Hebrews 7:11-28, Jesus is Greater Than Aaron

Hebrews 7:11-28

Jesus is Greater Than Aaron

How do you describe God? Which three adjectives or pictures of Him come to mind first? Love? Holy? Merciful? Powerful?  Yes.  All of these and more, but we need to always hold in our minds that “our God is a consuming fire.” Deut 4:24 and Hebrews 12:29 both attest to this description of Him.  We are invited to approach this God boldly in Christ, but we dare not do so on our own.  For left on our own, we will be consumed before we get within a million miles of His holiness.  Our bold approach can only be done “in Christ.”  It is this crucial aspect of Christ’s ministry that will be in focus here in these passages. The video of the teaching is below, and my notes follow.

1. Start with the key verse: Hebrews 7:25
1. Look at the passage and answer these questions:
1. How are we saved (on our part and on God’s)?
2. From what are we saved?
3. How is our salvation maintained?
2. Therefore, this is the result of what goes before.  We’ll get there.
3. He is able to save.
1. His very name, “God saves.”
2. There is none too sinful for Jesus’ power in salvation. Isa 59:1
4. ESV “Forever” not good. KJV “to the uttermost” is much better. παντελής pantelēs
1. Compound word: Pan, “all” and Teleos, “end, outcome, end result”
2. God can save through it all and guarantee the outcome, that those whom He has saved will be saved.
5. Those who draw near, προσερχομένους Present, middle, participle.
1. Middle voice is almost always reflexive.
2. “Those who are drawing themselves near”
3. This acknowledges the importance of our real choice to receive Christ.
6. Through Him
1. It is only when we draw ourselves near to God through Jesus that we are saved.  
2. If we try to draw ourselves near to God on our own basis or on the merits of some other intermediary, we will be consumed.
7. Since he always lives πάντοτε pantote lit “every when” there is never a time when Jesus is not doing this.
8. To make intercession ἐντυγχάνω entygchanō “to plead, to petition, to confer on behalf of”
1. We may “draw ourselves” near, but it is only safe to do so through Christ.
2. It is the active, ongoing forever ministry of Jesus to plead with the Father on our behalf.
3. Our salvation is secure because Jesus is continuously doing His job of intercession.
9. Piper: The “asbestos conduit” to the consuming fire.  
10. It is impossible to overstate the importance of Jesus’ ongoing ministry on behalf of his body.  If it were not for his continuing ministry, we would surely fall.
1. Deut 32:35
2. 2Tim 1:12
11. It is critical that we have the best ongoing ministry of intercession possible.  For only a perfect ministry can guarantee our ability to approach a perfect God.
2. Outline verses, 11-12
1. A perfect high priest is needed if we are to survive drawing near to the Father.  
1. Levitical is insufficient, hence the veil
2. The levitical system is characterised with distance, not intimacy
2. Under levitical priesthood, the law?
1. The decalogue first given Ex20. Priesthood Ex32
2. The people did not have the law, though until Ex34
3. Tied to the law in any case.  
4. Administered by the levitical priest
3. Another. Heteros, not allos.  
4. Change in priesthood, change in law
1. New high priest issued in a new judicial dispensation Num 35:25-28
2. The change of the system of High priest changes the system as well  
1. What guided the dispensation under Melchizedek at the time of Abraham? Grace and faith
2. Jas 2:23, Gen 15:26
3. After the priesthood of Melchizedek is instigated and Levi is done away with, the system of grace and faith returns.
5. The declaration of God in psalm 110 declared the levitical system and the law insufficient.
6. Why have the law then? Gal 3.  We needed a schoolmaster
3. Vs 13-17
1. Jesus, from Judah, which cannot produce priests (Ex32), Saul and Uzziah
2. Levi, the tribe of priests, is not to produce kings, which is the role of Judah (gen 49:10)
3. The tribal system passed tribal identity through patrilineal inheritance and national identity through the mother.  It is impossible to belong to both tribes.
4. The declaration that Messiah will be a king and a priest in psa 110:4 makes it impossible that their priesthood and kingship are both naturally inherited.
5. One or both must be supernaturally declared apart from heredity. Ps110:4 does this for the priesthood.
6. Arises is in the middle voice, reflexive. The priest arises himself.  Yet God declares it.  God must also be the priest. Isa 59
4. Vs 18-19 Making perfect, drawing near.
1. The Old Law makes nothing perfect
1. Every year, they still need to day of atonement
2. Every day, they need the daily sacrifices.
3. Every dead priest is replaced by younger ones.  
4. It never terminates.
2. Jesus died once for all
1. 1 Pe 3:18;
2. Rom 6:10
3. Heb 9:28
4. There is no need for a further sacrifice.
3. The old law was about separation.  In the new covenant, we dare to draw near.
5. Vs 20-22 the Oath and Guarantee
1. Significant in this sermon, God swears by Himself and will not change His mind.  Jesus’ priesthood will never end.
2. The Levitical priesthood did not enjoy such a guarantee.  
3. In fact, they could only serve for a few years, and their ministry ended in 70 AD.
4. Jesus as a “surety” of our covenant.  
1. First occurrence in scripture: Gen 43:8.  Judah pledges his own life as a guarantee for Benjamin’s safety.
2. A picture of Jesus.  He has pledged himself as a guarantee of our safety in drawing near.
6. Vs 23-24 Many priests vs. one.
1. Because the task could not be completed, many hands were needed and a constant flow of new ones are constantly being added to replace the ones aging out and dying.
2. Only ever one High Priest of Melchizedek, Jesus.
7. Vs 26-27 Sinful vs Holy
1. Levitical priests needed to sacrifice for their own sins. (Lev 16
2. Jesus did not

Hebrews 6:9-20: A Double-Barrel of Warning and a Boatload of Hope, Part 3

A Double-Barrel of Warning and a Boatload of Hope, Part 3

Hebrews 6:9-20

To my international friends: It is such a blessing to see these sermon notes and videos go out around the world each week.  God honors his word.  It's not my work or delivery.  It certainly isn't the polish and production.  There is none.  His word is effective and powerful.  Thank you to all of you checking in all around the globe.  I pray for you blindly, not knowing anything about you except for the electronic signature you leave behind having seen this blog.  If you'd like to leave a comment for me with some way of contacting you, I'd love to pray for you specifically. 

After warning those inside and those outside the church that only in persevering in the faith and bearing fruit can you find salvation, he now turns his intention from warning to encouraging.  This, most tender section of Hebrews, follows arguably the strongest section of warning.  It’s the “I love you” after the spanking. The reassurance after discipline. The video is below, and my notes follow.

1. 6:9
1. Although we speak in this way, yet in your case… persuaded.
1. Persuaded (Πεπείσμεθα) implies that a prior objection has been overcome, and now they are firmly attached to this conclusion.  
2. The speaker has been convinced by many proofs to the validity of what he says.
2. Beloved.  ἀγαπητός agapētos The most tender of addresses, lit “those upon whom the love of God has been set.”   Used 60 times in NT. First 9 times by Father of Christ. Only here in Hebrews.
3. Better things, things belonging to salvation.  This serves as the head to all that follows through verse 12.  
1. Belonging to… lit to attach oneself to.  
2. These things have become who you are since your salvation.
2. 6:10-12 The characteristics of a saved life.
1. God will not overlook the evidence of a saved life.  
1. The only assurance you have that you are being saved is the fruit in your life.  
2. This is also what God looks for as an external sign of what He is accomplishing internally.
2. Work and service
1. Works don’t save, but saved people work.
2. This is a very common word that can mean any accomplished work or action, but here, as many other places, it refers to good deeds done in accordance with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
1. Matt 5:16
2. Matt 11:2
3. Eph 2:10
3. Similar useage by Paul in Eph 4:12ff
4. Ongoing.  They were working before, and they still on.  The life of service never stops.
3. Love for his name
1. Love is the principal characteristic of a Christian’s life
1. 1 Cor 13:13
2. Gal 5:22
3. John 13:1; 15:13
2. “In his name” ἐνδείκνυμι endeiknymi This verb, awkward in English, means literally to show as part of yourself, to demonstrate a characteristic of oneself.  
1. Love is a fundamental aspect of God’s nature.
2. We show that we belong to him when we also show that characteristic as part of our nature (Jn 13:35)
4. Assurance of hope
1. Hope, not in a worldly sense.  For a Christian, hope is the expectation that what God has declared over our lives will come to be, since, from His perspective, it is already accomplished (Rom 4:21; 8:29-30)
2. However, even with this perspective, it is hard, in our own minds, to be confident in what we cannot yet see (Heb 11:1; Rom 8:24)
3. So it is the desire of the preacher that we don’t begin to doubt our salvation.  
4. πληροφορία plērophoria  
1. Col 2:2
2. 1 Thes 1:5
3. Heb 10:22 ← significant that the only other use of this word in Hebrews is also associated with a strong warning section of this sermon.  The preacher gives strong assurance both times he shakes us up.  The believer is not meant to be shaken.  The unconverted are meant to be given a clear picture of their condition before a Holy God.
5. This confidence is not only for some super-Christians but for “each one of you” who believe.
5. Not be sluggish
1. Same verb as in vs 11 “lazy hearers.”
2. Lit “might become not lazy.”  You have become lazy (5:11).  Now become not lazy!
3. Again, saved Christians work.
6. Imitators of those…
1. Christians are in community and under authority.
2. Not self-styled, setting our own standards and expectations.  The scriptures give us our standards in Christ (Phil 3:12-14) and examples to follow (Ch 11).
3. Danger of the emergent church. There needs to be leadership, discipline, accountability, and solid teaching.
7. Faith is the main ingredient in the formula for salvation
1. Required to begin the journey of the Christian life (Rom 10:9-10; Eph 2:8-9; John 3:16)
2. Required to continue in a life that pleases the Father (Heb 11:6)
3. This will be the main focus of the last portion of this sermon.
8. Patience, μακροθυμία makrothymia lit “Large-souled.” You have the ability in your character to endure for a long time without giving into violent emotions, despair, anger, or wrath.  
1. Used in only one work outside of scripture before the LXX to describe victims of a siege turning over all the stones in their city to look for every edible thing (roots, bugs, etc) in order to survive long enough to break the siege.  Also, in the same work, it describes sailors on a ship that sank a long-distance offshore swimming for days to get to land.  
2. Used in LXX many times to reflect the attribute of God that he puts up with much sin before he brings his final judgement (Ex. 34:6-7).  Long-suffering.
3. Used in the NT in the same way (Rom 9:22)
4. Usually an attribute of God.  Only attributed to men rarely. Here only in Hebrews.
9. Inherit the promises,
1. Present participle.  Rather, “Are inheriting the promises.”
2. We are all in process.  The promises will not be fulfilled in their fullness for us until we are in glory and the heavens and earth are recreated.
3. 6:13-18 Oaths of Men and God
1. Vs 16: Oaths of men
1. Less confident than the oaths of men, yet even these are sufficient for settling disputes.
2. Examples in scripture: Ex 22:10-11; Rom 1:9
2. The Promises of God:
1. Example of the oath to Abraham
1. First promise: Gen 12:1-3
2. Formal oath ceremony Gen 15.
1. The covenant is unilateral.  Abraham is put to sleep and only witnesses God make the covenant with him.  
2. Nothing about Abraham affects the efficacy of this covenant.
3. God swears by Himself in Gen 22:15-18.
1. Man swear by something greater (The temple, the altar, etc)
2. Told to swear by the name of the Lord (Deut 6:13; 10:20; Isa 19:18)
3. There is nothing higher by which to swear, so God swears by himself in Gen 22:16 (and Psalm 110:4).
2. Two things by which the promise is sure:
1. His original purpose/promise in Gen 12:1-3.  God cannot lie.
2. The self-witnessed oath in Gen 22:16
3. Connection to us and our salvation?
1. Not replacement theology.
2. The preacher is saying that if the Old covenant were that secure, surely the new covenant by His Son is more so.
4. Summation (6:18-20)
1. We who have fled for refuge καταφεύγω katapheugō
1. An intensified version of the verb “to flee.”
2. “For refuge” is implied from context and other usages in ancient literature.
2. God sacrificed bulls and goats to enact the old covenant.  He slew his Son to enact ours.  How much more confident can we be?
3. To where do we flee?  To the Holy of Holies!
1. Jesus has gone behind the veil as a forerunner.
1. Without precedent in scripture.
2. Never any expectation that “normal” people would enter the Holy of Holies
3. God is intimate with His people in being:
1. Initially, in their midst physically (Gen 3:8-9)
2. Among them in his temple/tabernacle (Ps63:1-11; Zeph 3:17; John 1:9)
3. Able to hear them (Isa 65:24; Jer 33:3)
4. Constantly thinking of them (Isa 49:15)
5. Aware of their troubles (Ps 23; 139)
6. Concerned with their future (Jer 29:11; Isa 55:1-6)
7. Yet far off (Jer 31:3; Ps 42:1-2; Isa 6:5)
2. High priest once a year with fear and trepidation (Lev 16).
3. We go continuously with courage and peace (4:16).
4. Even greater than if he had gone to intercede in the Earthly Holy of Holies, Jesus has gone into the real Holy of Holies and is seated at the right hand of God (Acts 2:33; 7:55-56; Rom 8:34; Eph 1:20; Col 3:1; Heb 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1Pe 3:22; Rev 3:21)
4. Key verse (19).  Hope as an anchor for the soul.
1. Need for an anchor.  Life is full of storms:
1. James 1:6
2. Disciples in the boat Matt 8:23-27
3. Maturity in Christ brings stability. Eph 4:11-16
2. Sure: ἀσφαλής asphalēs a-negating sphales-to fail.
1. Unfailing.
2. In the NT 5 times.  Translations:
1. Facts (Acts 21:34)
2. Real, actual (Acts 22:30)
3. Definite (Acts 25:26)
4. Safeguard (Phil 3:1)
5. Here in Hebrews, Sure.
3. Is there any time when you feel that your actions have failed God and you, therefore, have no reason to hope?  You’re wrong.
4. Have there been times when you feel that God has forsaken you and you, therefore, have no reason to hope?  You’re wrong.
5. Jesus will never fail you. Neither should your hope in Him.
3. Stedfast: βέβαιος bebaios Bedrock, foundational, at the bottom of things.
1. Used 9 times in the NT
1. Guarantee (Rom 4:16)
2. Unshaken (2 Cor 1:7)
3. Reliable (Heb 2:2)
4. Firm (Heb 3:6, 14)
5. Certain (2Pe 1:10)
6. Confirmed (2Pe 1:19)
2. This is the “at bottom” thing in our life.  It, above all else, is worth of our unreserved trust.  Jesus loves you, has done everything to merit your salvation, and WILL follow through on what He has promised you. On this, you can rest, set your anchor, build your life, and return to when the storms of life try to toss you around.