INTRODUCTION: One of the perennial pastoral problems in the Church is the question of assurance of salvation. On the one hand are some Christians who hold that to seek any kind of solid assurance is presumptuous. On the other hand are other Christians who appear to glory in just that kind of presumption—”just prayer this …
The Lord With Us
INTRODUCTION: There are seven Old Testament passages quoted in the first chapter of Hebrews alone. And five of those seven passages have to do with the submission of the nations to Christ. And that is what the entire book is about—and we are taught this through the author showing us that this is what the …
Applications from Hebrews
As we conclude the book of Hebrews, the writer ends his letter with a potpourri of ethical admonitions and instruction. A common theme is “living in a certain way,” but the subject matter changes radically from passage to passage. “Let brotherly love continue . . .” (Heb. 13:1-25). We begin with friends,strangers and prisoners. These …
Reverence and Godly Awe
As we worship God we must remember the glory of covenant which enables us to worship Him. Too many Christians regard the New Covenant as God “dumbing down” His requirements. The Old Testament represents graduate school worship, and the New Testament somehows sends us all back for some training in the remedial basics. This thinking …
Discipline and Punishment
The previous chapter, that great hall of fame, sets the stage for this particular exhortation. The author of Hebrews was not telling Bible stories to no purpose or end. He was emphasizing the centrality of faith in all previous trials because his readers needed an exhortation to persevere in their faith, in the midst of …
Bible Stories
One fatal tendency is to assume that Bible stories are for children, and that doctrine is for adults. But in fact all the Bible is for all Christians. One of the lamentable results of biblical illiteracy is the fact that many Christians could not tell you what happened to all the saints mentioned in this …
Covenant Boldness and Covenant Fear
The tenth chapter of Hebrews really needs to be considered all together. In this chapter we find a great deal of the theology of our author coming together as part of an integrated whole. If we step back and get the big picture, we will see more than just the tenth chapter—we will begin to …
Blood and Judgment
The outer sanctuary is the place where preparations are made for the entry to the inner Holy of Holies. And so we learn about Christ’s ministry in the heavenly Holy of Holies through the activity in the outer sanctuary, that is, the time of the Old Testament. “For where there is a testament, there must …
The Time of Reformation
The work of Christ on the cross was a work unlike any other in history. One powerful aspect of what He accomplished was the once for all nature of His atonement. He, unlike His shadows in the Old Testament, did not have to repeat His work over and over again. Even that which was a …
Christ the Liturgist
We have already discussed the importance of defining the word covenant correctly. We must also define the adjective new in the phrase “new covenant” correctly. A host of errors have sprung from the fact that we have misdefined this simple word new. We are under the “new covenant.” What does that mean exactly? In the …