In this next portion of Hebrews, we see a wonderful unity, where the writer ties together heaven and earth, Old Testament saints and New Testament saints, and Christ and Moses. Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who …
Billions of His Brethren
Christ is not ashamed to be our brother. He is not ashamed to share completely in our humanity. Further than this, He was not ashamed to be identified with us in our sin and folly. This is what He did throughout the course of His ministry. He began at the baptism of John by identifying …
Ezra Nehemiah 9
Introduction: Integrity in leaders is not something that makes safeguards unnecessary. Integrity in leaders is manifested in the first place by their insistence on safeguards. This desire for manifest integrity and accountability is seen clearly in how Ezra behaves in this chapter. The people of Israel are under the law of God, all of them. …
Christ the Singer
The Bible teaches us that when Christ brings us to heaven, He does not do so while holding His nose. Many have sought to abase the creature too much, in effect placing sinners beyond the reach of a Savior. This does not honor Him at all. Our need was truly desperate; apart from Him we …
The Captain of Our Salvation
We must never forget the central theme of this book, which is the supremacy of Christ. In this next verse, we need to consider the supremacy of Christ in His authority to save. “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to …
Ezra Nehemiah 8
Introduction: God moves in history through His appointed means. But although some of His means are inscrutable to us (Dt. 29:29), in many other cases, He describes for us what it is like when He is working. In this instance, we see how God determined to give favor to the Jews by placing favor upon …
The World to Come
The supremacy of Christ over the angels continues as the theme in the early portion of Hebrews, but with an important development in the text. Christ is not only supreme over the angels, He holds this position now as the Incarnate One — the God/man. For He has not put the world to come, of …
Stricter Sanctions
We have now come to the first great warning of this epistle. As the force of the warning makes clear, this is not an exercise in academic theology. True theology is never merely academic. How we think is important to how we live, but how we think must never be taken as a substitute for …
Worship As the Key to History
We are continuing to address the great theme of Christ’s supremacy over the angels. Here in this passage, His greatness is declared in His work of creating and dissolving all created things, and in His mediatorial reign. And: “You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work …
Ezra Nehemiah 8
Introduction As we study the narratives of Scripture, one of the things we have to learn to watch for are the narratival patterns. And one of those patterns is captured by our expression “hoist on his own petard.” Most take this to be some form of hanging, but a petard was actually a medieval hand …