Christ in Hebrews -- Our Eternal High Priest

We don’t know who wrote the book of Hebrews, but he was almost assuredly Jewish, a friend of the Jewish Christians, a friend of Timothy, and possibly one of Jesus’ apostles.  The book was a letter to Jewish Christians, probably in or near Jerusalem, but we don’t know where it was written.  We do know that it was written about 68 – 69 A.D., because of the reference to Timothy having been released from prison (13:23), and because of the references to the ongoing sacrifices being made in the temple.  The temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.

The purpose of the book (letter) was to warn the Jewish Christians to remain steadfast in their faith in Jesus, and to warn them against returning to the Jewish sacrifices and traditions.  It is clear by the date of the writing and from the admonition in chapter 5 that these people had been believers for quite some time.  By this time, they should have been mature Christians, growing in faith and in number, reaching others for Christ, and making disciples in their area and all over the world.  But instead, many of them were still attending the temple and offering sacrifices there.  Apparently they had lost their urgency to grow in their faith and understanding of the gospel:

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil (Hebrews 5:11-14).

The first chapter of the book of Hebrews is a beautiful work of praise and adoration.  I hope you will read it and study it for yourself.  Place a bookmark in your Bible at Hebrews, chapter one.  Anytime you are discouraged, worried, hopeless, depressed, doubting, weak . . . anytime you need to be reminded who Jesus is, read this chapter!  For a quick summary, Jesus is:

The radiance of God’s glory
The exact representation of God

The sustainer of all things by His powerful word
Purification for sin
Seated at the right hand of God
Superior to the angels
Rules forever with justice
Loves righteousness and hates wickedness
Anointed with joy
Creator of the foundations of the earth
Creator of the heavens

 Jesus will:

Remake all of creation

Remain the same, even after all creation is remade
Always be
Use his enemies as His footstool

Chapter two of this book built on what was taught in chapter one.  The writer said to pay attention to what we know so that we will not be deceived.  So anytime the deceiver (Satan, the world, guilt, insecurity) tries to drag you down, go back and read chapter one.  Remember who Jesus is, do not be deceived, and do not drift away from your faith:

We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away (Hebrews 2:1).

The writer of this book took a lot of time and space to teach, once again, about Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins.  The Jewish Christians understood the sacrificial laws that were given to their forefathers and were still in practice at the temple in Jerusalem.  But those sacrifices were only a picture of what Christ did for us on the cross, and His perfect sacrifice eliminated the need for any further sacrifice.  That is why the veil in the temple was torn, from top to bottom, at the time of His death on the cross:

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split (Matthew 27:50-51). 

The sacrifices in the temple were made by the High Priest, a man who was also sinful.  So the priest had to first make a sacrifice for his own sin, then he could offer the sacrifices that the people brought for their sins.  He was to instruct the people and to gently lead them in living according to God’s laws, knowing that he, too, was a sinner, falling short of the glory of God.  He did not aspire to the position, but was appointed by God:

Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was (Hebrews 5:1-4). 

In the same way, Jesus was appointed to be our High Priest: 

In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.” And he says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:5-6).”

High Priests served until they died, then another man would be elevated to that position until his death.  The position was not a permanent one.  However, Jesus lives forever, so His priesthood is eternal:

Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them (Hebrews 7:23-25).

Not only is Jesus our Eternal High Priest, but He is also our Perfect High Priest.  Although He was tempted just as we are, He never sinned.  Not once.  He understands our weaknesses, and He empathizes with us, He hurts for us, His heart breaks for us.  He offered Himself, the perfect, spotless sacrifice, taking away our sin, even all the sin of all the world:

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself (Hebrews 7:26-27).

So how does this apply to us today?  There is no more temple.  It was destroyed by the Romans over 1945 years ago.  There is no more sacrifice, at least not as it was practiced in those days by the Jews.  But some people believe we have to sacrifice by doing good works, or by taking communion, or by being baptized, or by paying tithes and offerings.  If you ask most people why they should be allowed into God’s holy heaven, they will answer by saying, “Well, I was a good person,” or “I lived a good life” or “I did my best.”  Well, God says our best is not good enough.  As a matter of fact, His word says that there MUST be a sacrifice, and it must be a blood sacrifice:

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone (Mark 10:18).

In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22).

Well, the GOOD NEWS is, our Perfect, Eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ, took our judgment.  He died in our place.  He sacrificed Himself to take away our sins and to give us life eternal with Him:

Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many (Hebrews 9:26-27a).

Once we agree with God that we deserve punishment, and as soon as we acknowledge the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf, He promises that He will forgive us and remember our sin no more.  No more sacrifice is needed:

For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary (Hebrews 10:14-18). 

Now having heard this Good News, we are obligated to act on it.  We have a choice to make – we can either accept the perfect sacrifice of Jesus and live eternally with Him, or we can reject it and face judgment:

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:26-31).

I hope that you will choose wisely.

My prayer for you and for me this week is the benediction found in Hebrews 13:20-21:

Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen

All scripture references are from the New Living Translation.

Christ in Philemon -- Our Redeemer Who Paid Our Debt

Paul wrote his note to Philemon at about the same time he wrote the letter we call the book of Colossians, about 60 – 61 A.D.  As a matter of fact, he may have sent the two letters together since Philemon lived in Colossae.  But the note to Philemon was intended just for him and the church that met at his home, not necessarily for all the Christians in that city.  Philemon must have been a wealthy man since his home was large enough for the followers of Christ to gather there for worship, and since he was a slave-owner.

Slavery was commonplace in those days, not just in Rome and Colossae, but all over the known world.  Jesus even spoke about slavery as a fact of life, neither condoning nor denouncing it. (See Matthew 18:21-25, the parable of the unforgiving debtor; Luke 12:42-47, the parable of the faithful servant and the foolish servant.)  It was accepted, and even expected, that runaway slaves were to be harshly punished if they were found and brought back to their owners.  Under Roman law, slaves were not considered to be human, but were property, without any civil rights at all.  They were completely subject to the whims of their masters who could sell them, give them away, beat them, and even kill them.  Even though Jesus didn’t condemn slavery, he did teach that all people are equal in the sight of God, whether slave or free, male or female, Jew or Gentile.  This was a revolutionary idea in the culture of that day and age.

It was out of that teaching that Paul wrote this letter to Philemon.  For you see, Philemon had a slave named Onesimus.  Onesimus ran away, perhaps even stealing from Philemon to finance his getaway.  He made his way to Rome where he met the Apostle Paul.  Whether that was by the providence of God or whether Onesimus had met Paul when he was teaching in Colossae we do not know, and it has no bearing on the lesson God wants us to learn.  No matter how their paths crossed, they did.  Onesimus heard Paul’s preaching while he was in Rome and became a believer in Jesus Christ.  Paul sent Onesimus back to Philemon with the note, asking Philemon to show mercy to his slave.  That required a lot of faith on the part of Onesimus, since Philemon had every right as a Roman citizen to punish him severely.  It also showed a lot of faith on the part of Paul who trusted Philemon to do the right thing according to what he had been taught as a follower of Christ.

As I read this short note, only 25 verses in all, I couldn’t help but think of how Paul’s pleading on behalf of Onesimus parallels the way Jesus Christ’s sacrifice pleads to God on our behalf.  Consider the following points:

• Paul asked Philemon to be kind to Onesimus, rather than demanding it.  Jesus asks us to come to Him; He does not impose His will on us:

That is why I am boldly asking a favor of you. I could demand it in the name of Christ because it is the right thing for you to do. But because of our love, I prefer simply to ask you. Consider this as a request from me (v. 8-9a).

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends (Revelation 3:20).”

• Onesimus sinned against Philemon, his master, by running away and perhaps by stealing from him.  We have all sinned against God:

Onesimus hasn’t been of much use to you in the past (v. 11a).

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard (Romans 3:23).

• Paul was willing to pay for any loss that Philemon may have incurred because of the behavior of Onesimus.  Jesus paid for our sin by dying on the cross in our place:

If he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to me (v. 18).

He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world (1 John 2:2).

• When Onesimus became a follower of Christ, he became a brother of Paul and of Philemon.  When we accept Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins, we become brothers with Him:

He is no longer like a slave to you. He is more than a slave, for he is a beloved brother, especially to me. Now he will mean much more to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord (v. 16).

So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters (Hebrews 2:11).

• The relationship that was once broken between Philemon and Onesimus was restored.  Our relationship that was once broken with God due to sin is restored when we trust Jesus:

So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me (v. 17).

There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you (Galatians 3:28-29).

• Paul looked forward to returning to Colossae one day and asked Philemon to prepare a room for him.  Jesus is coming again and He wants us to be prepared for His return:

One more thing—please prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that God will answer your prayers and let me return to you soon (v. 22).

“So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would keep watch and not permit his house to be broken into. You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected (Matthew 24:42-44).” 

My prayer for you and for me this week is that we would treat our brothers and sisters – whoever they are and whatever they have done to us – in the way that Paul was asking Philemon to receive his brother, the slave, Onesimus.  My prayer is adapted from verse 6 of Philemon:

Heavenly Father,
I am praying that (we) will put into action the generosity that comes from (our) faith as (we) understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ. Amen.

All scripture references are from the New Living Translation.

Christ in Titus -- Our Great God And Savior

Paul wrote his letter to Titus before his second imprisonment in Rome, after he wrote his first letter to Timothy but before the second, in about 65 A.D.  Titus was in Crete when the letter was written.  Paul had left Titus there to get the churches in that area organized under good, solid leadership.  That was part of the purpose of this letter, reminding Titus of the qualifications required of good leaders.  Crete was generally considered to be in a raucous, unsavory part of the world (see Titus 1:12, which is a quote of a Cretan poet, Epimenides).  The term, “to Cretanize,” meant “to lie.”  Therefore, we can certainly understand the importance that Paul placed on being very selective about church leadership in his letter to Titus.  We don’t know a lot about the man, Titus, but tradition holds that he lived to the age of 94, he died a martyr’s death, and was buried on the island of Crete.  But we do know that a few months after this letter was written, Titus had gone to Dalmatia, present day Yugoslavia (see 2 Timothy 4:10).  So if what tradition says about his death is true, his mission in Dalmatia was a temporary one, most likely to share what Paul had taught him with church leaders there, perhaps even to share this letter with them.

The first chapter of this book deals mostly with instructions to Titus regarding the qualifications for elders (overseers or bishops) and how they should respond to false teachers.  Titus, an uncircumcised Gentile, was well acquainted with those who insisted that Gentile converts should adhere to the old Jewish laws and traditions:

For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you— if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination. For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict. (Titus 1:5-9).

For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain. . . not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth. . . They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work (Titus 1:10-11, 14, 16).

Paul revisited the point of false teachers in chapter three, just before he closed his letter with some personal remarks and greetings.  This repetition indicates that this was a major problem in Crete.  Nothing has changed, since false teaching is still a major problem for us today.  It would serve us all well to take to heart all that Paul was teaching Titus.  Paul advised Titus to correct those who were causing disputes and divisions within the church, giving them a chance to repent, but to remove them from the church if they continued in their heresies:

But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless. Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned (Titus 3:9-11).

In contrast to those false teachers, the second chapter begins by instructing Titus, a minister, to teach sound doctrine:

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: (Titus 2:1).

And then Paul went on to tell Titus exactly what needed to be taught to several specific groups of people, including old men, young men, old women, young women, and slaves.  Apparently, Paul had heard of problems that these groups of people in Crete were having and how they were influencing the church as a whole.  He didn’t call out anyone by name like he did in some of his other letters, but because the problems he addressed were specific to certain groups of people we can assume that the problems were widespread throughout the churches in Crete.

Beginning in verse 11 of chapter 2, continuing through the first half of chapter 3, Paul wrote to Titus about teaching believers in general about living in under the grace of God.  This section of Paul’s letter gives the basis for all the rest of his instructions.  If we, like the believers in Crete, truly understand how lost in sin we once were, and if we understand that we are saved only by the grace of God, we will want to live our lives in a way that is pleasing to God.  So Paul wanted to be sure that Titus taught the members of his church about the truth of God’s grace.  Remember as you read the following verses, “grace” means undeserved, unearned, or unmerited favor – receiving something we do not deserve.  “Mercy” is the opposite of justice.  It means NOT getting the punishment we DO deserve:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14).

For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:3-7).

Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you (Titus 2:15).

This week I pray that you have accepted the offer of mercy and grace that Jesus Christ Our Great God and Savior has bought for you.  He paid the price for your sin and mine on the cross.  He took the punishment that you and I deserve, and exchanged that punishment with grace.  Because of His sacrifice, we can be heirs with Him and we can have the hope of eternal life.  If you are unsure whether you will spend eternity in Heaven with Him, I hope that you will pray this simple prayer of salvation, adapted from the verses above:

Dear Jesus,
I have been foolish, disobedient, and deceived.  I have served various lusts and pleasures and have lived in malice and envy and hatred.  But I now understand that you died for me, not because I deserved it, but because you had mercy on me when I was a sinner.  Please pour out your Holy Spirit on me, filling me.  Save me to live for you, My Great God and Savior.
Amen.

All scripture references are from the New King James Version.