Month: January 2025

So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. (vv. 14-16, NLT)

God’s promise of entering His rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. For this good news – That God has prepared this rest – has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. For only we, who believe can enter His rest. As for the others, God said,

“In My anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter My place of rest,'”

even though this rest has been ready since He made the world. We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all His work.” but in the other passage God said, “They will never enter My place of rest.”

So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those first heard this good news failed to ender because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering His rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:

“Today, when you hear His voice, your will harden you hearts.”

Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between the soul and the spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable. (vv. 1-13, NLT)

And so, dear brothers and sisters who belong to God and are partners with those called to heaven, think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s messenger and High Priest. For He was faithful to God, who appointed Him, just as Moses served faithfully when he was entrusted with God’s entire house.

Bur Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses, just as a person who builds a house deserves more praise than the house itself. For every house has a builder, but the one who built everything is God.

Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later. But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ. (vv. 1-6, NLT)

And furthermore, it is not angels who will control the future world we are talking about. For in one place the Scriptures say,

“What are mere mortals that You should think about them, or a Son of Man that You should care for Him?
Yet You made them only a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them authority over all things.”

Not when it says “all things” it means nothing is left out. But we have not yet seen all the things put under their authority. What we do see is Jesus, who was given a position “a little lower than the angels”, and because He suffered death for us, He is now “crowned with glory and honor”. Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone. God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children up to glory. And it was only right that He should make Jesus, through His suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.

So now Jesus and the ones He makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus not ashamed to call them His brothers and sisters. (vv. 5-11-NLT)

So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard Him speak? And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever He chose. (vv. 1-4, NLT)

For God never said to any angel what he said to Jesus: “You are My Son. Today I have become your Father.”

God also said,
“I will be His Father and He will be My Son.”

And when He brought His supreme Son into the world, God said,
“Let all of God’s angels worship Him.”

Regarding the angels, He says,
“He sends His angels into the winds, His servants like flames of fire.”

But to the Son, He says,
“Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of justice. You love justice and hat evil. There fore, O God, , your God has anointed You, pouring out the oil of joy on You more than anyone else.”

He also says to the Son,
“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with Your hands. They will perish, but You will remain forever. They will wear out like old clothing. You will fold them up like a cloak and discard then like old clothing. But You are always the same; you will live forever. “

And God never said to any of the angels,
“Sit in the place of honor at My right hand until I humble Your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.”

Therefore, angels are only servants – spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation. (vv. 5-14, NLT)

Long ago God spoke may times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, He has spoken to us through His Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son He created the universe. The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and He sustains everything by the mighty power of His command. When He had cleansed us from our sins, He sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave Him is greater than their names. (vv. 1-4, NLT)