OUR FATHER WHO CALLS PRIESTS

In contrast to the heavenly high priest, the book of Hebrews chapter 5 verses 1 - 4 describes a high priest from among the people who could sympathize with those he served because he shared their weaknesses but that the sacrifices  he offered for others, he needed for himself.

1 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. 3 Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. 4 And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO KNOWS THE THOUGHTS AND INTENTIONS OF OUR HEARTS

The passage in the book of Hebrews chapter 4 from verses 11 - 16 uges the readers to be diligent in entering the rest of the promised land.

The writer explains that the inner most thoughts and intentions of of our hearts are plainly detectable to God who sees even the division of soul and spirit (which are comparable to the way that a joint and marrow are  linked).

And it is to God we must give an account of our entry into the rest the He provided for us.

11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 

12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We who are on earth and have believed in the promise of God have Jesus the Son of God who is our sympathetic high priest in heaven who understands our weakneses having lived a physical life as we do.

As such, we should hold fast to what we have believed and testified to and we should be confident when we come before the throne of grace understanding that we have mercy and grace made available when we need it.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE REST WE MUST STRIVE TO  ENTER

The 4th chapter of Hebrews from verses 1 - 10 says this;

1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:

“So I swore in My wrath,

‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ”

although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this place:

“They shall not enter My rest.” 

6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:

“Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts.”

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER TO WHOM WE MUST NOT HARDEN OUR HEARTS

The book of Hebrews chapter 3 verses 7 - 19 says this;

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today, if you will hear His voice,

8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

In the day of trial in the wilderness,

9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,

And saw My works forty years.

10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,

And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,

And they have not known My ways.’

11 So I swore in My wrath,

‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said:

“Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

The writer of the book of Hebrews cautions his readers that in the same way the children of Israel were denied access to the promised land because they stagnated in unbelief, we too could become hardened because of the deceitfulness of sin and rebel against the voice of the Holy Spirit and depart from God and fall in the wilderness having failed to enter the rest of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHO BUILT THE ENTIRE STRUCTURE OF EXISTENCE

The writer of the book of Hebrews in chapter 3 verses 1 - 6, reveals that his intended audience was those of the children of Israel by how he decribes Moses, their law-giver, as a faithful messenger from God and then goes onto to describe the Lord Jesus as even more glorius than Moses because Jesus was the one who buit the entirety of house of Israel where as Moses served in the house as a testimony to the coming dispensation where the son and heir of the house would be revealed and through whom we are made members of the household of God.

In this passage, the Lord Jesus is given the title of Apostle and High Priest representing the manner in which He was sent from God on a mission of salvation for men and also for the role as an intermediary between God and man. 

1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. 3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. 5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that we should remain firmly rooted in our confidence and joy in the hope of the salvation that only Christ provides.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE SON IS BRINGING MANY SONS TO GLORY

The book of Hebrews chapter 2 verses 10 - 18 says this;

10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying:

“I will declare Your name to My brethren;

In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.”

13 And again:

                    “I will put My trust in Him.”

And again:

“Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.”

14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. 

17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

The writer of Hebrews, continuing on the subject of the pre-eminence of Christ over all things, describes how the Lord Jesus suffered as part of His mission to bring many sons to glory and the formula that allowed that to be possible was that He (Christ) was embedded with those who He came to save where He partook in the suffering of life, endured the same temptations they were subject to and as such, Jesus was able to call those who believed in Him 'brothers' for He and they were sharing a common tragectory except that Jesus did not sin and thus His sacrifice was efficacious to save human beings.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO MADE HIS SON A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGLES AND THEN SET HIM AS RULER OVER ALL THE WORKS OF HIS HANDS

The book of Hebrews continues in chapter 2 verses 5 - 9 says this;

5 For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. 6 But one testified in a certain place, saying:

“What is man that You are mindful of him,

Or the son of man that You take care of him?

7 You have made him a little lower than the angels;

You have crowned him with glory and honor,

And set him over the works of Your hands.

8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.”

For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. 

9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

The writer of Hebrews, carrying forward the point from the previous passage how critical the message bourne by the Lord unto salvation was, explains that all things were made subject to angels but rather it was the Son of God under whose feet all things were put.

And the Lord Jesus, the perfect Son of God, having subjected Himself to the suffering of death on behalf of all men, ascended to the highest pinnacle of all things to Him was accorded  glory and honor.

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHO PROVIDED A VERY GREAT SALVATION FOR US

The book of Hebrews chapter 2 verses 1 - 4  says this:

1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?

The writer of Hebrews adjures his readers to carefully attend to the things they heard that resulted in their salvation so that they wouldn´t drift away. The writer reasons that if the words of messengers was binding and that those who were not careful to heed every word that was delivered to them suffered punishment, how much more dire would the condition be of those who negligently drifted away from the words inaugurated and spoken by the Lord Himself that yielded salvation itself.

Further to that, the message of the gospel was delivered to us with signs and wonders along with miraculous gifts of the Spirit of God to attest to the veracity of the promise of salvation by believing.  

Amen.

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