What does 2 Corinthians 3:7 mean?

2 Corinthians 3:7 The glory of the law abolished?

“Paul tells us in 2Corinthians 3:7 that the Law of God was a ministration of death, and that it was done away with!”
Let us examine closely the things Paul spoke about in this chapter:

Verse 7 reads:

2Corinthians 3:7
(7) But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:

There are a couple of things we should note about this verse.

-First, towards the very end, the word “glory” is in italic. It is not in the original greek. This becomes important with the next two points.

-Second, Paul says that the ministration of death, which we’ll soon see is the Ten Commandments, was glorious.

-Third, Moses’ face was also glorious. We know this because the verse reads, “… behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance.

Paul speaks of “two” things which was glorious, the law and Moses’ face. Which one of these did he then say was “done away with?” By adding the word “glory” at the end of the verse, people find it hard to figure out which glory was done away with. However, remove that word which does not belong there, and it becomes evident that Paul was saying that it was the glory of Moses’ face that was done away with. Let’s take a look at that historical account of which Paul was speaking of:

Exodus 34:32-35

(32) And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai.
(33) And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face.
(34) But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
(35) And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.


Moses face was made glorious, and the children of Israel “could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses” because he “put a vail on his face.” It was the glory of Moses that was taken out of the way. Paul further proves this in the following verse:

2Corinthians 3:13-14
(13) And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:

It says here that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold something, and that that something was “abolished.” Yet when we go back and read the account in Exodus 34, we see that they did behold the tablets of stone in Moses’ hands. What then was it that they could not “stedfastly behold?” It was the “face” of Moses:

Exodus 34:35
(35) And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Because they could not behold his face, for it “shone” –verse 34, Moses had to cover his face with a veil until he went back in to speak with God.

Notice verses 14-18:

(14) But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
(15) But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
(16) Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
(17) Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
(18) But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Notice that while reading the old testament, the vail of Moses’ glory was still upon their hearts. They could not see that Moses’ glory was replaced by "the glory of Jesus Christ." Paul later says:

Hebrews 3:3
(3) For this man [Jesus] was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.

When the Jew comes to Jesus, “the vail shall be taken away,” because in Jesus is the true glory of God, which is Jesus the Son of God. Now that the believer has Jesus he is, says Paul, “with an open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord.” We now, rather then beholding the face of Moses, we behold the glory of the face of Jesus, the glory of God:

2Corinthians 4:6

(6) For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The words of Paul in verse 14 still apply for today. The Jews, upon reading the old testament, still can’t see the glory of Jesus, for they still have that vail covering the heart.

Was it therefore the law of God that Paul says was abolished? It simply can not be, because Paul says they could not stedfastly behold something, but they certainly beheld the tablets of stone in his hands. It was the face of Moses that they, in Exodus 35, could not stedfastly behold, and it was the face of the glory of Jesus that has abolished the glory of Moses.

Let us however suppose for a moment that Paul was here teaching that the Law was abolished. What would Paul have done with the following verse:

Isaiah 66:22-23
(22) For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.
(23) And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.

Note: For a study on why Isaiah also mentioned the new moon, click HERE.

The Sabbath, we know, is part of the Ten Commandments. Since Isaiah says it will bind forever, that even in the new Earth we will observe it, was Paul therefore contradicting this ancient prophet?

Isaiah also shares with us another interesting point:

Isaiah 51:6-7
(6) Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
(7) Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.

Notice the context of Isaiah's words, it includes the "law" (verse 7). But let's get deeper, notice:

Psalms 119:172
(172) My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.

If Paul meant to say that the law is abolished... would he not have contradicted Isaiah's words? For Isaiah said that the righteousness of God, which is his "law, commandments," will never be abolished!

Consider also the fact that Paul himself kept the Sabbath. Would Paul in one place teach that the Sabbath along with the rest of the law is abolished, but then in another place observe the Sabbath? Some argue that he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath only to reach to the Jews. However, Paul was a minister of the gentiles (Rom. 15:16, Eph. 3:1) not of the Jews. We also read of Paul observing the Sabbath by a river side, were there was preaching and baptism (Acts 16:13-15). And when Paul attended the synagogue on the Sabbath in Acts 13:15-16, there is no evidence that he went there specifically to preach to the Jews. He only spoke when the teachers invited the people to speak. And if you argue that he was there because he was still a Jew, consider the fact that when the followers of Jesus were first called Christians in Acts 11:26, Paul was present (Acts 11:30). He had already experienced the vision that convicted him he needed Jesus (Acts 9).



Also, if Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:7-11 was teaching that the 10 Commandments were abolished, how is it then that he exhorts his students to observe the 5th commandment (Eph. 6:1-3)? Was not this commandment part of the Decalogue as well? And in light of the following verse, did Paul after-words in his 2nd epistle to the Corinthians change his mind about the law?

1Corinthians 7:19
(19) Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

If the honest student reads Paul’s words in context, along with the rest of his writings, that student will see that out of the two glories he mentions in 2 Corinthians 3:7, one of them (the glory of Moses) was the one which was abolished. The other, being the very character of God in written form, abides for ever and ever, as long as God lives!

Ministration of Death?

Why then does Paul refer to the 10 Commandments as the ministration of death? The answer is found in Romans 7. Paul here speaks about the law as something that, when he see it, says he, “I died.” But why did he die when the commandment came?

Romans 7:9
(9) For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

Is it that the law brought sin? No, the law “revealed” sin to him, and sin is what causes death. Without the law, we would not have known of sin, and would have died in ignorance. We might have thought we were okay in our condition (I was alive) but we would be heading strait to the grave. This is why Paul says that he would not have “known sin but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” –Romans 7:7. When the law comes, we learn that we are sinners in need of a savior:

Romans 3:20
(20) Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

The law is then a ministration of death, because it condemns us by revealing sin in our lives, and shows us that we are in desperate need of a healer of those sins. This is how grace and law works. Its as if you had a stain on your face. How could you ever find out you had that stain on your face unless you looked into the mirror? That mirror is the law, revealing to you your filthiness. However, can you cleanse yourself of that stain with that mirror? No! You have to open the faucet, and wash that stain away with the blood of the son of God – Jesus Christ the savior of the world.

Why are there a lot of internet scammers in Nigeria?

My Dear,

There are many reasons why there are so many scammers in Nigeria for sure. But scamming has no geographical location.

It is matter of a way a particular person chose to live his or her life not minding the place where the person is located.

But the main reason why scamming is common among Nigerians is because the government and the people in high political offices are Chief Scammers and Looters.

They steal from the government treasury to enrich themselves and their families to the detriment of the poor masses.

When the poor masses continue with suffering as a result of looted fund dumped in Foreign Banks they now look for alternative means of survival and this is what leads them to internet scammers.

It is not only Nigerians. Ghana is also among top internet scammers in Africa.
  

An important demographic for Nigeria is young people, who represent a huge chunk of the population, with over 40% of Nigerians under the age of 14. These young Nigerians have borne the brunt of the country’s economic and development woes, with youth unemployment estimated at 45% by the National Bureau of Statistics. Some Nigerian youths have responded to this economic pressure by resorting to crime, and particularly the sort of crime that has given the country a bad reputation globally: cybercrime.

Unlike China, which has largely shrugged off the reputation of being the producer of substandard goods, Nigeria has gained a reputation for being the haven of online fraudsters, or what are known colloquially as Yahoo boys.

However, the same technology that enables cybercrime in Nigeria is also the very tool that can transform the lives of millions of young people in the country. What erring youth need to know is that if they’re tech-savvy enough to defraud, then they’re smart enough to build a business online, or even develop apps.

What are things that people attribute to be according to the Bible that is not really contained in the Bible?

Just as you dislike when someone lies to you, so does the Lord. In fact, He is incapable of lying — “it is impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18).
The Book of John explains the history of lying. “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do…he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).
Lying without repentance and forgiveness leads to “the second death” described in Revelation, which says, “all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).  Click here to donate and show love to the dying Orphan
Be faithful to the Bible’s teachings and if you have lied, seek forgiveness from those to whom you have lied, and obey the Gospel, for “He is faithful and forgiving us our sins to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9; Matthew 5:23-25).
Even lying in life-or-death situations is opposed, as the Book of Matthew says, “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). Your soul and salvation matter more than your body for you, and should not be traded for anything in this physical life (Matthew 16:26).

What does the Bible say about lying?

“Have you ever told a lie?” Many would probably have to answer “yes” to that question at least once,  maybe even many times. Lying is a subject that is almost universal in nature. And we have a tendency to  classify lies. Some lies we think of as big lies, while we deem other lies as insignificant. In the first part of this topic, we will start with examining the question, “What does God really think about lying?” Is being truthful a daily challenge?

Does the Bible and Medical research talk about reincarnation anywhere? How can we know this is our only life?"

Reincarnation is the teaching that after death, the soul goes to a holding place and then enters a new human body. Some believe we are incarnated into animals, plants, and even inanimate objects. This cycle continues over and over again for thousands of years until the person supposedly learns what he or she needs to learn, and then the reincarnation process ceases.

Belief in reincarnation is a central tenet within the majority of Indian religions such as Hinduism, Sikhism, and Jainism. In the West, some New Age movements, along with followers of Spiritism, also adhere to reincarnation. For the Christian, however, there can be no doubt: reincarnation is unbiblical and must be rejected as false. If reincarnation is true, then there is no Day of Judgment, no need for the cross, and no need to trust in Christ.

Hebrews 9:27 clearly tells us that we die once and then face judgment. The Bible never mentions people having a second chance at life or coming back as different people or animals. Jesus told the dying criminal on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise,” not,

Everything you should expect if you plan to move to this city

Lagos is infamous for being Nigeria’s most exclusive city to live in. The metropolis takes home the crown for the city with densely populated areas, busy streets and massive traffic jam in Nigeria. With all these high-priced awards, is it actually possible to say Lagos is an amazing city? Of course!
Lagos is a world-class destination, Nigeria’s most amazing city that has wonderful beaches, skyscrapers, amazing parks, best entertainment options, most job opportunities and so much more. Lagos has everything to offer everybody. The city prides itself in its unique experiences and matchless vibes – where the locals, popularly known as ‘Lagosians’ are what set the city apart.
We present to you, 20 reasons why Lagos is an amazing city to live in – real facts that prove living in Lagos is much better than living anywhere else in Nigeria.

1. Beautiful beaches

Lagos is surrounded by water bodies. Thus, there are numerous scenic sandy beaches which are suitable for picnics and recreation. Visitors from other cities and even from abroad can visit these beaches during their vacation but the Lagosians visit whenever they want to have fun especially during the weekends.

2. Job opportunities

Lagos is the major economic nerve centre of Nigeria and the rest of West African sub-region. Most industries and business enterprises in Nigeria have their headquarters in Lagos. The chance of building your career and rising to the pinnacle of your choosing profession is higher in Lagos than any other city in Nigeria or West Africa.

3. Exciting nightlife

Photo Source: OnlineNigeria

Lagos has one of the most interesting nightlife in all of Nigeria. Many shows to attend and parties to groove in and if grooving and partying is not your thing you could just savor the taste of chilled beer in a local bar or drain down a glass of wine in a classic wine lounge. There is something for everyone in Lagos Nightlife, never a dull moment in this city.

4. Luxury hotels

Lagos has several hotels ranging from five star hotels to budget hotels. If your business partners, family or friends visit, you need not panic because there will always be a suitable hotel accommodation for them that will suit their class and taste.

5. Keep up-to-date with your favourite tech brand at Computer Village

Photo Source: Naijamakit

Lagos with its numerous industries, 2 Seaports and an International Airport which serves as a  gateway to Nigeria is the right location for Nigeria’s technology Market.  The Lagos technology markets located in computer Village and Alaba International market is the biggest in Africa. Electronics and computer accessories can easily be bought in these markets at a relatively cheap price as merchants from other cities come to these market to make purchase and go back to resell. Also hard to find accessories in other cities are readily available here.

6. Get cheap foods to live on 

High cost of house rent in Lagos has over hyped, however all is in agreement that food is cheap in Lagos. Agricultural produce from different parts of Nigeria are brought to Lagos, also all imported food into the country pass through Apapa Port in Lagos before heading to various destinations. So despite the city’s large population, food remains cheaper than in other Nigerian cities as the supply is higher than demand.

7. Explore the street shops for your domestic needs 

Lagos has been described as the city that never sleeps. When you are living in Lagos you could buy from the street shop at any time be it early morning or late night.  You will find Aboki with small kiosk selling a variety of household items by the street corner. You will also find pharmacy stores etc even by midnight.

8. Get entertained with Nollywood movies

Lagos is the home to Nigeria’s booming movie industry popularly known as Nollywood. The second biggest movie industry in the world after Hollywood;  residents of this city not only get to watch their favorite movie stars on TV, they also get to see them off TV. Going to see a movie in one of the cinemas is one way Lagosians spend their romantic weekend. And of course if you desire a career in the Nollywood, you don’t need a soothsayer to tell you that Lagos is amazing city to live.

9. Lagos is the gateway to other West Africa countries

Thinking of crossing the border? Lagos has a land border to Benin Republic through which you can travel to many other West African countries like Togo, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia etc by road. With free movement of personnel among West African countries, residence of Lagos transact their businesses across these countries with ease.

10. Global city

With large international and domestic economies behind Lagos, it has become one of the top global economic centre in Africa. You will find a large population of nationals of all countries of the world in the city. High net worth individuals and decision makers and decision makers in Nigeria live in Lagos, while multinational companies have their branch offices in this city. When you live in Lagos you are a global citizen in tune with the modern world.

11. Exciting attractions

Beside its beautiful sandy beaches Lagos has several attractions among which are the Jhalobia Recreation Park and Gardens, National Arts Theatre, Terra Kulture and many more. When you live in Lagos, you will not spend an arm and a leg to tour these attractions whenever you need to visit these amazing attractions.

12. Get your freak on at owambe parties

Lagos parties are very colorful and unique; the trendy clothes, assorted kind of foods, large gathering of friends and families. Lagos weekend parties popularly known as ‘Owambe’ parties are among the grooviest parties worldwide.  When you are live in Lagos you will always find yourself in one of the parties dancing, drinking, eating and celebrating with friends and family. “Lagosians” as the city residents call themselves are happy people; depressed people are never found in Lagos.

13. Get your prayers answered in the Holy city

Photo Source: Thetbjoshuafanclub

With millions of visitors yearly, thronging to the Redemption Camp, Prayer City, Synagogue Church of all Nations,Winners Chapel popularly known as ‘Shiloh’ and many other churches, Lagos can be described as “the Jerusalem of Africa”. The residence have regular access to these holy grounds that foreigner spend so much to set their foot in.

14. Easy access to qualitative education

Lagos is home to some of the best primary and secondary schools in the country, both public and private.When you reside in Lagos, giving your children quality education is not a herculean task. Lagos is also home to many reputable public and private universities, which make access to tertiary education easier in the city.

15. Large and accessible market for your goods and services

The population of Lagos is estimated to be about 21 million. This includes people of all economic strata with high demand for both consumer and industrial goods. If you have products to sell or services to render and profit is one of your motives, Lagos is city to live in.

16. Presence of international airport and sea port

When you live in Lagos, you are connected to the world, there is an international airport and you can book flights to any city in the world and jet out to your destination within the shortest possible time. Also with presence of two sea ports, you could order for goods from any part of the world and it will arrive at your do step without delay.

17. Entertainment capital of Africa

Lagos is the headquarters of entertainment in Africa. Most the famous musicians in Nigeria are based in Lagos. The same is true for the stand-up comedians. Most of the record labels that produce and manage international stars are also located in Lagos. If you have got talent and you want to become a star, Lagos is the best city for you to live in.

18. Delicious streets foods

Lagos street foods have a distinctive flavour that will be difficult to get anywhere. The most popular and delicious barbecue meat, known as Suya can be found at almost every corner of the city. Similarly, the famous ‘Agege’ Bread can be also be found on the streets of Lagos. Lagosians believe that Ewa Aganyin and Agege bread for breakfast taste better than burger. There other street foods like Akara, Boli, Puff Puff, Abacha, Agbo jedi and many more.

19. Speaking daily vernacular – Pidgin English

Pidgin English is the Nigerian common language of expression, which everyone can speak and understand. Beside Warri and Port Harcourt, Lagos is the place where Pidgin English is the number one language of communication. The language breaks ethnic barriers and is interesting to converse in.

20. Daily Lagos scenes

Lagos is a city full of comedy that you can never experience in any other city. The comedy is woven into everyday life and city’s daily scenes. The transport hustles, the street vendors, Agbero and bus conductors shouting destination names –“Oshodi Oshodi” each with his own distinctive funny tune, spectacular street dance performances and much more. The Lagos daily scenes is one of the reasons Lagosians are happy people.
What do you think? Tell us why you think Lagos is an amazing place to live:

 Yes, Lagos is the centre of excellence but there's so much you should know about this city if you want to live here.

If you are one of those people

If you’re not so lucky, then you must have come in by bus, speeding past the long trail of churches that line Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and manage to cause insane gridlocks anytime they are led to have a monthly event.

Either way, somehow you end up that takes you to Ojota. At the pedestrian bridge, close to Total Fuel Station, the driver suddenly shouts, “last bus stop, gbogbo ero”.

You don’t know what it means but everyone’s alighting so you decide to let common sense lead the way.

Then you remember you didn’t take your 400 naira change yet.

“Driver, please, do you mind giving me my change? Your conductor left…”

“No dey shout give me, abeg”, he screams.

“Like say you sabi speak English. I can speak English too. Ruffian. You think is only you that go to school”, he shouts as he hands you two rumpled 200 naira notes.

You’re shocked, to say the least.

“Bros, I nor follow you fight”, “Na question I ask, I no kill person”

You turn around to the sight of two policemen dressed in a shade of black that the Nigerian Police would not approve of.

“You’re a Yahoo boy abi”, they say as they hover menacingly

“That’s why you think you can come here and talk as you want”

“Look at him dressed as a ruffian”, one says, pointing to your ripped jeans and face cap.

“Oya, bring out your ‘hi-phone’, criminal”, the other says as he grabs your trousers.

You want to retort in protest but the menacing, reckless swing of their automatic rifles teaches you better.

By the time you’re done, your wallet has 5,000 naira less than it used to. They found nothing on your phone but as you later learn, that doesn’t matter.

Moving to Lagos is usually motivated by the prospect of making it in Nigeria’s economic and commercial capital. Yet few people are ever ready for the myriad of typical habits and that define the centre of excellence.

If you ever plan to move to Lagos and start a life or something that looks like it for a couple of years, here are a few things you should be prepared for.

(1) You always have to deal to traffic:

The traffic gridlocks in Lagos are the stuff of legend. Despite having over 20 million people by UN estimates and waterways, most of the city’s population still moves around by way of a simplistic road network.

A simple broken down vehicle can cause a long pile-up that shuts half the city down on a good day.

In some places, the width of the roads are to blame, especially when traders set up shop on the sidewalk and pedestrians claim a chunk of the road. .

Sometimes, it's impossible to place a finger on the root of the problem and the long piles of cars just sits there, waiting for something miraculous to happen.

It is why waking up in the wee hours of the morning is part of the equation; it’s all too common to see professionals hunting for a solitary bus at 5.30 in the morning.

If you want to survive here, you have to join the movement too.

(2) Cost of living is… costly:

If you’re coming from one of the not-so-densely populated areas of Nigeria, you better be ready for the shock of your life. Lagos is an expensive place to live, work and visit in.

Because the demand for products, services and everything else is so high, the people who have these things can afford to charge higher prices.

Also, it costs more to do business in Lagos; the government has a savage team of tax lawyers, accountant and other professionals so levies and duties are charged at every turn.

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There’s also, in certain places, a misguided perception that pricey-ness equals quality, hence everything in those areas tends to be a lot more expensive than they would be elsewhere.

Basically, the best you can do is to know what you want, live on a strict budget and know when and how to haggle when the time cometh.

(3) There are too many people in Lagos

You think traffic gridlocks are for vehicles alone until something takes you to Lagos Island and you’re trying to find space for your legs in a crowd of hundreds of people in the middle of Balogun Market.

The saying goes that everybody wants to live in Lagos and it's mostly true.

About 20 million people are squeezed into an area smaller than a local government area in certain states. The result is that everywhere feels too tight; in so-called highbrow areas, buildings are built barely a few feet from each other.

In the city’s less desirable areas, entire families of five sleep in a room the size of a large bathroom. It is also why accommodation is so deathly expensive.

The city has a housing deficit and the few options available are not ideal and are ridiculously overpriced.

(4) Lagos never stops moving

There are many cities that do not sleep but Lagos goes a step further to be the city that never stands still. First-time visitors and even old residents always describe a strong sense of energy, a buzz that emanates from the city at any given time.

It is a great sense of urgency that has made the city one of the world’s most promising financial and commercial hubs.

No one knows if it comes from the city, its history of the people; in the latter’s defence, they are the most tenacious people you will ever meet.

Lagosians make the most of their limited circumstances to flourish with a mix of tenacity and the need to hustle.

It is why when you’re walking on the city’s streets, a languid pose will most likely imply “weak” more than relaxed.

(5) Everybody is trying to assert their power

Try not to appear weak in Lagos because from that point, it is only a matter of time before someone tries to take advantage of you.

In the city, everyone from vendors and street traders to the police is all too eager to show you how strong they are, physical and otherwise.

In most cases, it can lead to a scuffle or violence between two strong, emphatic personalities; but overall, it makes for an interesting dynamic.

For a newbie, it can hard to deal with at first; as soon as the wrong people sense your naivete, they will most definitely attempt to cut a chunk for themselves, either by robbing you or just subjugating you for however long.

The best way to deal with this varies for and from each person with an experience and something to say. Simply avoid unnecessary interactions and stand your ground when pushed.

Real Life in Lagos, Nigeria

The Popular Story, The Real Story, and The Other Story
“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”
I have never spoken with Christopher McDougall before, but I believe this famous quote from his book Born to Run would have been inspired by living in Lagos for just a few months. There seems to be a frenetic pace to every activity on the streets of Lagos – except, of course, during weekend parties popularly called “owambe.” The infamous ‘danfo’ buses, ‘keke Napep,’ and ‘Okada,’ which are the major transport services in this city, helps to highlight the pace and the ruggedness of this city.
But…wait…that can’t be all. Lagos is not that simple.

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Real Life in Lagos, Nigeria

It’s always a common thing for us humans to generalize the behaviour and lifestyle of a certain group of people living in a city, country or even a continent. We tend to look for a convenient and simplistic word or phrase to lazily describe this set of people. For some, people are generally defined by their race, ethnic tribe, religion, and so many other unquestioned and unbelievable boxes. We fit people into tiny boxes and spend time trying to name these boxes – the time that could possibly be spent living with these people, learning and loving the beauty these set of people embody.
Experiences are unique to every human – beautiful, ugly, and the beautifully ugly (the oxymoron that keeps coming to mind while thinking of Lagos). You can’t simply find a word or a group of words to explain the experiences of those living in this Lagos. You need to walk up to each person living in this city to reach an appropriate conclusion.
For Lagos, what you would experience is determined based on some key factors: Location, age, social interests, income class, and perception of life in general. Generally, your income would influence all the other factors; it would influence where you decide to live, your social interests, your perception of life, and even your age. Yes, your age! Extremely wealthy people, whether old or young, are popularly hailed and called ‘Chairmen.’ But, I think we are moving too fast. Let’s back up a little.
What is the background story of Lagos?
Lagos is one of the largest cities in West Africa inhabited by more than 20 million people. It is the fifth most populous city in the world – more populated than Tokyo, Moscow, London, and Mumbai. It was originally inhabited by the Aworis, Eguns and Ilajes, but the city has grown into a cosmopolitan city over the years.
The city has two sides – the Mainland and the Island. The major places are Lagos Island (originally and still commonly called EKO), Epe, Ikorodu, Ikeja, Surulere, Yaba, Apapa, Victoria Island (the financial centre of Lagos), and Ikoyi to name a few. The residency in these places are influenced majorly by the income class of the people, but the majority of Lagos is occupied by the middle and lower socioeconomic class.
The city is one of 35 states in Nigeria and the unofficial economic capital of Nigeria. Everything that represents Nigeria is present here in Lagos. You can call Lagos the ‘Engine of the Nigerian Vehicle,’ or the ‘Heart of the Nigerian Body.’
So what’s the popular story?
Lagos is generally famous for its frantic and fast-paced life and the overly ‘smart’ people (to sound politically correct), where the rookie and ignorant fall prey to extortion and fraud. However, this could be said to be true with most capitalist cities around the world. The city is widely notorious for the negative things – the shanties stories (check out the BBC documentary in 2010); the snatch and grab stories; the extortion stories; the fake ID’s and the fake certificate stories; the fake product stories; the traffic and congestion stories; the lawlessness stories. I remember someone who visited Lagos ranting online that, “Lagos life is just plain stupid (traffic jams, hustle for everything, wake up by 5 a.m., get your wallet stolen in public transport, lack of fresh air due to overpopulation and dirt, etc.).” There are always complaints about the chaos that is Lagos – that social exuberance that irritates some people with a different sense of sanity – one which, ironically, represents the soul of the city – the entrepreneurial spirit of the city.
The negative stories are what you would have heard or have become accustomed to about Lagos, but how come there’s still more people trooping into this city with the population said to double in the next 15 years.
There must be more to the popular stories about this city. There must be something those residing in this boisterous city aren’t telling those who aren’t living here and those who are planning to move into this city.

What do people living in Lagos have to say about Lagos?

Jumoke, who has lived in Lagos all her life and lives in the working class and low-income area of Ikorodu says, “I can’t imagine any other place I would have liked to be born,” even though her parents are from another state in the western region of Nigeria. Her parents were motivated to come to Lagos by what motivates everyone wanting to come to Lagos – opportunities. Lagos is a land of business and job opportunities. The population of the city allows for various entrepreneurial ventures. For example, a low-income-earning family who has just moved into Lagos can decide to open a small kiosk or shop in front of their house and sell provisions, wares, and other basic home needs in small quantity without the need to register the business or pay taxes. Jumoke continues by saying, “Sometimes, I have this feeling that if you don’t live in Lagos, then you have not lived life.”

However, Jumoke goes on to complain about the traffic – “Just imagine having to wake up as early as 4 a.m. to make appointments. In your mind, you will think you are early enough.  Wait till you get to the bus station to find people have filled the bus station, and I say to myself we don’t sleep in this Lagos sha…This alone discourages me from going out at times. Hanging out at home with friends has become a regular thing for me as a result.”
But, Lagos, just like every other place, taught me one or two lessons. She says, “I learnt the distinction between being smart and being street smart. Don’t just carry your bag anyhow; you actually need to cling to your bag. If possible, marry it because before you say jack, your valuables have vanished and then you begin to speak in tongues and your normal heartbeat will just escalate. GOD help you if you don’t find yourself in the hospital.” Her description is rather vivid, but I’m sure she’d experienced one before. In fact, is there a ‘Lagosian’ that hasn’t experienced such? I don’t think I have met someone who hasn’t.
You might ask the same thing I asked myself – Why does anyone want to live in this kind of city she just described? But, when I asked her, she was ready with an answer. She says, “Lagos is a paradise for Nigerian hustlers, the city never sleeps. Going out in the evening gives me so much joy as the view of Lagos is breathtaking and Lagos is filled with countless opportunities. I’m telling you, despite how crazy Lagos is, the beauty still remains.” I stopped to wonder what was really more breathtaking about Lagos – the nightlife or the fast-paced life during the day.
Another ‘Lagosian’ who’s lived in the city all her life and now an entrepreneur, Geraldine Nnadi, was born in the Mushin area of Lagos. She says what marked her childhood mornings were the loud sounds from the speakers of a mosque not so far from her house. She says, “Getting to school early meant leaving at least an hour early despite my school not being very far.” She continues, “The Lagos car traffic, particularly in the mornings and night, is quite a hustle, and to beat it requires smartness and early preparations; otherwise, you could be sitting in traffic for hours for a journey of probably forty-five minutes, thereby ‘carrying last’ (the slang for tardiness).” She was born in Lagos, but her family is originally from the eastern part of Lagos. She tells me she sells clothes in one of the major markets in Lagos, the Yaba Market. She describes Mushin, where her family was living, as a fast-paced, noisy, rowdy, and busy town, and talked about how her dad moved the whole family to a more serene area in Isolo, but says, “Isolo isn’t as serene as it was years ago, but it’s still a decent area to escape the noise, hustle and bustle of Lagos.”
I was inquisitive to know what the market in Lagos would be like because it’s mostly women who go to the market in these parts.  She told me it’s really rough. She says, “One must be very alert and vigilant about one’s self and belongings, as some people only come to the market to steal and not purchase anything. Some sellers also would seize any opportunity they can to exploit you, the customer, or charge exorbitant prices if they sense your unfamiliarity with the market workings or your inability to bargain. My first trip to a market without any adult supervision resulted in my spending over budget and I nearly lost my shopping bag.”
She seems like someone who likes to enjoy herself and have fun, so I asked her what she thinks of the social scene in Lagos. She says, “It’s very vibrant here and there are lots of cool places to relax and spend time with friends. While growing up, fun places to visit were fast-food joints and the beach. However, presently, there are theme parks, shopping malls, movie cinemas, and nightclubs that make Lagos enjoyable after a long week of work.”
She tells me about a funny but rather sad experience that would never leave her memory – “I once had my phone stolen from my handbag while I stood up to give an offering in church. It was really painful. I think this experience just highlights the paradox in the city I live in.”
The experience in Lagos would almost be similar to people from the same class of income, but for people at the extreme ends (the wealthy and the poor), the experiences are very much different.
For someone like Busayo, whose family moved from the neighbouring town of Ibadan to the expensive neighbourhood of Magodo in Lagos, growing up in Lagos was mostly indoors. She spoke about going to a school not so far from where she resides meaning she couldn’t have experienced the massive traffic that bedevilled others in other parts of the city. ”Life could be easier – and maybe less fun also – when you come from a wealthy home in Lagos. You don’t get to interact with Lagos directly when you are still a kid,” she says, but she’s grown up now and offers catering services such as delivery of cakes to the numerous parties hosted in Lagos weekly. So, I wondered if her experience of the city has changed in any way to which she responds, “Yes, in a way, because now you have to interact with the city – live on your own; go to the market; start and run a business and every other thing you do to make you feel some independence. Right now, I’m understanding what being ‘street-smart’ is and learning how to deal with people in the course of my business.”
But, what is business like in Lagos, does it grant entrepreneurial opportunities and success like it’s been widely spoken about? With real confidence in what she says makes Lagos special, she tells me, “The business opportunities here are numerous. The execution is all that matters. Lagos has the population and the population needs to eat; they need clothes; they need shelter; they need to move from one place to the other, and they need to celebrate one thing or the other (laughs), the opportunities are right there for people who want to see it.”
There are always different arms of life on the streets of Lagos. ‘Danfo’ buses contesting the road with trendy cars and hawkers trying to sell their food or wares to the passengers while a beggar is at the window also trying to get some alms from the same passengers. Lagos has shown that it’s possible for every class of people to coexist.
What’s the other story?

In spite of the chaos that seems to mark the city, there’s still a genuine love for the city. Like Jumoke described it, “Lagos is the paradise of hustlers.” Lagos is choosing between a profitable and lucrative chaos and a simple, quiet and tasteless life in other cities in the country. There are business ideas that wouldn’t sell anywhere else but Lagos. There are so many opportunities in the value chain that people are making money from things that are unheard of in some other cities. Things like simply standing at a bus stop and collecting ‘owo ile’ (a land use fee) from commercial buses and bikes without any formal authority or SME’s who run food errands for the busy office workers.
One notable thing no one bothers to mention about Lagos is the weather. The weather can be extremely kind compared to other states in the country. The weather seldom swings to the extreme. Most of the year, the climate is generally warm. The city has a tropical wet and dry climate with only two distinct rainy seasons. The intense season occurs between April and July, while a milder one occurs from October to November. Lagos not only has a warm climate but also has residents who are warm to visitors and foreigners.
The food…oh, the food! There’s so much to the cuisine in Lagos. Food like Fufu, Egusi, Pounded Yam, ‘Amala,’ Pepper Soup, Jollof Rice, and ‘Dodo’ (fried plantain) can be eaten at any ‘bukka’ or ‘food joints’ – the street version of fast foods. ‘Lagosians’ are particularly addicted to rice – white rice and stew; that’s the default morning food in most families.
There’s a young and vibrant entrepreneurial spirit in the city.  The city has one of the largest hub of tech entrepreneurs in Africa – the capital of fashion and arts in West Africa. The fashion in this city is generally western in style with a cultural blend to it.
There are swanky clubs, posh bars, beaches, and other forms of affordable entertainment that await fun seekers who have survived the long traffic hours during the week.
The expanding economy of the city, the infrastructural growth, and continued investment in human capital that is presently taking place will lead to the rapid growth of Lagos in the future. Lagos, to me, is like the mythical Phoenix rising from the ashes.

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.-Hebrews 12:2

Looking to Jesus

“Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God”

- Hebrews 12:2

By faith, the old covenant church performed mighty deeds, received many blessings, and sacrificed their lives rather than abandon the faith. They did all these things in eager expectation of the day of Christ, the day that they never saw in their lifetimes but only greeted from afar (Heb. 11:13). The lives of these saints show us that we live in a better age since we have experienced Jesus not from afar and in shadows, but in reality.

Because these saints were able to continue trusting in Christ despite never seeing Him, how much more then are we able to maintain our trust in Him? These saints cheer us on (12:1), reminding us that we live in a better age, an age in which the final fulfillment of all God’s promises have begun.

Yet, as we wait for Christ to consummate all things, we find that our situation is not entirely different from that of the old covenant saints. We too have a race to run with endurance. We too have to cast aside sins that hinder us so that we will cross the finish line (v. 1).

We will only be able to do this if we look to Jesus who is the “founder and perfecter of our faith” (v. 2). We must keep the eyes of faith upon our Lord and look to nothing else or we will not endure.

These exhortations might lead us to assume that the author of Hebrews believed that those with true faith are not secure in their salvation. However, today’s verse tells us that this is not the case. If Jesus founds and perfects true faith, then all with true faith cannot lose it.

Nevertheless, we demonstrate that Jesus has given us faith and that He perfects it only as we exercise this faith in the midst of adversity. Jesus is our example of what it means to persevere, for He, looking to the joy that would come, endured the suffering of the cross and is therefore now seated at the right hand of God (v. 2). He was obedient to God in the midst of the worst suffering imaginable. Therefore we too must be obedient if we call Him Lord.

Jesus, however, is not only an example of persevering faith, He is also its object. John Owen reminds us that Jesus is the one “in whom we place our faith, trust, and confidence, with all our expectation of success in our Christian course. Without this faith and trust in him, we will derive no benefit from his example.”

Our faith looks to Jesus both as an example of perseverance and as our reward. When we take our eyes off of Him, our circumstances are sure to weigh us down. Take some time today to look not at your situation but at Jesus. Praise and worship Him for He is the prize for which we run and only He can give us endurance.

INTRODUCTION:   Many times we use clichés in preaching such as "Trust Jesus." But that particular phrase or arrangement of these two words is not found in Scripture. However many times we are told to trust the Lord and the Bible tells us that Jesus is the Lord.

Psalms 18:2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Psalms 18:30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

Psalms 118:8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

Proverbs 28:25 He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the LORD shall be made fat.

Isaiah 26:4 Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:

1 Timothy 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

           The Bible tells to "believe" in Jesus Christ that a person be saved. The word means to put have faith, and to put one's trust in Jesus Christ, which means making a commitment to Him. There is no such thing in the Bible as saving faith without a commitment. That commitment is the result of salvation and means to faithfully follow the Lord Jesus.

          

           The phrase "trust in Jesus" has many applications in our lives. We put our trust in the Lord in many ways.

          There is another phrase often used that is found in God's word. It is instruction that also convenes a powerful and live changing message. That phrase is found in Hebrews 12:1-3 and it is the action of belief and trust in Jesus Christ.

          "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

          That phrase is "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith."

          The statement's context is important to understanding it full meaning. The statement follows Hebrews 11 which is the Bible's "Hall of Faith." Here are examples from history of men God greatly used who lived by faith in challenging times and we called upon by God to carry out difficult tasks.

           The one thing common to these men and women was their faith in God. The believed Him, accepted His words as truth, realized that it was God their Creator who called them to salvation and service and therefore they put their trust in God and obeyed Him. Obeying Him simply means they accepted His will and purpose for their lives.

           These faithful men and women were not perfect, and were the same as you and I. The had the same carnal nature, the same desires, the same lusts, the same pride and fallacies you and I are subject too. Yet they were victorious in accomplishing God's will for their lives and are at the moment enjoying in Heaven the presence of the Lord and the blessings of Heaven.

           Hebrews 11 gives these people to us as examples and Chapter 12 begins by telling us that ". . seeing we also are compassed ("surrounded by") about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith."

I. When our eyes are on Jesus we can lay aside or overcome those things that hinder us from coming to a full and mature relationship and service to Jesus Christ.

A. Is there something that may be hindering you from fully living for the Lord?

1. Is it the sinful world we live in? All these in the Hall of Faith lived in a sinful world too.

2. Is it your family? Abel, had a brother that hated and killed him. Abraham's father was an idol maker. His nephew Lot was a selfish and a burden to him. Joseph was hated by his brothers and sold into slavery. He was then falsely accused of advances to his master's wife and thrown in prison.

3. Is it living in a sinful family or worldly education? Moses was the Pharaoh's adopted son.

4. Is it past sins? Thank of Rahab who was a harlot before she trusted in the Lord. David sinned by committing adultery and murder. Moses who disobeyed God and struck the rock in anger. Abraham who lied twice about Sarah being his wife.

5. Read 11:35-39. In great difficulty even in the face of death these people believed God and followed what God said.

6. It was not easy! It was difficult, hard and demanding to do as God said. They were all greatly opposed and all suffered for following the path God had laid out for them. They all stumbled at times, but one thing that is common to them all was that they continued on. Their faith in God was real and they all looked unto Jesus is the author and finisher of their faith.

Yes, it was Jesus the coming Savior that God the Father promised that they longed and hoped for. All of them as verse 39 says, in this life, did not see the promise.

B. Do you fully understand what Hebrews 11:29 is saying: They, by faith, lived obeying the Lord and all died never seeing in this life, the full reward or benefit of their faith.

1. Compare that to the message of today being taught by most preachers and churches. The message today is that our reward is earthly. 2. Many are being taught that the benefit of believing in Jesus Christ and being born again is health and wealth in this life.

3. Are there real and sure gains to being a Christian in this life? The answer is certainly there is!

Examples:

Acts 13:52 And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.

Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

Romans 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Romans 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

Jude 24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

Jesus in John 14 expressed this joy with these words;

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

C. Jesus said the peace and joy we have is not the same as the world defines joy and peace. I think many Christians think in worldly terms of peace and joy and are greatly disappointed when their worldly expectations are not fulfilled.

1. Many have doubted the reality of their salvation because their expectations were earthly ones.

2. Yet, our hope and faith in not in worldly solutions, but in heavenly one's that come for God.

3. The child of God who understands this will be at peace with him or her self and will not be tossed about the storms of live.

4. We have times of peace in this life. There are times when things go well and we have few cares. Yet, we do not need strength in these times. It takes no strength to enjoy good times. It is the times when trouble comes that we need strength that comes from the Lord. This is why the Lord tells us to "Look to Jesus" who is the author and finisher of our faith.

D. He too endured the greatest personal suffering the world has ever known.

1. He was God, come to earth to redeem men from their sins and yet His own people hated Him. Even His mother Mary, did not understand Him or His purpose. She sent his step brothers to bring Him home. His own people, God's chosen people, rejected Him. Instead the receiving and following Him for His message of truth and salvation the multitudes followed Him for the food He gave them.

2. He healed the sick of every disease fulfilling proving He was God and their Messiah, but they sought to kill Him and He had to flee to Galilee to the area where the less religious Jews lived to find sanctuary from the religious leaders in Israel.

3. Note was Hebrews 12:2 says ". . .who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

4. You see there was a purpose and victory that was won in the enduring of the cross and its shame. Friends, there exists no victory without a war or some trial or difficulty that seeks to destroy us.

II. Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith.

A. Our faith is in Him....that means His purposes and His plan. Our plan would be to never have any trouble...we would that everything would go smoothly. No challenges, no difficulties, not trouble, no disappointments...just an uneventful life.

B. Yet, God's plan is that we grow and mature. Is it not difficult for a child to learn. If the baby lies in his crib and never moves he will be a peace, but what kind of life would that be? A baby has to experience the bruises and cuts from falling to learn to walk.

1. It is totally unrealistic to think that everything in this life will be all "roses" and good times. That is not the way life is. Yes, we seek for times without trouble.....and we live expecting good times.

ILLUS: Times have been hard for Carolyn and myself and I recently told her that I thought one day we would have the money we needed and be free of debt. I said I really thought that one day we would be financially well off. You see I have expectations of better times. But it is a future hope. This desire is not being currently realized. But you see we do not quit, not allow ourselves to become depressed and quit because we do not now have what we hope for. We keep going.

C. In Hebrews 11 all these people have hope too. Their hope was in God and they believed His promises.

1. Abel was opposed by his brother and brutally murdered for this faith.

2. Enoch lived in an evil age 600 years before the Flood. He saw every sinful act man could do...yet he was not deterred from walking with God.

3. Noah lived in this same time and preached 120 years the message of salvation and only his family...eight souls believed. He saw the world destroyed. He believed in God all this time and kept obeying the Lord building that great boat. There was a day when the rains came that he was glad he had.

4. Abraham believed God and left his home, the false faith of this father and journeyed south into a strange land believing God's promise that he would be a great nation and be given a land.

5. Moses faced the most powerful ruler in the world at that time. God told him he was to lead Israel out of Egypt....and he did. It was not easy and it was a difficult task. He lead the people out of Egypt physically, but Egypt and its sinful ways were still in the hearts most of the people. Yet, even when they murmured and opposed him, even his own sister and brother...he kept looking unto the author and finisher of his faith.

6. Joshua marched around a city following God's instructions. He followed the Lord in each battle and saw the victories. Yet, the people never really every fully followed the Lord. They stopped before the victory was complete. They married and let their children marry the Canaanites...against God's clear command and they never lived for any length of time in peace because of their disobedience.

7. Rahab was a lying harlot and traitor to her city. She believed God in spite of the pressures she was under and God saved her. She is in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

8. All the thirteen judges of Israel believed God and were used by God to deliver that nation. Gideon defeated thousands of Midianites with only 300 men.....and God on his side.

Conclusion:

1. Are we getting the picture now? Our hope is in the future. It is in a future the Lord has promised to us.

Hebrews 11:35- 40 says, "Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."

2. They all received a good report through faith. They believed God, lived obeying God in the face of every difficulty live could throw at them. They are now experiencing the result of their faith.

3. But if Jesus Christ is to be the author of our faith....we must believe and allow Him to be our Savior and strength. There were many others did not believe. The Bible is full of the names and stories of those who refused to believe in God. They too are experiencing the results of the lack of their faith. In Hades they await the final judgment of God and the eternal fires of the Lake of Fire.

4. One of my favorite passage of Scripture is 2 Timothy 4:7-8, Paul expressed his sure hope in his following the Lord. He said,

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."

5. The pleasure seekers of our day who live for the world and present earthy things are going to be greatly disappointed, both in this life and the live to come. 6. I close the message with God's very words on the matter. His loving instructions given to us. Hebrews 12:25-29:

"See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire."

Hebrews 12 and 13: Advice for the End Time

Richard Ritenbaugh suggests that the practical advice in Hebrews 12-13 fits our current condition like a glove. Like the recipients of this epistle, the greater church of God, having drifted away and given in to sin, we must also lay aside every weight which encumbers, accept God's chastening, receive encouragement from those who have already succeeded (Hebrews 12:1), and energetically get back into the spiritual race. We should allow nothing to deter us from the goal, remembering the consequences if we fail. All of our behaviors — including demonstrating brotherly love and hospitality, exercising empathy, strengthening our marriages, being content with God's blessings, submitting to leadership, avoiding strange doctrines, coming out of this world, praying without ceasing, and being charitable — must be done out of a pure heart.

I think that few of us doubt that we are living in the end time. Do I hear anybody saying that we're not? Some in other groups may think we have twenty, fifty, or a hundred or more years to go, but I don't buy it. I don't think world conditions are such that it could go on that long. I think we'd end up blowing ourselves up one way or another. It could break loose just about at any time as far as I'm concerned, and the Day of the Lord and the Tribulation fast on its heels. It's almost like we're just waiting breathlessly for the other shoe to fall, as we can see so much out there and just waiting for that one little piece that brings it all together.

But what do we do in the meantime? We have to wait patiently for several more years. I don't think any of us doubt that, but it may be two, three, five, seven years maybe. I don't know. It doesn't seem like it. But even one year means that we're still going to have to wait patiently. What should we be doing to insure that we make it into God's kingdom? What should our conduct be so that we will be counted worthy to escape all those terrible things that will come to pass upon this world in the Tribulation and the Day of the Lord?

Does the Bible give us any advice about what we should be doing now? Well, you know it does. I don't think there's any doubt about that either. The Bible was written for us. We've been preaching that for a long time in this church, that this book, this Holy Bible that we hold in our laps, was written specifically for us now, that it was useful for those in the first century, but they were part of the process that put it all together for us, and the things that are written there. Their experiences in the first century, and of the experiences of the Israelites throughout history, are for our admonition upon whom the end of the ages has come. This book contains all we need to know, to choose, to pursue, and to hold onto such great salvation that God has offered us. We don't need anything else. It's all there. It shows us the path that we should be walking.
As I studied in preparation for this sermon I was searching for a framework upon which to hang the instruction that the Bible gives us about the end times. You go into your computer, your concordance and punch in "end time" or "time of the end" or "the last hour" or "the last time" and you'll find many scriptures that give you advice about what to be doing in the last time. The apostles and the prophets gave us quite a bit of instruction about what we should be doing with the "time of the end" upon us. But I finally found it in the last chapters of the book of Hebrews. The more I looked into it, the more it fit us like a glove. I mean, I couldn't believe some of the things that I was reading in there that just shocked me, because it was so current.
I've always known that Hebrews was written for the church. There was never a doubt in my mind about that, but I never connected chapter 13 especially to us in such a concrete way. It's really amazing. You go into the commentaries and they will tell you, You know, chapter 13 looks like it was just stuck onto the end here, because the writer felt that he should give some moral encouragement, some practical advice, because he spent most of the time talking about a little bit more theological matters proving that Jesus is better than so many of these that have gone on before, and that he felt that well, he needed some practical encouragement. They really think that well, maybe it was added by somebody else, or that it just doesn't seem connected somehow.
No man put this book together. God put this book together. He knew what the end-time church would need. He knew that there would be a church at the end time that would have the same character traits as these people who were being spoken to in the book of Hebrews, and he knew what practical instruction they would need to overcome problems that they were having, and so God tacked on chapter 13, because it fits perfectly with our situation today.
Let's get a little background to the book of Hebrews. We're not going to spend a lot of time on this because I want to get into chapters 12 and 13, because that's where the nitty-gritty is we need to understand.
From internal evidence in the book of Hebrews, it's pretty clear that it was written a few years before the city of Jerusalem fell to the Romans in 70 AD. This is significant because it was the end of an age. It was the end of the temple ritual. It was the end of that period of time in which God was approached through the priesthood. After that time the Levites had no purpose. It was gone, and the Jews had to face that. A world without Jerusalem, a world without a temple. As a matter of fact the Romans, when they finally razed the city of Jerusalem, named it something else. It wasn't called Jerusalem anymore. It was called something like Hail-owena, or Capital Wena, something like that, some Latin word that I can't pronounce right now.

This was a time when there was an adjustment from the way things always had been, to a new way. Isn't that what we're facing? The destruction of this world is only a few years ahead of us, and we're in the process of adjusting our minds and our thinking to the way it will be when the Millennium comes, when we inherit the Kingdom of God. But we also face the same problems as those people faced. It's not just that we are looking forward to the Kingdom of God, but we've got the same problems facing us, because it is an end of an age.
Now my personal feeling, my personal opinion is that the Apostle Paul had a hand in writing this book. So when I talk about the author, I'll probably call him Paul. I don't know if he was really the author. I think his mind was behind this book one way or another. It may have been written by one of his scribes after he died. Paul maybe died about 65 AD, or somewhere around there, and it could have been that he left notes, or maybe it was a sermon. I don't know. But somehow, somebody got a hold of these thoughts, inspired by God obviously, and wrote them down, and they became part of the Bible.
The reason why I say that is because the Greek in the book of Hebrews is far better than the Greek in the letters that we know Paul wrote. So there is a pretty good chance that this was written by a person who was quite a gifted Greek speaker, whose Greek was maybe his first language. Someone like Apollos maybe, who had a much better command of cultured Greek than Paul did. Nobody knows. It could have been Silas. It could have been Barnabas. Some have even thought that Priscilla, . . . you know, of Priscilla and Aquila fame, had a hand in this. But it doesn't matter, because God wrote it. The hand that wrote it is not as important as the mind from which it sprang, which was God.
Who wrote it is less important than whom it was written to, because whom it was written to makes a difference in how we approach it, how we study it. Traditionally it is believed that the audience was Jews living in Jerusalem or possibly elsewhere in the Roman empire. It doesn't have to be specifically Jerusalem, but it fits Jerusalem better because they were the ones who were going to be facing the Roman armies and the destruction of the temple most closely. It's more than probable that it was converted Jews that it was written to. Once again, the book doesn't name them. The original manuscript didn't say "To the Hebrews." It could have been written to the entire church. It might have been written to the church at Jerusalem, but we don't know for sure.
It's more than probable that it was written to Jews because of the subject matter. They were the ones that were most affected by the coming change. Even more important than that is, what kind of people were they? I don't mean what race of people were they, but what was their ethnic background. What was their spiritual condition? That's the more important thing. What was their problem that Paul felt constrained to write them such a letter?
The first chapter shows that these people were Christians, and the author takes pains to prove that Jesus, as God's Son, is superior to the angels. Now this is a problem that the Jews had. They had questions about angels, and they had a great angel-ology, or whatever. I don't know quite the theological word for that, but they had at this time come up with various ranks of angels, and all these things, and God wanted them to know that all that was just plain poppycock. It didn't matter one whit, because the Son had come, and the Son was much superior to the angels. So let's get off this angel kick. Then in chapter 2 he begins some indication of what the problems were. In chapter 2 of Hebrews, verses 1 through 4, we're just going to go through their problems very quickly here.
Hebrews 2:1-4 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, 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, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
Did you catch the problem? They were drifting away from God through neglect. Their salvation wasn't really very important to them anymore. It had been at one time, but they weren't now making very much effort to solidify their position before God. That position was their relationship with Him. They were letting that all just drift away. It was slowly seeping away. That's what the picture is here, of a man with a full waterskin over his shoulder, but it has a pinhole at the bottom of it, and the water that he needed to sustain him was drip, drip, dripping away, and he wasn't noticing it, and pretty soon he was going to have to reach back there and get something to drink, and his skin was going to be empty. They were drifting. They were dripping away. They were resting on their oars, no longer resisting the pull of the current, which in this world is directly away from God. If we drift, we lose, we die spiritually—and this was their problem. One of them.
Hebrews 3:12-13 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily, while it is called Today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

A-ha! Another problem. They were giving in to the deceitfulness of sin. They were being distracted from God's way, and they were allowing themselves to get "hooked," and they were slowly, area by area, sin by sin, going back into what they had come out of. And what this sin was doing was pushing them to desert God. It was hardening their hearts, just like the Israelites coming out of Egypt hardened their hearts against God.
This is a very serious problem. God had provided them so much, and they had gotten so far on it, and now they were letting it drip away. More than that, they were getting hooked by the sins that were around them, and it was hardening them. So not only did they have no spiritual reserve over their back, they were getting a hard heart, and you know where that leads. It says in chapter 4, "Beware, lest any of you fall short of the rest that God has promised us." They could lose their salvation, because sin was creeping back into their lives.
Hebrews 5:12-14 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Another problem. They had lost their spiritual understanding through lack of practice. Now what does this tell you they were doing? They were no longer even doing what God said. And if they were, it was only to meet the requirement. They had so much stopped, quit, doing the things of God that their understanding had slipped away. You know what it says back in the Psalms. I believe it's Psalm 111:10. I want to go to that. It popped into my head. Hopefully that's an inspired thought, so I want to read it to get it right.
Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments.
So if you don't do His commandments, you lose your understanding. That's what happened to these Hebrews. They were no longer exercising spiritually, and they were turning to flab. They had gotten to the point where they were babes in Christ. They had gotten back, they had regressed all the way to the point that now they were just like they were when they were first called. They were carnal again. We've heard a lot about that lately. They had begun to lose their spirituality. Now they were carnal.
There were other things, but these are the major ones that Paul stresses. Question: Do they sound in any way familiar to you? A church drifting, slowly giving in to sin in several areas, losing its spiritual vitality and understanding so that it can no longer discern true from false? It makes chills go up and down my spine. Sounds to me very similar to some of the criticisms that Christ makes of the churches in Revelation 2 and 3; especially that one at the very end, the Laodicean church.
It sounds like us. I'm speaking the "us" being the whole church of God, at least the way we were just a few years ago before we were awakened through God's mercy. But just because we were awakened to the problem a few years ago, it doesn't mean that it doesn't still linger, because the pulls of this world are so strong. The pulls of Laodiceanism, which is exemplified in the world, can snatch us back at will unless we're really exercising ourselves, exercising our spirituality to resist it. When we start exercising, we're no longer drifting, we're no longer giving in to those sins that want to deceive us into doing them.
I don't want to spend too much time on this because I think you understand the parallel. The problems in Hebrews are very similar, if not the same, to the church's problems today. If the problems are the same, then the solutions are also the same, because we're talking spiritual principles here that are at work. They always work the same. "Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today, and forever." God doesn't change. His purpose doesn't change, and the manner of life and the instruction doesn't change ever. His advice is consistent. So what Paul advises these Hebrews to do, we should also take to heart and apply.
Paul uses the first ten chapters to show how superior, how much better the new way is than the old way. He goes through and talks about how Jesus is far superior to Moses. Jesus is far superior to Aaron. Jesus' sacrifice is far superior to animal sacrifices. Everything about the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant. Everything is better. And then chapter 11 illustrates faith, which is the basis for the way of life that we live. Habakkuk 2:4 says, "The just shall live by faith." And then Paul quotes that again here in Hebrews 10:38, "The just shall live by faith," and then he expands on that by showing us examples of faith from the Old Testament, encouraging us, that Look! These guys did it. They applied faith in their lives, and God has reserved them for the first resurrection which we too are striving for, and if we also live by faith, we can have the same reward. We will make it to the same goal they were striving for with all their being.

Then we have the encouraging word in Hebrews 11:39-40, that they haven't yet reached their ultimate goal, because God has provided for us, that they shouldn't reach it before we do. We'll all reach it at the same time in the resurrection. They're waiting in their graves for us to complete our course. You get the impression as we leave chapter 11, the ideas in the mind or in the air, just kind of just floating there, that it's up to you now to make it. God has done everything that He can, and now it's up to you.
Then he gives this advice in chapters 12 and 13. Before he gets to the specifics of his advice, Paul uses chapter 12 to show the stakes and the parameters of our mission here at the end. He reminds us of the ones who have already proven themselves. He describes how God works with us. He also describes how some have fallen. He describes too some of the glories that are there before us, and he doesn't want to leave this out. He also describes some of the penalties that are ahead if we fail. So he wants to remind them of these things, and we must be reminded of these things if we want to finish our course. As is typical of the apostles, he gives it to us straight; doesn't mince words.
Let's read chapter 12, verses 1 and 2 and get a start into this.
Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Very inspiring words to begin his advice to us. From the examples that we have just seen in chapter 11, not to mention of course what Jesus Himself went through—His life and His death—we can see that success is so possible. These were men and women just like us, that we are assured that they made it. They completed their course, and now they're like a cloud, a gathering of witnesses around us; not literally, but that's the figure, that they're just waiting there for us to cross the finish line, and we're to be encouraged by them, like they're shouting in the stands, Come on! You can make it! It's only a little while longer.
Of course, there's Jesus there waiting there at the finish line. He not only started the race, He finished the race, and He is part of the package of Him and His Father, that are going to make us able to finish that race. We're supposed to look up to Him at the finish line. You made it. Your servants made it. I can make it too, because of the joy that's there at the finish line. He saw that too, that His Father did the same for Him, and He was willing to go through anything to get there, even the death of the cross, and the shame of the cross.
So He says, Since success is so possible, what's holding us back? Get rid of whatever that is that's tripping us up, that's weighting us down—that baggage that we have. The idea here too is that in those days they ran naked in the Olympics. They had nothing to hold them back, or entangle their feet. They ran in the "altogether." So we too must strip ourselves figuratively—please!—of anything that would cause us even to slow down, . . . and let's run it. Run as fast and as hard as we can, because we can finish.
What this is talking about is repentance. Let's repent of those sins that are causing us to turn aside from the course. Let's get back in the race. This is getting back to square one. Let's strip it off, get rid of it, and start chugging. Or as they used to say, "Keep on truckin'."
Hebrews 12:3-7 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?
Obviously it's not talking about today. There are lots of fathers who don't chasten their sons.
Hebrews 12:8-10 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few day chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
He has a much higher reason for doing this to us.
Hebrews 12:11-13 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore [because we have been trained by this chastening] strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
Question: Have we not been chastened? Isn't that what this scattering is? The chastening of God to bring us back to repentance? To bring us back to Him, that we have not had to face real physical persecution? And it's a good thing, because we haven't been able to handle it. We were too weak. We would have given in. We would have recanted. So God had to chasten us, toughen us up, give us discipline, spank our fannies, so that we can endure what is ahead.
These are the end times, remember? Remember all those terrible things that Jesus said would come to pass at the end of the age? There would be GREAT tribulation, as Mr. Armstrong would say, and it's not going to be a cake walk. Now not all of us will face physical persecution, or martyrdom, and I sincerely hope none of us will. I would much rather hope that God counts us worthy to be spared it. But, we all have to be ready to face it just in case He wants us to witness for Him, and say My beloved son [or daughter] did what Jesus did, because what Jesus did means that we may have to do the same thing. It says earlier in the book that He was made as a man so He could suffer as a man, so that He could go through all the things that we have to go through, so that He would be a faithful High Priest. So if He had to do it, we may be called upon to do it too.
Now we look at this scattering as some terrible thing, and yes, it's very unfortunate that God had to bring it upon us, but if we can see beyond it like God does, it will produce the peaceable fruit of righteousness. It has brought us up short and awakened us. It has made us reaffirm our beliefs, and made us commit to living them purely, hopefully once again. It has made us "walk the walk," not just "talk the talk." It's made us recognize what is truly important, which is our relationship with God. It has brought us up short from drifting.
These are all good things, aren't they? Good things, that they've brought us back to God, and hopefully the fruit of that will be salvation, because we were in danger of losing that, neglecting it, hardening our heart. So God's discipline is good, isn't it? That's what Paul says here. Knowing that God is behind this chastening should make it a little easier to take. It should make all the difference in the world. Chastening is not to defeat us, but to strengthen us, to heal us, to invigorate us, to motivate us and set us back on the straight path to His kingdom.

Hebrews 12:14-17 Pursue peace with all men, and holiness without which no one will see the LORD, looking diligently lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
Once we're headed in the right direction we can begin to start doing these things, pursuing peace with all men, learning to live at peace with each other. And then once we're on the right path, we can strive to be holy. If we don't do these things like he says, we'll never qualify—"without which we won't see the Lord." So we've got to be doing these things. But while we're at it, we have to watch, to be careful, or to see to it. Some translations put it, "for looking diligently". We have to see to it that nothing distracts us from the goal. We have to be careful that we don't let some offense or disagreement derail us or defile us and make us lose out on eternal life.
I personally think that this is one of the most common problems that we have in the church today. So many are letting a slight offense, or an opinion on something, a pet doctrine, . . . maybe a pet twig would be a better way of putting it, become so big that they lose all sense of proportion. What does it do? It eventually drives them away from fellowship and from God.
Do you realize that this is what Esau did? He did not see the importance of the birthright in comparison to one measly pot of beans. We look at that and just shake our heads and say, How could he be so dense? He had billions of dollars, millions of square miles of land. Billions and billions of dollars worth of blessings just from the natural resources that he could have handed on to his descendants, and he gave it all up for a cup of soup.
So which is more important? Eternal life? Or an apology from one of your brethren who you claim has offended you? Are you going to let the lack of an apology put you in the lake of fire because you get a root of bitterness in you? Now it's important that if there's an offense, that the other person apologize. But that's out of your hand. Jesus says Forgive seventy times seven, which means always forgive.
Which has more value? The Kingdom of God? Or being absolutely correct as to when the new moon starts? I'm serious. Is that really important? Is it so important that you would drive yourself away from the rest of the church? Think about it. There are twigs that the Bible doesn't make any stand on, and it's your opinion versus somebody else's opinion. Are you going to let an opinion stand between you and the Kingdom of God? I don't care if you're right! It can cause a root of bitterness in you. Nobody will listen to me. I'm going to go and sit in the corner. I'm serious. People act like this, and God hates it, because it's driving His church apart. It's not worth a hill of beans. Why do we let things like that get between us and each other? Us and God? It's terrible, brethren. We think we're so important. We think what we think is so right. It's all a bunch of baloney! It doesn't square with the truth of God.
I didn't mean to spend so much time there, but I want you to see it. Laodicean means "Judgment of the people." Did you know that? They think their judgment is higher than God's, and it's stupid. They don't have His priorities. They don't understand what's important. He says I'll drag you through that tribulation unless you repent of your highmindness. He spits them out of His mouth. So don't let your opinion or your feelings get in the way of God working out your salvation.
Do you know what it says here about Esau? He let his stomach get between him and the birthright, and even though he cried his eyes out, there was no changing history. The deed was done. If we allow our opinions to get too high and mighty, if we allow our feelings to drag us into the ditch, we may make our situation irrevocable. Don't be like Esau, a profane person. He couldn't tell what was holy from what was unholy, and he lost it all for a cup of soup. Pretty idiotic. So get your priorities straight.
Hebrews 12:18-24 For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with an arrow. And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Do you understand the difference? It's not like it was. Those people that surrounded Mount Sinai when the law came were terrified at the power of God. But it's much greater for us. We come to Mount Zion, to the very throne of God. The stakes there at Mount Sinai was physical death if they touched that mountain. The stakes for us is eternal death. The goal is much higher, but the penalties are much higher too. This comes right after this thing about Esau. Didn't get the priorities straight. Didn't see the difference between the way it was and the way it is, because we're under the New Covenant. There's no comparison between how the people under the Old Covenant could not approach God, as compared as to how we can approach right to His very throne. Now we can freely come before Him in prayer. We can have a relationship with Him based on love and reverence and faith; not sheer terror. Do you understand how much we've been given? This is what we're supposed to compare with that pot of soup.
Hebrews 12:25-29 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven. Now this, Yet once more, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. [And listen to this whammy:] For our God is a consuming fire.
Let's put the cap on what I've been saying here. Don't reject God, because if you do you're going to get shaken. The only thing that's not going to be shaken is the kingdom of God—and you'd better be there. It's our only place of refuge. And so he says, Let us have grace. Maybe the better way of saying that is, Let's be grateful for what God has given us, and in this thankfulness, in this appreciation, we can then serve God with the appropriate attitude, with reverent and godly fear.
Let's just summarize quickly. Chapter 12. There are four points here. Here's general advice.
Point 1. Remember that others have qualified before us, so get rid of sin. Get back in the race. This should be an encouragement.
Point 2. Remember that God's discipline is for our ultimate good, to strengthen us for the times that are ahead.
Point 3. Remember that God has given us every advantage for success, especially a relationship with Him. That's the most important thing, and so don't get distracted by something that's not of that priority.
Point 4. Remember the consequences, should we fail.
These are the things that should be going through our minds. It's practical advice.
So once he's laid the groundwork and reminded us of a few fundamental principles, he can now go on to the more practical things. These are things that we can do, actions that we can take, but I want to give a caution on this as well. Just because you do these things it is not enough. How many people have served in the church only to become a deacon? What was their reason for doing it? They coveted the office of a deacon. I don't know. There's an attitude that can go along with these practical things that can get in the way of them actually doing us any good.
Let's go to Matthew 23. This is probably best seen in the Pharisees which Christ castigated up and down because they did all those things that they were instructed to do, but their heart wasn't right. That's why Paul, in chapter 12, said those things, so that we could get our heart right, so that when we do these practical things we're doing them for the right reason.
Matthew 23:27-28 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
See what I mean, by doing is not enough? The attitude has to be right in order for the action to produce what they're supposed to produce, the fruit that will lead to righteousness, and eventually salvation. These actions can become mere rituals, mere hypocritical works if they're not accompanied by real character and humility. As it says in another place, all our works must be done out of a pure heart; not for gain, not to feel good about ourselves, not because they're required, but because we want to do good and to help, because they're part of our character. All these things are aspects of agape love, which is entirely selfless and outgoing. There's not anything in it to get for the self.
Ten Points on Hebrews Chapter 13
Point 1:
Hebrews 13:1 Let brotherly love continue.
Show brotherly love to one another. This is philadelphia love. Love of the brethren. In many ways all the rest of these pieces of advice stem from this one command. They're all facets of showing love for one another.
I Peter 1:22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart.
I Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.
Romans 12:10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another.
John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
John 15:12-13 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.
John 15:17 These things I command you, that you love one another.
How many times does He have to tell us, brethren? This love is warm and affectionate, but it has an edge of sacrifice on it, just putting others ahead of ourselves and looking out for their good before our own. Only if we do this will we make a true witness for God. Only by this will men see that we are truly Christian, that they will know that we are His disciples.
Point 2:
Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.
Be Hospitable
I Peter 4:9 Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.
Some people can do it out of a sense of requirement. Well, I've gotta have them over. Well, if we have to. I might as well get something ready. Maybe they don't like hamburgers. I don't know.
Be hospitable, even to strangers. You have to be careful. This is not God's world. In the Roman world people avoided the inns if they could, and so they would go to peoples' houses if they were traveling. This is what happened in Genesis with Abraham and the three angels. He entertained them "as they were traveling through." He was hospitable to them. Lot did the same thing when the angels came to Sodom, and he brought them in and had them stay with him. I'm not saying that angels will be around testing you whether you're hospitable, but the idea is, Get to know the brethren. They're strangers to you in many cases, because we've been scattered all over and brought together in a different mixture this time, and we need to get to know one another as well as we can before we can really start loving one another. So get to know each other outside of just Sabbath services. Be hospitable. Serve.
Point 3:
Hebrews 13:3 Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, and those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also.
Remember those who are undergoing trials, as if you are in their moccasins.
Not only be sympathetic to them, but have empathy for them. See, sympathy is one thing. Empathy is actually feeling their pain, knowing what they're going through, and the idea here is that you may be going through something soon, because you're in the body also, aren't you? This could both mean that you're in the church, and trials are going to come upon those who are God's and Christ's disciples. It could also mean that you're physical too. You're in a body now, and the same aches and pains and trials and things come upon you just as easily as it comes upon those people who are going through them now, so you should be emphatic toward them, because what you give is what you're going to get.
It could be those who are sick, those who are alone. We're scattered. They don't have chances to fellowship very well, at least. Look at Sylvia Donahue all by herself up there in New Hampshire. Erwin is up there in Quebec. Many others, ones and twos, around the country that you could pray for, that you could fellowship with, to help them through this trial of scattering. Whatever it is, sacrifice a little time or money or effort, or whatever it takes, for their good, because you could be in their shoes very quickly.
Point 4:
Hebrews 13:4 Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
Strengthen Your Marriage
My synopsis of this is strengthen your marriage. Love your neighbor as yourself. Who is your closest neighbor? Your mate. It may be that God will judge us more by this relationship than by any other, because now your true colors are going to show with the one that you've been shackled to for so many years. They know you inside and out. Is your marriage a God-plane relationship? It should be. Are you laying down your life for your mate? If you won't do it for her or for him, you're surely not going to do it for the person down the road, because supposedly you love that one next to you more than that one down the road. Does your mate see God forming in you? Oooh! Scary question. When your mate looks at you does he see the characteristics of Jesus Christ transforming you even now? Good question. Is your marriage any more close to Ephesians 5:22-33? A good standard to check out. Get this one right—No. 4, and your other relationships will fall right into place.
Point 5:
Hebrews 13:5-6 Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we may boldly say: The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
Watch out for materialism

Revelation 3:17-18 Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing [And God says, Whoa, Nellie!] You are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire; . . . and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see [how wretched you really are].
This is a particular weakness of the Laodicean condition, simply because we live amid so much wealth. It's so easy to become wealthy in our society. You may not think so, but we just found out this week that there are just hundreds of millionaires in Charlotte. They were broadcasting it on the news—"You'd be surprised. Your next door neighbor may be a millionaire." They do all kinds of things, from janitorial work to banking. If you work hard in the United States of American, you can get rich beyond your wildest dreams, and the people in the church say Oh boy! I'd like for myself a piece of that! And you know what happens? It drives them right away from God, because they want it so much. Ah! the money. We can have so many good things. We can repair the house. No. Let's dump this house and get a million dollar one up on Lake Norman.
No. This admonition doesn't mean remain poor. It's back to where Esau was again. Understand the value, the relative value between wealth and the Kingdom of God. What's more important? It's more important to be content with the blessings that God has given us, because God knows what's good for us, whether it's food, or clothing, or a house, or protection, or whatever it is. God has given us what we need. So let's be content with that, and work with what we've got, and what He says here, we can base our contentment on the absolute surety of God's faithfulness toward us.
God won't forsake us. He's told us, He's promised us that He's going to be there for us. We don't have to worry about raiment. We don't have to worry about food. Remember, Jesus says, Well, God takes care of the fields. He takes care of the sparrows. Won't He do the same for us who are His very children? Since He's promised us these things, and we know that God is faithful, we can be content that God has given us exactly what we need. So let's not get caught up in covetousness or materialism. That's why we can boldly say, God is with me. What harm can come to me that God and I can't handle together, that isn't good for me in the long run? And if it happens, it happens. We'll work on it. We'll solve it, because God is looking out for me, and only good can happen to those whom He loves and whom He has called.
Point 6:
Hebrews 13:7-8 Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Hebrews 13:17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.
Obey the ministry and be submissive
Today many people argue over these two verses, verses 7 and 17, because they don't like the words rule over, obey, and submit. They sound harsh and dictatorial to our modern sensitivities. However, if you look at the sense of the passages rather than the specific individual meanings of the Greek words, you'll see that it means, "Consider the lives of your leaders, and follow them, trying to make their job just a little bit easier." Is that so difficult? I'll concede that the word rule over means leader. If you look it up in a modern translation, most often it says leader, not some harsh dictator that's cramming whatever down your throat. His way of doing things.
But the idea here remember, is "love of the brethren." Your leaders are brethren too, and so Paul is saying, Look to them for an example. Follow their conduct. Jesus Christ hasn't made a mistake in putting them there as your leaders. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Right? His law is the same. The way that He works is the same. So if you see a leader doing what Jesus says, then follow him, and submit to the teaching, because it's not him saying "Do this," and "Do that." It's God saying, This is My way. Walk ye in it. He's only a mouth for God, and he represents what God is trying to teach.
Let me explain this by going to 1^st Peter 5. The Bible always explains this better than I do.
I Peter 5:1-4 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers [leaders; those who watch over everybody], not by constraint but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.
The same thing, but from the other angle. Now we have both sides of the coin here. The laity is to be submissive and considerate of the leaders. They're supposed to consider what the leaders are doing, and follow that which is good. Pretty simple. Submit to the teaching, because it's not the minister teaching, it's God teaching. Right? If it squares with "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever," . . . . [it's] right.
And then the ministers have to make sure that from their end they're doing it right, serving as overseers, not by constraint, not because they have to, but willingly. Not for dishonest gain. Not to line their pockets; but eagerly wanting to help, for whatever reward that comes. It doesn't matter. Not to lord it over people, but to be an example. So we have both sides here. The minister's job is difficult enough without it being made tougher by intransigent brethren. On the other hand, the minister's job should try to make it as easy for the brethren to do what's right, by their own example.
Point 7:
Hebrews 13:9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.
Avoid strange doctrines.
II Timothy 2:14-26 Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort. who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: The Lord knows those who are His, and, Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their sense and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
In II Timothy 2:14-26 you will find that Paul had the same problems there, that he admonished Timothy not to get involved in them. It's useless. It's vain. It distracts us away from the good things—the faith, the love, and the serving one another. So food here may stand for any physical work by which someone hopes to gain God's favor. He says that's not it. It's not these physical works that are going to save us. It's God's grace. So don't get entangled in these things where there's disputes over this and that, like sugar. Food's spiritual value is not very high, and what he's talking about here is that this piece of advice covers anything that distracts us from the real meat of salvation. It's not worth it.
Point 8:
Hebrews 13:10-14 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.
The basic meaning here is, "Come out of this world."
There is a definite division between us and the unconverted, and he uses the idea of the church versus Judaism. Judaism in this case stands for the world, and Jesus repudiated Judaism, and was sacrificed outside the city of Jerusalem, which in this case stands for the Judaistic system. So Paul says Let us go where Christ went, and repudiate that system from which we're coming out, or supposedly have come out. So, let's leave the world.
Zechariah 2:6-10 Up, up! Flee from the land of the north, says the LORD; for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven, says the LORD. Up, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. For thus says the LORD of hosts: He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. For surely I will shake My hand against them, and they shall become spoil for their servants. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst, says the LORD.
This tells us to flee from Babylon. He does say here that if we do go about this, we'll probably end up being abused for it. But that's part of the program, just like Jesus was abused. He died, because He went outside the camp.
Point 9:
Hebrews 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
Hebrews 13:18-19 Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably. But I especially urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.
Pray without ceasing.
I Thessalonians 5:17-18 Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
I Thessalonians 5:25 Brethren, pray for us.
This is a common theme running through Hebrews, that we have access now to God, and this access, through prayer, gives us such an advantage and will give us such power and help when we need it. So use this tool, because we need it. "Be watchful in your prayers," it says in one place. I want to go to that one.
I Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.
It's a major spoke in the wheel here. Prayer. It's even more important as we draw closer to the end.
Philippians 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
This says pretty much the same thing. It gives us so many benefits, not the least of which is peace, which as we draw closer to the end of this age we're going to need. Peace between your ears I'm talking about. Contentment, and knowing that we are on the side of a faithful God.
Point 10:
Hebrews 13:16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Do acts of kindness and charity. Love the brethren.
This gets back to the first one.
Doing good and sharing is a primary aspect of showing love for one another.
Acts 2:42-47 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
This shows that right after the day of Pentecost this was the attitude that they had, and the behavior they showed. This is the ideal we're trying to get back to. They had everything in common and they shared with one another. They weren't grasping onto their worldly possessions, but willing to divvy them out as needed.
Let's conclude now:
Hebrews 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
If we do these things, God will be able to work in us and complete us for the entering of His kingdom.

The Background and Purpose of
Hebrews

INTRODUCTION

Followers of Christ have suffered persecution throughout history. Stolen property, beatings, imprisonment and martyrdom have been the fate of countless Christians. And by some reports, Christ's followers are being persecuted more than ever in our own day.
For those of us who aren't suffering in these ways, it's hard to imagine the temptations that persecution brings. Christians who live in peace and safety often compromise their faith even without threats. But can you imagine how tempting it would be to compromise what you believe to protect yourself, your spouse, your children and closest friends from serious harm? How could we possibly encourage fellow believers in these conditions?
This was the challenge that faced the author of the book of Hebrews. He wrote to a group of Christians who had suffered in the past and were now threatened with even more suffering. They'd done well years ago, but the author of Hebrews feared that they might now turn away from Christ to avoid further persecution.
This is the first lesson in our series The Book of Hebrews and we've entitled it, "The Background and Purpose of Hebrews." In this lesson, we'll introduce a number of perspectives that should guide our interpretation of this complex book.
As our title suggests, we'll look at the background and purpose of Hebrews in two ways. First, we'll consider the book's background. And second, we'll summarize the overarching purpose for which Hebrews was written. Let's begin with a sketch of some important background issues related to the book of Hebrews.

BACKGROUND

We'll explore the background of Hebrews by considering three interrelated topics. We'll look first at its authorship. Then we'll investigate the original audience. Lastly, we'll examine the date when the book of Hebrews was written. Let's look first at Hebrews' authorship.

Authorship

From the earliest times, there have been a variety of positions on the authorship of Hebrews. For our purposes, we'll touch on two issues. First, we'll discuss the identity of the author. And second, we'll construct a profile for the author by focusing on some features of his book. Let's begin by examining the author's identity.

Identity

Identifying the author of Hebrews is not as simple as it is with many other New Testament books because the author never identified himself. As early as the patristic period, Clement of Alexandria, who lived from approximately A.D. 150 to 215, and Origen of Alexandria, who lived from around A.D. 185 to 254, acknowledged that there was a variety of opinions on the authorship of Hebrews in their day. Early on, the apostle Paul was the candidate named most frequently, but scholars also suggested Barnabas, Luke, Apollos, and even Clement of Rome.
Around A.D. 325 the church historian Eusebius in his History of the Church referred to Origen's outlook on the authorship of Hebrews in book 6, chapter 25, section 14. As we read there:

But as to who wrote the epistle [of Hebrews], God knows the truth of the matter.

Origen's comment reflects how uncertain he and many others were in his day. And most biblical scholars today concur. Only God knows for certain who wrote this book.
Unfortunately, questions about authorship and the ways some heretical groups misused the book of Hebrews, led some people during the patristic period to doubt if Hebrews should be included in the New Testament Canon. Of course, notable scholars like Clement of Rome, who died sometime around A.D. 99, treated Hebrews as equal to other New Testament books. And Justin Martyr, who lived from A.D. 100 to 165, did the same. But Hebrews was omitted from both the Marcionite Canon, written around A.D. 144, and the Muratorian Canon, written around A.D. 170. By the end of the patristic period, however, the majority of influential interpreters in the eastern and western church came to recognize Hebrews as part of the Canon. And they generally agreed that the apostle Paul was the author.
Throughout the medieval period, most leading scholars continued to believe that Paul wrote Hebrews. But during the Reformation, Protestant Reformers questioned many ecclesiastical traditions, including the traditional view of Pauline authorship. Martin Luther suggested that Apollos was the author. John Calvin didn't suggest an alternative, but he insisted that the book could not have come from Paul.
Today, the majority of interpreters reject Pauline authorship. We'll touch on three reasons for this stance. First, as we've already mentioned, this book is anonymous, and it was Paul's practice to name himself in his epistles. In fact, as 2 Thessalonians 2:2 makes clear, Paul was deeply concerned that forgeries had spread under his name. So, it seems unlikely that he would have failed to identify himself had he written Hebrews.
Second, the book of Hebrews emphasizes subjects that don't receive much, if any, attention in Paul's letters. For instance, the author of Hebrews mentioned Melchizedek three times. He drew attention to the Old Testament tabernacle. And he dealt at length with Christ as the high priest. Taken together, these themes distinguish the book of Hebrews from books that we know were written by Paul.
Third, the strongest reason for doubting Pauline authorship is the way the writer of Hebrews distanced himself from the first generation of Jesus' followers. Listen to the words of Hebrews 2:3:

This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him (Hebrews 2:3).

Notice here that the author of Hebrews mentioned how salvation was "first announced by the Lord" — in other words, by Jesus himself — and "was confirmed to us by those who heard him." That is, the author and his audience had the gospel verified for them by people who had heard Jesus directly. The author's admission that he received his Christian faith secondarily contrasts with passages like Galatians 1:1, 11 and 12, and 1 Corinthians 11:23 where Paul insisted that he received the gospel directly from Jesus.

The short answer to the question, "Who wrote the book of Hebrews?" is, we don't know. We have some clues as to who he was. Down throughout church history there have been numerous answers as to that question. So, for many years the church thought Paul had written it. I think probably Paul didn't write it because there are differences between Hebrews and Paul's letters. For instance, Paul often… will always identify himself and then speak to the addressees of the letter. Hebrews doesn't do that. There are themes in Hebrews like Christ as the High Priest that just don't feature very much in Paul's letters. So, Paul's probably not the writer. Other suggestions have been Barnabas or Apollos, — Martin Luther thought maybe it was Apollos — Priscilla. And yet, we just don't know. I think the most we can say is that the writer of Hebrews was a second-generation believer. In chapter 2 he refers to those who heard from Christ and then handed on what they had heard from Christ, so he seems to be putting himself in that second generation. [Dr. Stephen E. Witmer]

We've explored the authorship of the book of Hebrews and seen that the author's identity remains unknown. But we can still construct something of a profile for the author.

Profile

For the sake of time, we'll point out just two rather obvious features of the author's life.
Hellenistic Jew. In the first place, the author of Hebrews was a Hellenistic Jew. Most scholars today agree that Paul did not write Hebrews. In the end, though, it's best to conclude with Origen that only God really knows. Hebrews' authorship has been debated throughout the years, but this shouldn't prevent us from learning as much as we can about the author and his character from clues found in the text.
We can see from the text that both Jewish and Hellenistic influences shaped the author and his book. The author's strong Jewish heritage is evident in his knowledge of the Old Testament. In fact, he quoted the Old Testament at least 31 times in his 13 chapters.
It would also appear that the author had a strong Hellenistic upbringing. In the past, interpreters pointed to the author's use of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, as evidence that he was a Hellenistic Jew. In the second half of the last century, however, research into the Dead Sea Scrolls has revealed that quotations initially assumed to be directly from the Septuagint, could have come from non-traditional Hebrew texts. For this reason, we can't be certain that the author of Hebrews used the Septuagint.
But despite this discovery, we can still be confident that the author of Hebrews was Hellenistic. His sophisticated Greek offers strong evidence of a Hellenistic upbringing. And his vocabulary and style give evidence of a mastery of the language that even surpasses the writings of Luke.
Passionate Intellectual. Not only was the author of Hebrews a Hellenistic Jew, but we can also add to our profile that he was a passionate intellectual. Interpreters widely acknowledge that the author of Hebrews was an intellectual. The theological arguments in Hebrews are more complex than many of those found in the rest of the New Testament. In fact, the author himself noted the priority of sophisticated theological reflection in passages like Hebrews 5:13-14 where he indicated that to distinguish good from evil, followers of Christ must become doctrinally mature.

From the contents of the letter of Hebrews, there are a number of things we can say about the author. One is that he was brilliant. He knew the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, backward and forward. He knew how to link texts in ways that were very persuasive to traditional Jewish audiences. Probably he was a Hellenistic Jewish author, probably writing to a Hellenistic Jewish audience. When I say "Hellenistic Jewish," I mean Greek-speaking and probably in the diaspora, but very committed to their Jewish traditions and very knowledgeable in Scripture. [Dr. Craig S. Keener]

Even though the author of Hebrews should be considered an intellectual, he was not a cold, detached academic. He was deeply passionate about the Christian faith. His devotion and passion for his fellow Christians is evident in his writing.
Listen to the way he empathized with his audience in Hebrews 10:33-34:

Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions (Hebrews 10:33-34).

In a similar way, in 12:1-2 he showed his passion for Christ when he said:

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2).

It's difficult to read these and similar passages without realizing that this author was hardly an impersonal scholar. He was passionate about his audience and Christ. If we miss this passion, we miss one of the book's most prominent features.

What we also learn about the author is that he was really concerned about the people he was preaching to and writing for. He was concerned about their spiritual apathy, and so he comes back again and again to the danger of becoming weak or tired, or even apostasized. And so, he was certainly a superb theologian and interpreter of Scripture, but at the same time he was a person who knew his audience very well, evidently personally very well. He really cared about them and was marshaling everything that he could in terms of theology, interpretation of Scripture and application to help them in their spiritual pilgrimage. [Dr. Eckhard Schnabel]

So far in our discussion of the background of the book of Hebrews we've focused on the book's authorship. Now we should turn to our second issue: Hebrews' original audience.

Original Audience

The book of Hebrews doesn't clearly identify its audience by name, city or region. Still, in general terms, we can be confident that the author wrote to a specific audience with whom he was personally familiar. In 13:19-24, the author assured his audience of his intent to visit them again. He spoke of Timothy, whom he called "our brother," and he also mentioned a group of people from Italy that his audience apparently knew.
We'll look at five important factors about this original audience that we should consider as we study the book of Hebrews.

Jewish

First, there's reason to think that at least a good portion of the original audience was Jewish. Hebrews 1:1 makes this clear:

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways (Hebrews 1:1).

Here, the author referred to how God had revealed himself to Israel in the Old Testament. But notice how he called Old Testament Israelites "our forefathers" — the ancestors of the author and his audience.
It's no wonder, that from as early as the time of Tertullian, who lived from about A.D. 155 to 230, the traditional title attached to this book has been "Pros Hebraious," "For the Hebrews."

Hellenistic

Second, it's also likely that the audience was in large part Hellenistic. The content of Hebrews indicates that the audience was familiar with theological teachings that were more common among Jews living outside of Palestine than among more traditional Jewish circles within Palestine.
A number of interpreters have tried to determine where the audience may have lived outside of Palestine. The fact that the first epistle of Clement of Rome referred to the book as early as A.D. 95 has led some to suggest that the audience was in Rome. Hebrews 13:24 has been used to support this point of view because it mentions "those from Italy." These suggestions are interesting, but the most we can say, with any degree of confidence, is that the original audience consisted in large part of Hellenistic Jews who lived outside of Palestine.

Immature

Third, the original audience of Hebrews was immature. Listen to the way the author described them in Hebrews 5:12:

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 (Hebrews 5:12).

Notice that the audience had been believers long enough for the author to say "by this time you ought to be teachers." They should have made great doctrinal progress. But as the author noted, they needed to be taught "the elementary truths of God's word all over again."
Interestingly enough, even though the audience was theologically immature, the book of Hebrews contains some of the most advanced, sophisticated theological teachings in the entire New Testament. How do these features of the book fit with the immaturity of the audience? The best way to make sense of this situation is to keep in mind that early Christians adopted a common practice used in first century synagogues.
We learn from passages like Luke 4:16, Acts 13:15, and 1 Timothy 4:13 that leaders of synagogues and Christian churches supervised the reading and explanation of Scriptures to their congregations. So, the author of Hebrews wrote some of the most theologically sophisticated New Testament writings because he expected church leaders to teach his book to their congregants. Now, in Hebrews 5:11, the writer of Hebrews reprimanded his audience for being "slow to learn." So, it's quite possible that the larger portion of the original audience remained theologically immature because they didn't properly respect their leaders.
This suggestion is confirmed by Hebrews 13:17 where the author told his audience:

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you (Hebrews 13:17).

Persecuted

Fourth, the original audience of Hebrews was persecuted. There were two well-known times of persecution for Christians during the first century A.D. that may have impacted Hebrews' original audience, at least indirectly. In A.D. 49, the Roman Emperor Claudius expelled Jews from the city of Rome. And around A.D. 64, Emperor Nero persecuted Christians in the vicinity of Rome.
As we read through the book of Hebrews, it becomes evident that the original audience had already faced persecution in the past, some of them were suffering in the present, and the author's expectation was that more of them would suffer, perhaps even more severely, in the future.
In 10:32-35, the author drew attention to the suffering that at least some in the audience had experienced in the past:

Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering… So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded (Hebrews 10:32-35).

Here we see that the author praised his audience for their strength when they were persecuted in "those earlier days after [they] had [first] received the light." But he also encouraged them not to "throw away [their] confidence." The Greek term translated "confidence" here is parresia, which in many contexts means "courage," "boldness," or "fearlessness" in the presence of dignitaries. This word choice suggests that the audience was facing public or official persecution of some sort, and they were tempted to lose their boldness.
In 13:3 the author also referred directly to present persecutions when he said:

Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering (Hebrews 13:3).

We can see from this verse that the author exhorted his audience to "remember those in prison as if [they] were their fellow prisoners." And to remember those "mistreated as if [they themselves] were suffering." It's clear that not all of his audience's persecution was in the past.
In addition to persecution in the past and in the present, the author of Hebrews acknowledged in 12:3-4 that his audience was facing the threat of more persecution in the future. Listen to this exhortation:

Consider Christ who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood (Hebrews 12:3-4).

As this passage indicates, the author expected more persecutions to come against his audience, and he was deeply concerned with this feature of their experience.

The original audience of Hebrews faced a number of issues… as the author mentions in chapter 10, they had faced various forms of suffering; some of them had lost property, some of them had been imprisoned, they'd been subjected to public ridicule of some sort. And he still is urging the readers at this point, as he writes, to be willing to bear the reproach of Christ to face exclusion from the camp, which he's describing in Old Testament terms but probably means to be excluded from the synagogue, and if they were to go to Jerusalem, to be excluded from the temple, which I believe was still standing as he wrote. So there are those forms of persecution they were facing. He says in chapter 12 that their sufferings had not escalated to the point of shedding blood, and yet he seems to be aware of their need to be assured that they have been set free from the fear of death, as he says in chapter 2, by the victory of Jesus Christ. So, it may be that even a more intense, violent persecution is on the horizon. [Dr. Dennis E. Johnson]

Near Apostasy

Fifth, as the audience of Hebrews faced persecution, at least some of them were near apostasy. Rather than simply being discouraged or weakened by sufferings, they were in danger of turning away from Christ entirely. For instance, in Hebrews 10:26-27 we read this warning:

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 (Hebrews 10:26-27).

We need to be clear here that the author of Hebrews was not concerned about peccadillos or small sins. He warned his audience severely because for those who utterly turn away from Christ, "no sacrifice for sins is left." When people reject the Christian faith, like some in the original audience of Hebrews were tempted to do, they prove that they never had faith that saves. And for this reason, they can only have "a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire" reserved for "the enemies of God."
As we'll explain in our next lesson, this and similar passages don't imply that true believers can lose their salvation. Rather, this verse refers to those who profess faith and experience many of its blessings, but without regeneration and justification. In all events, it's evident that some in the original audience of Hebrews were sorely tempted to leave the faith.
Now that we've investigated the background of Hebrews by considering the book's authorship and the original audience, we should turn to our third issue: the date when the book of Hebrews was written.

Date

Although the exact date for Hebrews remains uncertain, the earliest and latest dates for this book can be established rather firmly. We'll look first at the earliest possible date for the book, or terminus a quo, and then at the latest possible date, or terminus ad quem. Both of these dates can be determined with some degree of confidence using scriptural and historical evidence.
On the one side, Hebrews 13:23 helps confirm the earliest possible date for the book. In this verse the author wrote:

I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you (Hebrews 13:23).

Here we see that "Timothy [had] been released" recently from prison. We don't hear of Timothy's imprisonment anywhere else in the New Testament. In fact, in the book of 2 Timothy, Paul's last letter written shortly before his death, Timothy was free to travel and bring Paul supplies. Yet, this verse tells us that by the time Hebrews was written Timothy had been imprisoned and released. For this reason, the book of Hebrews must have been written after Paul's death, which took place sometime around A.D. 65.
On the other side, the latest likely date for the book would be around A.D. 95 shortly before Clement of Rome referred to the book of Hebrews in his letter, 1 Clement.
In addition, many commentators have observed that, in passages like Hebrews 5:1-3, the author used the present tense to describe the sacrificial duties of the high priest. This is important because in the rest of his book the author consistently used the Greek past tense when referring to past events. So, it's likely that these priestly activities were still going on when Hebrews was written.
Also, in 8:13 the author encouraged his audience not to turn back to the "obsolete" sacrificial practices established by God's covenant with Moses. He explained that in light of the new covenant, these practices would "soon disappear." We know that the high priest's activities, and the Levitical sacrificial system as a whole, came to an end in A.D. 70 when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and its temple. So, these evidences suggest a date for Hebrews sometime after Paul's death around A.D. 65 and before the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70.
In our lesson on the background and purpose of Hebrews, we've looked at several features of the background of the book of Hebrews. Now, we're in a position to address the overarching purpose of the book. Why was Hebrews written?

PURPOSE

It's fair to say that any book as long and complex as the book of Hebrews is written with many different purposes in mind. But for this lesson, we're primarily interested in summarizing the overarching purpose of the book. Each part of this book has its own emphases, and we'll explore these emphases in our next lesson. At this point, we want to see how the book as a whole was designed to impact the concepts, behaviors and emotions of the original audience.
Interpreters have summarized the overarching purpose of the book of Hebrews in a variety of ways. But for this study, we'll describe the original purpose of Hebrews in this way:

The author of Hebrews wrote to exhort his audience to reject local Jewish teachings and to remain faithful to Jesus.

This description of the author's purpose helps orient us to the main ideas found in the book of Hebrews.
As we've just suggested, the author of Hebrews wrote to exhort his audience. Listen to the way the author himself characterized his book in 13:22:

Brothers, I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation (Hebrews 13:22).

Notice here that the writer "urge[d]" his audience to receive his book as a "word of exhortation." The words "I urge" derive from the Greek verb parakaleo, the verbal form of the Greek noun translated "exhortation" in the same sentence.
The terminology of exhortation implies "to summon to the speaker's side" or "to call for someone to take the speaker's point of view." The same expression is used to describe John the Baptist's urgent, persuasive call for repentance in Luke 3:18.

Interestingly, the phrase "word of exhortation" also appears in Acts 13:15 where the men of the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch invited Paul and his companions to give "a message of encouragement" after the reading of Scripture. It's quite possible that the expression "word" — or message — "of exhortation" was a first-century technical designation for what we call a sermon today.

Well, the author identifies his work as a word of exhortation — this is in 13:22 — and what this means is that Hebrews is an exhortation; it's like a sermon. And so the use of rhetoric is basically a tool for persuading the audience to be faithful in their commitment to Jesus as the Son of God and as their Lord and Savior. So, the rhetoric in the letter of Hebrews, or the homily of Hebrews, allows the author to elaborate on themes, to exegete Jewish Scriptures — that is, interpret Jewish Scriptures in a way that is meaningful — and then present it in a very forceful way so that the audience understand clearly what the author wants him to do, wants them to do. He wants them to adhere to the salvation that Christ has offered to them, that God has offered in Christ. [Dr. Fredrick Long]

Every epistle or letter in the New Testament contains exhortations to its audience. But the book of Hebrews stands apart from other New Testament epistles due to the intensity of its exhortations.
To explore the author's purpose, let's look more closely at the intensity of the exhortations that are so prominent in the book. And then, we'll examine the goal of these exhortations, how the author hoped his audience would respond. Let's look first at the intensity of the author's exhortations to his audience.

Intensity of Exhortations

To look further at what we mean by the intensity of the author's exhortations, we'll look at two issues: first, the frequency of exhortations in the book, and second, the author's rhetorical style associated with his exhortations. Let's begin by examining the frequency of exhortations.

Frequency

The frequency of the author's exhortations helps us understand the urgency of his message. These exhortations are implicit at times, but at least 30 times they appear explicitly. On many occasions, the author used what Greek grammarians call the "hortatory subjunctive." These verbal forms urge or implore and are often translated "let us" do this or that. For instance, in 4:14, 16 we read two such exhortations:

Let us hold firmly to the faith we profess… Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence (Hebrews 4:14, 16).

The author also exhorted his audience by using imperatives, which we often translate as direct orders. For example, in 12:12-16 we read this series of exhortations:

Strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet … Make every effort to live in peace with all men … be holy … See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up … See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau (Hebrews 12:12-16).

One of the reasons it's important to keep in mind how often the author directly exhorted his audience is that the book's complex theological reflections often obscure the author's purpose for writing. He didn't simply want to inform his audience of theological doctrines. He informed them doctrinally in order to persuade them to adopt different attitudes and actions. This is what he meant when he called his book a "word of exhortation." If we don't keep this urgency in mind, we'll miss a crucial dimension of the book of Hebrews.
We've seen how the intensity of the author's exhortations is reflected in the frequency with which he exhorted his audience. Now, let's consider how the author's rhetorical style also reveals his desire to exhort his audience.

Rhetorical Style

The book of Hebrews has often been characterized as highly rhetorical. By this we mean that it employs many literary devices that were associated with persuasive oratory or urgent debate in the first century. Many of these rhetorical devices appear now and then in other New Testament books, but we find them far more often in Hebrews.

Hebrews is probably the best example in the New Testament of an author who has strong literary and rhetorical skills, and those rhetorical skills really help to accomplish the author's purpose. He's trying to demonstrate the superiority of Christ and the new covenant over the old covenant, and he does so in part with a very convincing strong literary argument. And he uses lots of different structural features to accomplish that… So, beautifully structured, using rhetoric to draw his readers in, and then to convince them of the argument that he's making. [Dr. Mark L. Strauss]

One rhetorical device, called synkrisis in Greek, is a detailed comparison between two or more things designed to convince audiences to affirm the speaker's point of view. For example, synkrisis appears in the book of Hebrews in 7:11-28. There, the author argued that Jesus was a royal priest like Melchizedek, a priest and king mentioned in the book of Genesis. But rather than simply asserting his belief, the author of Hebrews gave his audience a compelling, eight-point comparison between Melchizedek and Christ: their parentage, genealogy, birth, death, office, actions, status and achievements. These detailed comparisons were designed to settle all doubts about the claim that Jesus is the great, royal High Priest.
Another rhetorical device in the book of Hebrews is known as exempla. Exempla are lists of illustrations or examples that follow one after the other to build a persuasive argument for a particular point of view. This oratorical technique appears in the familiar list of the faithful in Hebrews 11. There the author listed by name: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the Israelites, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets. This long list was designed to persuade the audience that servants of God should remain faithful throughout their persecution.
A third rhetorical device used by the author of Hebrews is known by the Hebrew expression qol wahomer. This expression is well known from both Greco-Roman and rabbinical traditions and may be translated "light to heavy," "less to great," or "simple to complex." This type of argumentation begins with a simple premise that isn't disputed by the audience. It then builds to a more complex conclusion that the audience initially doubts, but can now more easily accept. Simply put, this argument says that because the simple premise is true, then surely the more difficult conclusion must also be true. Listen to the way this rhetorical device appears in Hebrews 10:28-29:

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 a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot? (Hebrews 10:28-29).

Here the author began with a premise that the audience understood: the punishment for those who rejected the law of Moses was death. Then he pressed his audience further by arguing "how much more" punishment should come to those who "trampled … under foot" one greater than Moses — "the Son of God."
These examples help us see the urgency of the author's intentions. He was convinced that his audience faced a very serious situation and that it was time for them to make some very difficult decisions. So, he did all he could to urge and persuade them to make the right choices.
Now that we've seen how the author's purpose was strengthened by the intensity of his exhortations, we should turn to a second feature of the book: the goal of these exhortations.

Goal of Exhortations

We saw earlier that the overarching purpose of the book of Hebrews can be defined in this way:

The author of Hebrews wrote to exhort his audience to reject local Jewish teachings and to remain faithful to Jesus.

As this definition affirms, the goal of the author's exhortations was twofold. He wanted his audience to reject local Jewish teachings and he wanted them also to remain faithful to Jesus as the Messiah. Let's consider how the author urged his audience to reject local Jewish teachings.

Reject Local Teachings

We've noted that the audience of Hebrews had suffered persecution and that this persecution was tempting them toward apostasy. But this temptation was not what we might first imagine. It seems that at the time Hebrews was written, Christians could find safety from persecution if they rejected their distinctively Christian beliefs and identified more closely with their local Jewish community.
In the first century, Jews often had to pay special taxes, and they suffered persecution from time to time. But often, Jewish communities in the Roman Empire were free to observe their faith. Early on, the same was true for Christians because they were closely identified with Judaism. But as time passed, Christian identification as a Jewish sect began to disappear. In fact, the book of Acts reports that even in the days of Paul, Jewish synagogues rejected followers of Christ and encouraged local authorities to mistreat them. In all likelihood, this was the kind of situation facing the original audience of Hebrews. And their prolonged sufferings tempted them to accept teachings in their local Jewish community that were contrary to the Christian faith.
Interestingly, the author of Hebrews didn't address the sorts of issues normally associated with Jewish hypocrisy and legalism. As crucial as these matters were, they're not a major concern in the book of Hebrews. Rather, the author dealt primarily with erroneous beliefs and practices, specifically those that developed in Jewish communities outside the mainstream of Palestinian Judaism. Listen to what the author of Hebrews wrote in Hebrews 13:9:

Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them (Hebrews 13:9).

In this verse, the author contrasted being "strengthened by grace" with being strengthened "by ceremonial foods." This specific focus sounds familiar enough. But notice also that this was just one example of what he called "all kinds of strange teachings." In other words, unusual or strange teachings taught by local Jewish communities. So, what were these "strange teachings" that the audience was tempted to follow?
In the second half of the last century, a number of helpful insights into this question came to light with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran. This long-lost collection of documents included Old Testament texts, but also extra-biblical writings that represented the distinctive teachings of a disenfranchised Jewish community living near the Dead Sea. It contained books like The Rule of the Community, The Damascus Covenant, the War Scroll, The Midrash on Melchizedek, as well as sections of 1 Enoch called "The Book of the Watchers" and "The Book of Dreams". These books have a number of teachings that closely parallel the theological issues addressed in Hebrews.
Now, it's important to note that these teachings were not exclusive to this community. Other Jewish groups in the Mediterranean world held to similar views. In fact, the books of Ephesians and Colossians deal with comparable issues in their locations. Yet, it will help us understand many of Hebrews' exhortations against local Jewish beliefs if we note some of the similar subjects found in both Hebrews and the books found at Qumran.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are fascinating documents found, of course, in the desert in Qumran, and they are the works of a radical Jewish sect who defined themselves over and against the Jewish mainstream, particularly the temple complex. And so, somewhat analogously to the book of Hebrews, the sectarians at Qumran seem to have regarded themselves as a new temple under a new covenant. Now, there are just as many dissimilarities particularly because some of the more ritual aspects of the old covenant, the Qumran group really wanted to revitalize those rather than let them obsolesce in the way that the writer of Hebrews suggests. [Dr. Sean McDonough]

For this lesson, we'll briefly mention just four topics found in both the book of Hebrews and the documents at Qumran.
Ceremonial Foods. In the first place, we've already noted that in Hebrews 13:9, the author spoke against a particular example of eating ceremonial foods.
Many practices at Qumran are described in the book entitled The Rule of the Community. Among many other things, the community at Qumran regularly held sacred communal meals in which they ate specially consecrated food.
Basic Teachings. In the second place, an assortment of basic teachings addressed in the book of Hebrews also appears in texts at Qumran.
For instance, in Hebrews 6:1-2, the author mentioned repentance, faith, cleansing rites (or baptisms), laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. Interestingly enough, The Rule of the Community and the War Scroll at Qumran give a great deal of attention to these and similar matters in ways that differed from the mainstream of Palestinian Judaism.
Angels. In the third place, the literature at Qumran helps us understand the focus on angels in the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews addressed beliefs about angels in a number of passages. This focus was in response to the kinds of beliefs that were similar to teachings in books like The Rule of the Community, The Damascus Covenant, and the War Scroll, as well as the sections of 1 Enoch called "The Book of the Watchers" and "The Book of Dreams." These books extolled the powers of good and evil angels, their roles as messengers of divine revelation, and the influence they had on inferior human beings. Apparently, the original audience of Hebrews had become attracted to these kinds of teachings.
Melchizedek. In the fourth place, the documents at Qumran help us understand the unusual interest that the author of Hebrews had in the Old Testament character Melchizedek.
For the longest time, interpreters had difficulty explaining why the comparisons between Melchizedek and Jesus were so important to the author of Hebrews. But one text found at Qumran, often called 11QMelchizedek or The Midrash on Melchizedek, falsely taught that Melchizedek was a heavenly figure who was going to appear in the last days to proclaim the Day of Atonement and make final atonement for God's people. From all appearances, the original audience of Hebrews was tempted to hold these or similar false beliefs.
Identifying the kinds of false teachings that circulated within Jewish communities helps us to understand why the author of Hebrews exhorted his audience to resist these teachings and remain faithful to Jesus.

There's a number of interesting parallels between the teaching of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the teaching in Hebrews. The most significant would be perhaps that both communities recognized that they were, or believed they were, living in the end times, that God's final salvation was about to take place. Of course, the difference is in Hebrews we see that God's salvation has arrived, whereas at Qumran — or the Dead Sea Scrolls — they're expecting it to happen at any time. But perhaps the most interesting comparison between the two is the role of the figure of Melchizedek. Melchizedek, of course, in Hebrews, the author develops this theology of Melchizedek as Jesus' high priesthood is not according to the order of Aaron, not the traditional Old Testament one, but according to the order of Melchizedek, because we see Melchizedek was a legitimate high priest who met Abraham in the book of Genesis — and so, this Melchizedek comparison. Well, in the Dead Sea Scrolls, there is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls — known as 11Q Melchizedek because it was discovered in cave 11 of the Dead Sea Scrolls — portrays a figure, this Melchizedek, as a mighty heavenly, glorious, Messiah-like figure who brings salvation. So, it's an interesting comparison since, of course, Melchizedek is a type of Christ in the book of Hebrews, that in the Dead Sea Scrolls he becomes a messianic figure. And so scholars puzzle over this relationship between the Melchizedek figure in Hebrews and Melchizedek as he appears in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Interesting comparison. [Dr. Mark L. Strauss]

The goal of Hebrews' exhortations was not only to urge the audience to reject the local Jewish teachings. Even more, the author wanted them to remain faithful to Jesus as the Messiah.

Remain Faithful to Jesus

To accomplish the goal of calling his audience to faithful service to Jesus, the author of Hebrews organized his exhortations into five major divisions. We'll look in some detail at each of these divisions in our next lesson. But at this point it will help to summarize the central issues in each.
In Hebrews 1:1–2:18, the author of Hebrews called on his audience to affirm the supremacy of Christ over angelic revelations.

We mentioned earlier in this lesson that the book of Hebrews spoke against false beliefs about angels. A number of Jewish writings often exalted angels as powerful, glorious creatures who brought divine revelations to inferior human beings. This honor for angels raised a serious challenge against those who followed Christ. Jesus was flesh and blood. How then could anyone follow what he said instead of the revelations of angels? The author of Hebrews responded to this local Jewish teaching by demonstrating from the Old Testament, and from Jesus' life, death, resurrection, ascension, and return in glory, that he is actually superior to the angels.
The second major division of Hebrews, in 3:1–4:13, demonstrates that Jesus is to be held above Moses' authority.
It was obvious to everyone that followers of Jesus were not observing the sacrificial services God had ordained through Moses. The local Jewish community called for Christians to return to Moses and his ways. The author of Hebrews responded by affirming that Moses was God's faithful servant. But Jesus was even greater because he was God's royal Son.
After dealing with angels and Moses, the author of Hebrews turned to Melchizedek's priesthood in 4:14–7:28.
In this division, the author argued that Jesus was the supreme Royal Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Apparently, the local Jewish community wanted the original audience to reject Jesus as the Messiah because of their beliefs about the appearance of Melchizedek as the great royal high priest in the last days. In response, the author of Hebrews demonstrated that Jesus was the true Royal Priest who appeared in the last days to provide eternal atonement for sin.
In 8:1–11:40, the author of Hebrews explained the supremacy of the new covenant in Jesus.
The teachings of the local Jewish community raised doubts about the Christian claim that Jesus had come to mediate the new covenant promised by Jeremiah. But the author of Hebrews pointed out that Jesus is, in fact, the mediator of the new covenant.
In the last major division, in 12:1–13:25, the book of Hebrews elaborates on a number of ways that the audience needed to exercise practical perseverance.
This division consists of a long series of exhortations, as well as explanations for these exhortations. In light of so many challenges to their faith from the local Jewish community and elsewhere, the author wrote to inspire and energize his audience. He exhorted them to remain faithful to Jesus as the Messiah by reminding them of God's promises and blessings in Jesus.

By his many exhortations, the writer to the Hebrews, to put it positively, is encouraging his readers to persevere. And some of his language is very gentle, entreating, encouraging, but some of it is, quite frankly, blisteringly frightening. That starts as early as Hebrews 2 — "If Old Testament saints fell away, how much more dangerous is it if we, who are the heirs of the new covenant, who do know the Lord Jesus, ignore the great salvation that has been provided to us?" And that sort of a fortiori argument, "If this, then how much more that," keeps showing up again and again in the book. And then there are two passages that are often referred to as "apostasy passages" in Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10 that warn against the danger of those who have professed profound faith in Christ — and apparently followed for some time — falling away. And so, even in reading the Old Testament narrative, as in the end of Hebrews 3, the author says, don't be like the Old Testament saints who were rescued from Egypt and escaped slavery but never did get into the Promised Land precisely because they didn't persevere. They fell away in the desert. A whole generation was wiped out more or less. And, those are the sorts of pastoral parallels that show that his incentive to encouragement is not merely soft or cuddly, that there is warmth and encouragement and holding up the glories of Christ so as to be drawn to him. But there is also threat and warning that this is serious business and you don't want to play around with it. [Dr. D. A. Carson]

CONCLUSION

In this lesson on the background and purpose of Hebrews, we've looked at the background of the book of Hebrews, including the author, the audience and the date of composition. We've also focused on the original purpose of Hebrews by examining how the author wrote his book to exhort his audience to turn from local Jewish teachings and to reaffirm their loyalty to Jesus as the Messiah.
The book of Hebrews is one of the most challenging books of the New Testament. It offers so much that we may never uncover more than a small portion of what it teaches. Yet, we can benefit in many ways from these complex teachings. As modern followers of Christ, we also face temptations to avoid troubles in this life by compromising our commitments to Jesus. But if we'll open our hearts to hear how the author of Hebrews urgently exhorted his original audience, we'll see how crucial it is that we stand strong in our faith, no matter what opposition we may face.


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