis 25, when his impatience and hunger causes him to make a foolish decision to give up his inheritance for a bowl of soup. Always a good idea to avoid decision-making when you are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. Don’t be like Esau, settling for the immediate reward and figuring the rest will work itself out later. Life doesn’t work like that. Long-term consequences DO come, and often it’s too late to change the inevitable outcomes.

It’s boring to talk about making wise long-term decisions. There are absolutely zero movies and TV shows with that plot. But that’s the one-foot-in-front-of-the-other way that following Jesus works. You have to watch your step, think long-term (and by long-term I mean with an eternal view), and work hard to do the right thing. Living by the minimum standard isn’t freedom, it’s fake. When you really care about something, you are wholehearted about it. What eternal and supernatural realities are you working towards? Take time to sit with that question because it is a key to freedom.

“You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai. For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking. They staggered back under God’s command: ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.’ Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, ‘I am terrified and trembling.’

“No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.”

I had to read this passage several times to make sense of it, as I found it very confusing. What is the point of the author talking about a physical mountain and then Mount Zion? What is all that? The first thing I remembered was the way in which the author of Hebrews has been using the well-known history of Israel to explain Jesus as the Messiah. There is a compare/contrast process between what God has done and what he is going to do.

In that light, I thought of Revelation 21, where the apostle John shares a vision of a new heaven and a new earth. That book was written right around the same time as Hebrews, and since we don’t the author or authors of Hebrews we can’t say whether they had any knowledge of that vision. It’s possible God revealed a similar vision to each of these authors to paint a picture of how access to God in the new heaven (Mount Zion) will be very different than Moses’ experience on Mount Sinai.

God has had a long history with his chosen people. It’s written in the Old Testament and it’s been explored here in Hebrews. The Jewish people have heard countless stories of God’s fierce power that at times was scary. Moses was an imperfect mediator between God and the people. Jesus is the perfect mediator of this new covenant. Because of Jesus, God isn’t scary at all. He seeks peace with you, he wants to forgive you. He’s prepared a new Promised Land for all who come to him.

“Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: ‘Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.’ This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain. Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire.”

What does it mean that God is a “devouring fire”? We often think of God as a friend, which the Bible confirms in other places (Romans 5:10-11, James 2:23). My friends don’t want to burn me up, so how is it that we can hold those two things in tension?

The key in understanding this seeming contradiction in God’s character is the word “removed.” God will shake the earth and remove the bad, evil parts. That could include people that have given themselves over to evil. We know that if we have accepted God’s gift of friendship, that is unshakable. He is our friend. God is devouring harmful things that don’t belong anywhere near you. It’s his desire that all people accept his invitation of friendship, but sadly not everyone does.

Verse 28 says that “we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable.” The fact that God is going to burn everything evil to the ground can help us understand his great and mighty power. There is a fear and awe in understanding that power that drives us into gratitude. God could have decided to burn the whole world down. He didn’t. He offered you an eternal rescue. If you have accepted God’s invitation into friendship, then your place in his kingdom cannot be stolen from you. If you have experienced harm in this world, hold on to this hope that God is bringing you to a place where you will be safe forever.

“Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies. Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.

Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said,

‘I will never fail you.
    I will never abandon you.’

So we can say with confidence,

‘The Lord is my helper,
    so I will have no fear.
    What can mere people do to me?’

Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith.”

Have you ever been on a phone call and just when you say, “Well, I have to go…” the other person says, “Wait, just one more thing!” This letter to the Hebrews is coming to a close, and the author is squeezing in one last pep talk to keep these early believers from going astray. I love the chapters like this in the Bible, because it really boils everything down into the most important things.

Here’s the list of the top 6 most important things to remember about being a Christian:

1. Love each other
2. Show hospitality
3. Remember those who are being mistreated
4. Honor marriage
5. Don’t love money, but instead be satisfied
6. Remember all you have learned from good leaders

As we keep these top 6 things in mind and seek to live them out, we can release the earthly things that give us a false sense of security. I love that the author here says that we don’t need to love money because God will never fail us. He’s not going to abandon us. So how bad can life really get? Sure, things go wrong. Problems happen. But a truly eternal perspective stays connected with the reality that God is constantly holding on to you. It’s okay to let go of earthly things and let him hold you tightly.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace, not from rules about food, which don’t help those who follow them. We have an altar from which the priests in the Tabernacle have no right to eat. Under the old system, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, and the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp. So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood. So let us go out to him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace he bore. For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come. Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.”

We are nearing the end of Hebrews — we’ll finish this series tomorrow. If you have been reading along with us each day, congratulations for completing another book of the Bible! Let’s dive in: today’s passage emphasizes the importance of holding on to the reality of Jesus Christ. He is constant. Because of this unchanging nature, we know that any teaching about Jesus that presents a new idea of who he is will be wrong.

The only thing that has changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament is the covenental system that God had with his people. God’s nature did not change. Instead, he took a step to fulfill the old covenant by providing the perfect sacrifice: Jesus. In doing so, he ushered a new type of access to himself because he overcame sin and death. This plan was always God’s heart.

Some people think that God was angry and punishing in the Old Testament and then softened when Jesus came in the New Testament. Far from it! Jesus perfectly reveals who God is in every way. Now that we know him, we offer new kind of sacrifices: praise, evangelism, and caring for those in need. Just as Jesus showed us who God is, now our job is to show God’s nature to the world. Who can you show God’s heart today?