The Finality of Christ’s One Sacrifice

Paul concluded his argument by showing the supremacy of the New Covenant. He did this by reminding his readers that by one offering Jesus has forever or perpetually perfected (G5048) the saints (Hebrews 10:14). This is in contrast to the perpetual (G5048) offerings, which were offered daily by the Levitical priesthood (Hebrews 10:1), which couldn’t perfect anyone.

 

The Finished Work of Salvation

In chapter ten of his Epistle to the Hebrews, Paul reminds his readers that the work of salvation has been completed, but they need to be patient before they receive the rewards. There is an element of immanency in this epistle that needs to be taken seriously, because “hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12). There was a very real danger of Paul’s readers losing their reward, because, as we shall discover in this study, Jesus foretold that many, some conclude the majority, of them (Matthew 24:10) would be in danger of falling away, giving it all up in the face of persecution. In this epistle Paul tried to stem the tide, if, perhaps, he could save some from doing what they knew in their heart of hearts was wrong (cp. 1Corinthians 9:20-22).

 

A Description of the Tabernacle

In Hebrews 9:1 Paul tells us that the first covenant or the Mosaic Covenant had ordinances of divine worship to which the Levitical priesthood and the people had to comply. In addition to religious rituals, Paul tells us, they also had a worldly Sanctuary. The fact that Paul describes the Sanctuary as worldly[1] is by no means disrespectful. What is meant here is that it was a visible, shadowy Sanctuary, which was made with hands and was a pattern of the Reality that was not made with hands.

 

What Has God Written Upon Our Hearts?

The New Covenant would be different from the Mosaic Covenant, in that the Law of God wouldn’t be written in stone. Rather it would be written in the minds and hearts of men (Hebrews 8:8-10). However, this might be easier said than done. While one could easily envision someone writing something on stone, how could this ever be done with respect to a man’s heart or mind, and assuming God could do such a thing, what, exactly, did he write upon our hearts and minds?

 

What Purpose Did the Law Serve?

Paul tells his readers that the Lord found fault with the first covenant and, therefore, sought to replace it (Hebrews 8:7), which suggests the question: did God offer Israel a faulty covenant? No, but how is this understood? First of all, God had a purpose for offering the first covenant, but salvation wasn’t it (Romans 7:12; Hebrews 8:8). The real problem with the Mosaic Covenant had nothing to do with what God offered Israel, it had to do with them. God found fault with his people (Hebrews 8:8; Jeremiah 31:32).

 

Jesus, the Reality that Casts the Shadow!

Paul tells us that Christ’s High Priesthood is founded upon a more excellent ministry, through which he mediates a better covenant that is founded upon better promises (Hebrews 8:6). How does Paul know this, and why should his readers believe him? Consider his argument for a moment. He claims the Law and the things therein, including the ministry of the Levitical priesthood, are but shadows of matters to come (Hebrews 8:5; cf. Colossians 2:17). We saw that the Tabernacle was a copy of a copy of the Reality (Exodus 25:9, 40), and, therefore, a shadow of something else. Logic concludes that the Reality must come before the shadow. In order for a shadow to exist at all, there must exist something of substance in the first place in order to cast it. So, which is greater, the shadow or the substance that casts the shadow? Obviously, it is the thing of substance or the reality, which in the context of Paul’s argument is Christ, the High Priest.

 

Jesus and Melchizedek

In the next few verses of Paul’s epistle (Hebrews 716-19), he begins to explain the greater power of the Priesthood of Christ. Its power is seen in Jesus’ resurrection and in the fact that, through its ministry, the kingdoms of this world would be destroyed, not their identities but their autocratic power over their subjects. This is understood in the fact that they would have to, in essence, submit to the authority of the Messiah, by taking his power over the people into consideration as they exercised their own authority.

 

Eternal Judgment

In the past few studies, I’ve been discussing what Paul meant by the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ (Hebrews 6:1-2). The first study defined what Paul meant by repentance from dead works[1] In the second study I defined what Paul meant as that applies to the next four principles,[2] and in this study I hope to show what Paul meant by eternal judgment? First of all and concerning the word eternal, the Greek word aionios (G166) cannot be forced to mean everlasting or eternal, because it is used to describe the Old Covenant in terms of how long it would last. Who among us, today, would try to say the Old Covenant never ended.

 

Four Principles of the Doctrine of Christ

Paul concludes chapter five of his epistle by telling his readers that, by this late date, they ought to be teachers of the Gospel, but instead they really need someone to teach them the facts about their own religion, which embraces the first principles of the oracles of God (Hebrews 5:12). The Greek word for first in this verse is the same word Paul uses in Hebrews 6:1 for principles (G746 – arche). The word Paul uses for principles in Hebrews 5:12 is stoicheion (G4747), which he describes in Galatians 4:9 as beggarly elements, which he further describes as: “observing days, and months and times and years” (Galatians 4:10). Later, in his epistle to the Colossians, Paul uses the same word again (G4747) to say: “if you are dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances” (Colossians 2:20), which he describes in the next verse as: “touch not, taste no, handle not.” In other words, these first principles of the oracles of God have to do with observing the Law, not Christ!

 

The Rest of God

Most people today believe Judaism is based upon the faith of Abraham and the Old Covenant under Moses, but actually it isn’t. According to this study in Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews, Judaism is based upon paganism. That is, because it isn’t based upon Abraham’s faith in the God who took him out of Mesopotamia, it couldn’t point to that God at all. Rather, it is based upon the belief and understanding of ancient Israel who died in the wilderness, and they died, because they had no faith in the God of Abraham. Wherein was their trust? They trusted in their own eyes—i.e. in the flesh, or in what they could see, hear, taste, touch and smell. They wished for the God of Abraham to continually cater to their demands—i.e. to continually prove himself to them. They wished to control the reins of their relationship to that God, just as the pagans thought they could control the gods they presumed they served.

 

Two Witnesses for Jesus

from Google Images

Josephus mentions an interesting event that occurred about a year prior to Jesus’ crucifixion. Pilate had built an aqueduct into Jerusalem using Temple funds for its financing. When many Jews objected to his use of Temple funds to pay for the project, he had some of his military men disguise themselves and mingle with the crowd of Jewish demonstrators. When Pilate gave the signal, his men began killing Jews in the crowd. They were supposed to kill only the most vocal demonstrators, but they killed indiscriminately, and with such vigor that they slew the lambs, too, which some of the Jews carried, intending to have them slain for the Passover celebration. Thus, the blood of the men was mingled with that of the animals (cf. Luke 13:1), a very distasteful matter among the Jews. Many of these Jews were Galileans, and, when this event was told to Herod Antipas, he also viewed the ordeal with contempt, putting Pilate and him at odds with one another.

 

Zacchaeus’ Testimony

from Google Images

There is little doubt that the they in the text at Luke 19:7 refers to the Pharisees and possibly scribes who might also have been curious enough to watch what Jesus did, as he passed through Jericho. Certainly, both groups were critical of Jesus in the past (Luke 5:30; 6:7; cf. 11:53), and there is no reason to believe Jesus’ critics were the common people (John 7:26). The Greek word used for murmured (G1234) is used only in Luke and then only at 15:2 and 19:7, and at Luke 15:2 it points to the scribes and Pharisees. However, this same Greek word is used in the Septuagint for those who murmured against Moses and Aaron (Exodus 15:24; 16:2, 7-8; 17:3; Numbers 14:2). It is also used of those who brought back a bad report of the Promised Land (Numbers 14:36), so the murmuring on these occasions was done by the leaders of Israel.

 

The Faith of Ten Lepers

from Google Images

According to Luke 17:11, Jesus was on a journey to Jerusalem. Some scholars believe Luke doesn’t place his account in chronological order. The reason they believe this is so they can hold onto the unsupported belief that Luke 9:51 announces Jesus intent on going to Jerusalem to be crucified. Yet, as Luke 10:38-42 shows, Jesus was in Bethany just a few miles from Jerusalem, showing he had already completed his journey he had begun in Luke 9:51. Moreover, Luke 13:22 seems to record even another journey to Jerusalem, after, or so it seems, Jesus had already been there (cf. Luke 13:1-5). It is strange to see the hoops otherwise good commentators will jump through in order to embrace a favorite theory. Here, in Luke 17:11 Luke records Jesus is passing through the midst of Galilee and Samaria, something he had to do in Luke 9:51 to reach Jerusalem. Sounds like a different journey to me, and it is this journey (Luke 17:11) that seems to be the one that Jesus took in order to fulfill all that was written about him in the Law and the Prophets (cf. Luke 18:31).

 

Who Is My Neighbor Today?

from Google Images

In Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan, he chose two cities: Jerusalem, the city of blessing, and Jericho, the city of the curse. David blessed Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6-9), but Joshua cursed Jericho (Joshua 6:26; cf. 1Kings 16:34). All three men in the parable, the victim, the priest and the Levite were leaving the city of blessing and journeying toward the city of the curse. This means that none of us is able to change his direction apart from Jesus. In Adam, we have been blessed with life by God, but, because of Adam’s rebellion (Genesis 3) we journey toward the curse of death due to our inherited sin nature.

 

Man’s Inability to Love Without God

from Google Images

As Jesus traveled toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51), he spent time in different towns and villages along the way to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom to people living there who might receive him (cf. Luke 9:51-53). At one of those villages a lawyer tested him, trying his understanding of the Scriptures. However, Jesus answer seems to have made the lawyer look foolish. Therefore, the embarrassed rabbi reacted to the Lord’s pointing to the obvious, namely the phylacteries which the lawyer strapped to himself to help him remember his duty to obey the Law. In order to save face, the lawyer tried to get Jesus to answer a question that seems to have been a controversy among the rabbis: “exactly who is my neighbor” (Luke 10:29)?