Author: cackywalker@yahoo.com

Concluding Words, Hebrews Chapter 13

Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.

Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.

Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God said,

“I will never fail you, I will never abandon you.”

So we can say with confidence, “

“The Lord is tmy helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”

Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their live, and follow the example of their faith.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace, not from rules about food, which don’t help those who follow Him. (vv. 1-9, NLT)

Therefore let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to His name. And don’t forget to do good and to share with those who are in need. These are the sacrifices that please God. (vv. 15-16, NLT)

God’s Discipline Proves His Love, Hebrews Chapter 12

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that is so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility He endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in you struggle against sin.

And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to youy as His children? He said,

“My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when He corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes each one He accepts as His child.”

As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as His own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of His children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really His children at all. Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, should’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits and live forever? (vv. 1-9, NLT)

Great Examples of Faith, Hebrews Chapter 11

Faith is the confidence that we hope for will actually happen; it give us assurance about things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.

By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we see now did not come from anything that can be seen. (vv. 1-3, NLT)

A Call to Preserve, Hebrews Chapter 10

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another in acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially not that the day of His return is drawing near. (vv. 23-25, NLT)

So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that He has promised.

“For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay.
And My righteous ones will live by faith.
But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.”

But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved. (vv. 35-39, NLT)

Christ is the Perfect Sacrifice, Hebrews Chapter 9

For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. And He did not enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, He has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by His own death as a sacrifice.

And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ died once for all times as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for Him. (vv. 24-28, NLT)

Christ Is Our High Priest, Hebrews Chapter 8

But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for He is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.

If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. But when God found fault with the people, He said:

“The day is coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. They did not remain faithful to My covenant, so I turned My back on them, says the Lord.

But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel that day, says the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’

For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know Me already. And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means He has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear. (vv.6-13, NLT0

Jesus Is Like Melchizedek, Hebrews Chapter 7

This change has been made very clear since a different priest, who is like Melchizedek has appeared. Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied,

“You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

Yes, the old requirement about a priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless. For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

This new system was established with a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants because priests without such an oath, but there was another oath regarding Jesus. For God said to Him,

“The Lord has taken an oath and will not break His vow: ‘You are a priest forever.'”

Because of this oath, Jesus is the one how guarantees this better covenant with God.

There are many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. But because Jesus lives forever, His priesthood lasts forever. Therefore He is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through Him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. (vv. 25-25, NLT)

Melchizedek Is Greater Than Abraham, Hebrews Chapter 7, Part 2

The priests who collect tithes are me who die, so Melchizedek is greater than they are because we are told that he lives on. In addition, we might even say that these Levites – the ones who collect the tithe – paid a tithe to Melchizedek when their ancestor Abraham paid a tithe to him. For although Levi wasn’t born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham’s body when Melchizedek collected the tithe from him.

So if needthe priesthood of Levi, on which the law is based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron?

And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it. For the priest we are talking about belongs to a different tribe, whose members have never served as the altare as priests. What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe.
(vv. 11-14, NLT)

Melchizedek is Greater than Abraham, Hebrews Chapter 7, Part 1

This Melchizedek was a king of the city of Salem and also a priest of God Most High. When Abraham was returning home after winning a great battle against the kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed him. Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had captured in battle and gave it to Melchizedek. The name Melchizedek means “king of justice” and king of Salem means “king of peace.: There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors – no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God.

Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized this by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle. Now the law of Moses required that the priests, who are descendants of Levi, must collect a tithe from the rest of the people of Israel who are also a descendant of Abraham. But Melchizedek, who was not a descendant of Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God. And without question, the person who has the power to give a blessing is greater than the one who is blessed. (vv. 1-7, NLT)

God’s Promises Bring Hope, Hebrews Chapter 6

For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in His own name, saying:

“I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.”

Then Abraham waited patiently , and he received What God had promised.

Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any questions that oath is binding. God also bound Himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that He would never change His mind. So God has given both His promise and His oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. (vv. 13-20, NLT)