Tag Archives: Hebrews 4

Daily Bible Study

December 17, 2023 Bible Study — Jesus Was Tempted as We Are, so We Should Fix Our Minds on Him

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 1-5.

Because those He wished to aid were flesh and blood, Jesus also became flesh and blood human.  Since He was flesh and blood as we are Jesus was tempted as we are.  And since He suffered temptation as we do, He is able to help us when we are tempted.  Therefore we should fix out thoughts on Him, listening to Him as He builds us into the House in which He will dwell.  Having laid out the reason why we should focus our thoughts on Jesus, the writer goes on to warn us against turning away from God.  Further, he tells us that we should encourage our fellow Believers in their faith so that their hearts, and our hearts, may not be hardened against God by sin.  Which brings me to one final point I want to make about today’s passage.  The writer tells us of the importance of studying the Scripture.  Often times we will struggle with understanding what a particular passage has to tell us (and the Book of Hebrews certainly ranks high among those where we will struggle).  However, just as an athlete needs to train their body by repeated exercise, so we must train our minds and spirits by repeated study of Scripture.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 17, 2022 Bible Study — Jesus Experienced Suffering And Temptation Which Was Just Like That Which We Experience

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 1-5.

The writer of Hebrews starts out by establishing from Old Testament Scripture that Jesus is equal to God.  I would argue that he actually establishes that Jesus is God.  He goes on from there to show that in Jesus, God was made fully human, subject to the same temptation and suffering that every other human experiences.  In the process of making these points the writer tells us that God has chosen to subject the world to come to us.  Everything will be put beneath our feet.  There will be nothing that will not be subject to our rule.  The writer reminds us that this has not yet happened, except that God has already subject everything to Jesus.  The knowledge that God has already subject everything to Jesus encourages the hope in us that He will do the same for us.  So, since Jesus has conquered death, He has saved those of us who put our trust in Him from death.  And when we face temptation we know that Jesus likewise faced the same temptation, which should give us confidence that He can guide us into overcoming that temptation.

I will stop writing here.  I feel that some of what I have written above fails to convey my thoughts as I intended, but re-writing those parts would require re-writing the whole.  So, I will leave it as it stands.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 17, 2021 Bible Study — Wrapping Our Heads Around God’s Infinite Love

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 1-5.

I find the Book of Hebrews challenging because the writer chose to cover some rather advanced theology in his letter.  While Paul covers similarly advanced theology in some of his letters, we have more letters by Paul from which to learn to understand the way he words things.  The writer begins by pointing out that Jesus was distinct from the angels.  Jesus was not a special kind of angel, He was, and is, something completely different.  Angels are spirits sent by God to minister to and to serve those whom He has save by His grace.  The writer goes on from there to answer the question, “If Jesus is not an angel, what is He?”  Jesus became fully human. So, He was human, but He is also God.  More than any other writer in the Bible the writer of Hebrews tackles the fact that human comprehension cannot fully explain God.  We must be left with using metaphors and similes about God which we know do not fully explain any aspect of Him.  When the writer tells us that we need to work on consuming solid spiritual food rather than continuing to subsist on spiritual milk he is alluding to the fact that we must move beyond simple metaphors for God, that we must wrestle with explaining Him in better ways than that.  We may not succeed, but we should strive to wrap our heads around the infinite greatness which is God and His love.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 17, 2020 Bible Study Jesus, Fully Human, But Greater Than The Angels

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 1-5.

The writer of Hebrews first establishes that Jesus is greater than the angels.  I am not going to spend any time on that right now, since I have not come across anyone who overemphasizes angels recently.  Having established that Jesus is greater than angels, the writer goes on to show that Jesus was fully human.  The writer goes on to explain why that is important.  Because Jesus was fully human, He experienced temptation and suffering just as we do.  He also suffered death as a human being, a death which allows Him to free us from the fear of death.  Since God raised Jesus from the dead, we know that He is willing and able to do the same for us.

Daily Bible Study

December 17, 2019 Bible Study — The Purpose of Studying Theology Is to Spread God’s Love

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 1-5

As I started to read this I felt that Hebrews follows the letters of Paul in much the same way that the Gospel of John follows the other three Gospels.  The writer of Hebrews is concerned with the nature of Jesus and His relationship with God in much the same way that John is in his Gospel.  In fact, at some point I want to read the Book of Hebrews immediately after reading the Gospel of John.  I really think that the writer of Hebrews is saying the same thing about Jesus as the Gospel of John, just worded differently.  Both writers tell us that Jesus is God, but also a human being.  Together these two letters form the basis for the doctrine of the Trinity.

However, the writer of this letter wrote this to be about what that means for us, not to talk theology.  If Jesus is God, then we must pay even closer attention to what He taught than was called for by the teachings of the Law of Moses, which was communicated by angels (slight over simplification of his argument).  Those who spoke to Abraham, Moses, and the other prophets were God’s celestial messengers.  Jesus was God Himself.  So, on the one hand, Jesus’ teachings must be listened to because they are teachings directly from God.  But, Jesus was also a human being, so He understands how difficult following those teachings can be. 

I was hoping this would just follow on from the other things I wanted to write about this passage, but it did not.  Perhaps the most important part about the writer’s intent is what he writes at the end of this passage.  We need to stop relying on others to teach us again and again the basics of the Gospel.  We need to act on what we have learned and start teaching it to others.  Acting on what we have already learned about the Gospel is the only way to become able to understand and learn more.  The theology of the Trinity is only useful as it leads us to act, to do God’s will and show His love to those around us.

Daily Bible Study

December 17, 2018 Bible Study — The Theology of Who Jesus Is

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 1-5.

The Book of Hebrews seems to me to be more about theology, the study of God, than any other part of the Bible. Here the writer tells us that Jesus was not an angel. He is far greater than any angel. This runs directly counter to the Mormon teaching that the angels are Jesus’ brothers. Angels are servant spirits sent to care for those who will accept God’s salvation. Further the writer tells us that Jesus became human, which is a little lower than the angels. Yet this status of being a little lower than the angels is only temporary. Upon His death and resurrection, Jesus was raised up above the angels. We too, who put our faith in Him, will be raised up above the angels, because God will adopt us into His family as brothers and sisters to Christ. The next element of the theology which this writer presents us with is that Jesus was categorically different, and greater, than any prophet, even Moses, the greatest of the prophets. Prophets are servants in the House of God, but Jesus is the Architect and the Builder of that House. Each and every believer is the House of God, both as individuals and as a group.

Daily Bible Study

December 17, 2017 Bible Study — Jesus Is Fully Human, Yet Greater Than Angels And The Greatest Prophet

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 1-5.

    The writer of the Book of Hebrews starts with a refutation of the idea that Jesus was just a senior angel (or even THE senior angel). It shows us that the Mormon teachings about Jesus and angels are nothing new, but were rebutted by the leaders of the early Church. As the writer continues into chapter 2 he further distinguishes between angels and human beings. The writer teaches that while we are on earth we are a little lower than the angels, but this is only for the short time we inhabit our mortal bodies. When we leave our mortal bodies we do not become angels, because the writer clearly states that Jesus did not come to help angels. There is one other important point which the writer makes in this portion. Jesus was made just like us in every particular.

    Having addressed the issue of Jesus’ relationship with angels and shown that He was a distinctly different sort of being and further shown that we as human beings are yet a third sort of being, the writer goes on to show that Jesus was not just a prophet. The writer makes clear that Jesus was greater than Moses. A careful reading of this passage and an understanding of Jewish theology informs us that Moses was the greatest prophet that could be. There are various Old Testament passages which indicate that another prophet would come who was as great as Moses, but no prophet could be greater (I believe this prophet who was equal to Moses was John the Baptist). Therefore, since Jesus was greater than Moses, He was not just a prophet, but something more. Just as the earlier section contradicted the Mormon teaching concerning Jesus, this section contradicts the Muslim teaching that Jesus was a great prophet.

    There is one final point from today’s passage which I want to highlight. Jesus is our High Priest before God and because He experienced all that we experience, except that He did so without sinning, we are entitled to boldly come before God. Despite our complete unworthiness, Jesus will intercede for us with God so that we will receive God’s grace at those times and in those instances where we need it most. We will never be able to understand how God’s grace is able to help us through the difficult times until we experience those difficult times. God’s grace is sufficient unto the troubles we experience, but we will not experience the grace necessary to get through the difficult times until we are in the difficult times. Otherwise we might think that it was our own strength which got us through.

Daily Bible Study

November 2, 2015 Bible Study — The Word of God Is Alive and Active

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 26:27

    If you try to use deceit and trickery to bring down others, you will be caught in a trap of your own making. In the long run, your lies and deceit will rebound upon yourself.

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Psalm 104:24-35

    God has created a wide variety of creatures, each designed to fulfill a specific role in a specific place. God has designed the earth to provide for their needs. A classic example of how God carefully designed this world is the way in which it was discovered that swamps clean water. For centuries, mankind considered swamps to be wasted land. However, in the late 20th Century researchers discovered that when polluted water went through a wetland (swamp, marsh, etc) it emerged cleaner than when it went in, a lot cleaner. The researchers were not surprised by the removal of biomass pollution, such as fertilizer runoff, or raw sewage, except that it was much greater than anticipated. However, they discovered that the wetlands removed heavy metals in quantities that could not be explained by simple sedimentary effects. Heavy metals were thought to be poisons for all biological systems, yet somehow the plants, fungi, microbes in the swamps were removing heavy metals from the water…almost as if someone had designed them for that very purpose. (I hope if you are reading this that you recognize the sarcasm of that last phrase).
    All that I am will praise the Lord because He has designed this planet in ways more wondrous than we can imagine. Despite mankind’s best efforts, he will be unable to destroy this planet. God reserves that for Himself when His plans have come to fulfillment.

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Hebrews 4

    God has prepared a place of rest for His people, for those who believe in His word. This rest was promised to the people of Israel but they failed to enter into it because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed God. It is worth noting that the writer is clearly implying that some of the people of Israel did indeed enter into God’s rest (who else is he referring to when he mentions the “faith of those who obeyed”?). If we want to enter into God’s rest we must obey His commands, which we will only do if we believe that His commands will lead us to our greatest happiness.
    Included in this passage is a statement that needs some “unpacking”. The writer tells us that the word of God is alive and active, and that it is sharper than the sharpest thing he can imagine. I struggle with explaining the meaning which this passage conveys to me. The first part is that the word of God fits the circumstances. This may perhaps be the point which gives me the most difficulty, because, while the word of God fits the circumstances, that does not mean that it changes. The second part is clearer to me. The example I would use in place of the double-edged sword is the scalpel. The word of God is capable of working its way into the finest separation, revealing that which we (or others) hoped to keep hidden. It will work its way into our lives revealing things we had hidden from ourselves, both good things and bad things. When working with those around us who are suffering, let us remember to leave room for the word of God to act. It will reveal things to those we are trying to help that we may not see. Perhaps the most important thing, it will prevent us, and everyone else, from hiding anything from God.

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Ezekiel 3:16-6:14

    I said yesterday that not all of us were called to the same mission as Ezekiel, and that is true for the part of Ezekiel’s mission which was described yesterday. Some of us are called to preach God’s word to those who will not listen to it, others are called to preach to a receptive audience. However, all of us are called to be God’s watchmen. When God gives us a message, we must not remain silent. If we fail to relay God’s message to those whom He has sent us, and they suffer as a result of their sins, their blood is on our hands. God will hold us responsible for their death. On the other hand, if we relay God’s message, and they refuse to listen to it, we are innocent of their blood. Here is the best part, they MAY listen to us! If they do listen to the message we give them from God and repent of their sins, their lives will be saved, and so will ours. Let us never be afraid to speak God’s word, even to those we “know” will not listen. In some ways, that is the point in today’s passage from Hebrews. God’s word is alive and active. It is capable of working itself between the lies which people tell themselves to avoid the reach of God’s Spirit. Let us do what we can to open those around us to His Spirit.