John continues to focus in this chapter, first on the moral test, and then on the social test of authentic conversion. The application of both these tests disqualify multitudes who claim to be born again.

John begins by reminding his readers that those who have a hope of seeing God purify themselves, knowing that He is pure. That is logical, and that is the moral test. If I expected to have an audience with the Queen of England today (I happen to be in England as I’m writing this), I would be preparing myself, wouldn’t I? I wouldn’t be driving towards Windsor Castle in my pajamas.

But do true believers never stumble into sin? Are they perfect? No, notice that John uses the word “practice” seven times within the space of seven verses (3:4-10). To “practice sin” indicates some degree of habitual repetition. Thus, to extract, as some do, a single verse from this chapter, such as 3:6, which says, “No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him,” to prove that true Christians never sin, is to ignore context.

Be that as it may, let us not miss John’s clear message. In their behavior, true Christians stand out in contrast among non-Christians. John writes that by both the moral and social tests, the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious (3:10). How that contradicts what we so often hear about not being able to judge if people are Christians because “only God knows what is in their hearts.” John indicates that “God’s seed” which abides in us, which must be a reference to the Holy Spirit, prevents us from sinning.

Next, on to the social test. “We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren” (3:14). “Christians” who hate Christians are not Christians. And there is basically one reason why non-Christians hate Christians. It is because their deeds are evil and true Christians are righteous in their behavior, and that is certainly an evil reason to hate someone. Perhaps that is why John writes that “everyone who hates his brother is a murderer” (3:15). Granted, there are things to legitimately hate about wicked people. But to hate someone whose deeds are righteous is to reveal one’s utter depravity.

I’m afraid that the significance of 3:17—“Whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?”—is missed by most of us living in wealthy Western nations. We rarely encounter a fellow Christian who is truly “in need” by biblical standards, this is, lacking essentials such as food and covering. Yet there are multitudes of such Christians around the world. As I suspect that you already know, the primary goal of the ministry of Heaven’s Family is to link Christians like us, who have “the world’s goods” (3:17), with Christians who are suffering very pressing needs. If we close our hearts against them, we show that the love of God does not abide in us. But when we, in obedience to God, make sacrifices on their behalf, we “assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us” (3:19-20). That is, when our hearts condemn us for not making those sacrifices for our spiritual family in need, our repentance restores the assurance that we are genuine believers and “of the truth” (3:19).

How tragic it is when Christians are taught that guilt is from the devil, and that they should rebuke it in Jesus’ name. According to John, it is quite possible for a true believer to possess a heart that condemns him, and for good reason.

The great blessing of having a non-condemning heart (due to sacrificial obedience) is that “we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him” (3:21-22). Obviously, there is a correlation between obedience and answered prayer. Proverbs 21:13 says, “He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be answered.” That’s a promise of unanswered prayer!

This letter is thought to have been written around AD 85 or 90, making it one of the final New Testament epistles to be penned. Most, if not all, of the original apostles had been martyred, with the exception of the aged apostle John, who reportedly spent the last years of his ministry in Ephesus before being banished to the Isle of Patmos.

To what group of Christians was John writing? That’s uncertain, but he obviously wrote to protect them from heresies that were spreading. From certain historical sources, we know that there were those who were teaching a concept of the complete, separate distinction between the physical (impure) and the spiritual (pure). Therefore, it made no difference what a person did with his body, as long as his spirit was clean. This kind of logic led some to claim that they had never sinned. Moreover, it was being contended that one could become a Christian without his behavior being affected. An additional heresy existed that claimed Jesus had only come in the spirit, not in the flesh.

Right from the start of his letter, John addressed the latter of those heresies. In the first three verses, he stated that he and others heard, saw and touched Jesus, whom he calls “the Word of Life” (1:1; see also 4:2). Jesus came in the flesh and was not just a spirit.

John then introduces three erroneous conceptions, beginning each one with the words, “If we say that” (1:6,8,10). Obviously, there were some who were making certain erroneous statements.

First, some were claiming to be in fellowship with God yet at the same time practicing sin, a heresy that continues to this day. John will address that heresy so often throughout this first epistle that we could say that the primary theme of this letter is: “How one can know if he has been truly born again by God’s Spirit.” John will repeatedly list three tests in that regard, the first being the test of obedience:

God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth… (1:5-6).

“Walking in darkness” is synonymous with living in disobedience to Jesus’ commandments, as Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6). Everyone is either walking in darkness, following Satan and his lies, or walking in light, following Jesus and His commandments.

It will become clear as we continue to read John’s letter that the phrase, “being in fellowship with God,” is an equivalent expression to “being saved” or “being a child of God.” The word walk in the same verse implies an ongoing practice. Thus we could paraphrase 1:6 to read, “If we claim that we are saved but practice sin, we are lying.”

Lest anyone think that John was advocating that all true Christians are perfectly obedient, he quickly offers further clarification and corrects another erroneous conception:

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1:8-9).

So believers aren’t perfect, but they are striving for perfection. When they fall short, which they all do, they confess their sins and receive God’s forgiveness and cleansing. That is the pruning and sanctification process that all believers experience.

Finally, some were apparently claiming never to have sinned (1:10). That is heretical because it contradicts Scripture and eliminates the need for salvation and a Savior, making Jesus’ death meaningless.

If we “walk in the light…we have fellowship with one another” (1:7). When John wrote of having “fellowship with one another,” he was not thinking of people standing around after church drinking coffee in the “fellowship hall.” The Greek word translated “fellowship” is koinonia, which denotes a sacrificial sharing with others. We read in Acts, “Those who had believed…had all things in common,” or “in koinos” (Acts 2:44). Those who “walk in the light” love each other. Holiness is primarily characterized by servanthood. Does the word “servanthood” describe your lifestyle?

The final admonitions of this letter are just as applicable to us as they were to the Hebrew Christians of the first century. First and foremost, “love of the brethren” should characterize our lives (13:1). That love is the defining mark of true believers. If we love Jesus, we will love His family, and it seems the author of Hebrews had in his mind Jesus’ foretelling of the judgment of the sheep and goats (Matt. 25:31-46) as he wrote this final chapter.

He first mentions showing “hospitality to strangers” (13:2), reminiscent of Jesus’ words to the sheep, “I was a stranger, and you invited Me in” (Matt. 25:35). He then mentions prisoners and the persecuted (the ill-treated), reminiscent of Jesus’ words, “I was in prison, and you came to Me” (Matt. 25:36). Although many of us are not living in nations where Christians are being significantly persecuted or serving time in prison because of their faith, this does not mean that there is nothing we can do for persecuted and imprisoned Christians around the world. There are a number of excellent ministries that focus on serving the persecuted, such as Voice of the Martyrs, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, and Open Doors that can keep you informed of specific believers around the world who can use our prayers and to whom you can write to encourage. Heaven’s Family also has a Persecuted Christians Fund which is used to meet the pressing needs of persecuted believers and their families.

The author mentions other “holiness essentials,” reminding his readers (as Paul often did, which makes me suspect that he is the author) that God will judge fornicators and adulterers (13:4). He also warns against the love of money, often expressed by Paul using the words greed and covetousness, which he also frequently listed as sins that will keep one out of heaven. The author defines the love of money as “not being content with what you have,” a heart attitude that would of course be manifested by actions. As long as we know that the Lord will never forsake us, we never need to fear suffering the lack of what we need (13:5-6).

Although the old covenant sacrificial system has been abolished, there are still sacrifices that new covenant believers can offer up to God. They are “sacrifices of praise” which the author says we should continually offer up (13:15). God is also pleased when we sacrifice our time, talents and treasures, “doing good and sharing” (13:16).

We are instructed to “obey [our] leaders and submit to them,” but the author defines the kind of leaders who are worthy of such submission as being leaders “who keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account” (13:17). Genuine pastors are, above everything else, concerned for the spiritual health of their flocks. So they lead their sheep on the path of righteousness and make sure that they stay on that path, knowing that they themselves will give an account to the “great Shepherd” one day (13:20).

With this in mind, it is easy to see how far short so many fall who claim to be pastors, who in our age, very rarely even do so much as preach on biblical holiness, much less “keep watch over the souls” of anyone. It is also easy to see that it is only the pastor who oversees a small group who can possibly “keep watch over the souls” of his flock. A pastor must have a personal and close relationship with those in his flock if he is to know how they are living their lives. Discipleship is relational.

Although this letter has been packed with analogies drawn from the Old Testament, it seems the author couldn’t resist sharing at least one more. Just as the bodies of the animals whose blood was brought into the holy place were burned outside the camp, so Jesus was crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem (13:11-12). The Hebrew Christians should not think it strange that they were being ostracized from Jewish society, because Christ was also. They may not have been welcome in Jerusalem, but they were gaining an eternal city, the New Jerusalem (13:13-14).

Our earthly spiritual journey is comparable to a runner’s long-distance race. We’re being cheered on from the grandstands of heaven, as it were, by those who have run before us, the heroes of faith (12:1). Knowing that spurs us on. Moreover, Jesus is standing at the finish line, and so we should “fix our eyes on Him.” Being with Him forever is our goal, and endurance is the key. Runners have greater endurance if they carry less weight, and similarly, we should “lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us” if we want to cross the finish line in heaven.

Notice that the author mentions both sins and encumbrances that might slow us down. Encumbrances, although they may not be sinful, can be anything that slows down our spiritual progress. What we do with our time can certainly fall into this category. Wasting time, our most precious commodity, in meaningless relationships or mindless entertainment, is something that weighs down many believers in their spiritual progress. Long-distance runners don’t cross any finish line accidentally. They cross the finish line because that is what they set their hearts on, and they expect to suffer on the way to their goal.

The greatest example of enduring faith in the midst of suffering is Jesus, of course. He endured the cross because of the “joy set before Him” (12:2). He believed. The Hebrew Christians were also suffering “hostility by sinners,” but their sufferings were minor by comparison to His (as are ours). They had not yet shed their blood (12:4).

Some may have wondered why their loving Father, the all-powerful God, did not stop their persecutors. The author explains that, in His divine plan, God uses our sufferings to discipline us, that “we may share His holiness” (12:10). He “scourges every son whom He receives,” and the reason is because He loves them all (12:6). So He permits His own children to suffer, at least at times, to call them to repentance. If we “are without discipline” that reveals that we are not truly God’s children.

There are two wrong reactions to God’s discipline. We can “regard it lightly” (12:5), that is, essentially ignore it, or we can “faint when we are reproved” (12:5), that is, give up in exasperation (as the Hebrew believers were being tempted to do). The fact is, when many believers are rebuking Satan in their trials, they might consider rebuking themselves for behavior that has invited God’s discipline.

No one enjoys discipline, and that is the point. We learn to avoid sin in order to avoid the consequences. We associate disobedience with pain, just as do disobedient children who are spanked. God disciplines us and it trains us, which yields “the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (12:11). This is no small thing, because without holiness “no one will see the Lord” (12:14). God is training us for heaven, where holiness reigns.

The author uses Esau as a poor example to follow, since he “sold his own birthright for a single meal” (12:16). That is, he didn’t rightly value his birthright, and gave it up under temptation during a temporary trial. Later, when he deeply regretted his decision, the consequences of his foolishness could not be reversed (12:17). The message was clear to the Hebrew Christians and to all those who have reached a place of maturity in Christ. To abandon faith at this point is an irreversible decision (remember 6:4-6).

Finally, the author paints a picture that compares the awesome scene witnessed by the children of Israel at the giving of the Mosaic Law with the much more awesome future scene that will be witnessed by all believers who enter the New Jerusalem. Unbelieving Jews likely pointed to the former to attempt to persuade Hebrew Christians to revert to Judaism. But the Hebrew Christians need not be persuaded. God had a more awesome scene prepared for them! At the giving of the Mosaic Law, God’s voice shook a mountain, but one day it will shake the earth, and all that will remain are those things that cannot be shaken, namely, what belongs to His eternal, unshakable kingdom. Believers, keep on believing, and you will be unshakable!

Only after reading the first 10 chapters of Hebrews are we properly prepared to read Hebrews 11. Now we understand its important context. The author’s intent was to encourage persecuted Jewish believers, who were being tempted to waver, to imitate the example of familiar Old Testament characters who held fast in their faith and were ultimately rewarded.

We learn today something that the Old Testament does not reveal: God accepted Abel’s animal sacrifice because of his faith (11:4). Abel had a basis for his faith, namely, God’s clothing of Adam and Eve with animal skins after their sin. Cain, on the other hand, had no basis to believe that God would accept his offering of “the fruit of the ground,” and he represents the one who comes to God on the basis of dead works that do not stem from faith.

Noah acted in faith, trusting that God would keep His promise to flood the earth, and he was saved from God’s wrath (11:7), serving as an example to the readers of Hebrews. Like Noah, believers are now safely in God’s ark, Jesus, as judgment is about to fall on the earth again.

Abraham and Sarah trusted God to give them an inheritance in a land where they lived as aliens. The Hebrew believers could relate, living as aliens on the earth, believing that they would one day inherit it from God.

Many of the “faith heroes” mentioned all “died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance” (11:13). That is, they had some foresight of the promised blessings of the gospel, insight that was tragically being missed by unbelieving Jews. It seems those ancient saints must have had more knowledge of the future plan of God than we might suppose from reading the Old Testament. Abraham, for example, “was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (11:10). He knew about the New Jerusalem which is described to us in the book of Revelation (see also Heb. 13:14). We’re looking forward to that same city.

Abraham’s faith was tested, as was the faith of the Hebrew believers. He believed that God was able to resurrect his son from the dead, just as the author’s readers were required to believe that God resurrected His Son from the dead (11:17-19).

The life of Moses was also exemplary to Jewish believers. He decided to follow God, even though it meant denying himself worldly stature and pleasures. He paid a high price, but his faith was rewarded (11:24-28).

It took faith for all the children of Israel to keep the first Passover, sacrificing lambs and sprinkling the blood over their doors (11:28). What seemed completely foolish to the Egyptians paid off for the Israelites when the destroying angel killed all the firstborn who weren’t “under the blood.” Their faith in the blood saved them, just as our faith in the blood of the Lamb of God saves us.

It took faith to circle Jericho silently for seven days within earshot of the mocking Jerichoites, but those walls came tumblin’ down (11:30).

Rahab, the harlot, found that salvation comes by faith, as she and her family were the only inhabitants of Jericho to survive the Israelite onslaught. She trusted the spies’ “gospel” and acted accordingly, tying a scarlet thread in her window, which some say is a symbol of Jesus’ blood flowing down His cross (11:31).

And there are many more excellent Old Testament examples of those who persevered in faith and whom God rewarded. It was Daniel, of course, who “shut the mouths of lions” by his faith (11:33). His three friends “quenched the power of fire” (11:34). The widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:17-24) and the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4:17-35) “received back their dead by resurrection” (11:35).

Tradition says that it was Isaiah who was sawn in half for his faith (11:37). Jeremiah was imprisoned for his, and Zechariah was stoned. This is good to remember in an age when faith is often being promoted as a means to wealth, success and victory. The truth is, faith generally precipitates suffering, but it always ends in blessing. God is a rewarder of those who seek Him (11:6).

God may have accepted the death of animals as a token means of atonement, but something much more was needed to ransom us forever, not only from the penalty of sin, but from sin itself. No animal’s death ever atoned for every sin that a person may have committed, nor effected an inward, supernatural change in someone, making him righteous both legally and practically. But Jesus’ once-and-for-all sacrifice makes us holy and will ultimately result in our perfection (10:1, 14). So we see that the sacrificial system of the old covenant was “only a shadow of the good things to come” (10:1).

The author of Hebrews boldly declares, “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (10:4). When you compare the relative value of animals to that of human beings who are created in God’s image, it would seem there is little comparison. So how could an animal possibly atone for the sins of a human being? When you compare, however, the relative value of Jesus to that of human beings, He is of infinitely greater value, and thus it is easy to see how He could atone for the sins of everyone.

Pointing his readers back once again to the old covenant Scriptures, the author shows how they foretold of Christ’s atoning sacrifice that would bring an end to the old covenant system of animal sacrifice (10:5-7). He attributes the words found in Psalm 40:6-7 to Christ, spoken to His Father when He first entered the world. Those words show the deficiency of the old covenant sacrificial system, surprisingly revealing that God actually took no pleasure in animal sacrifices, and indicating that something that Jesus would do in His incarnation would make up for that displeasure. We know, of course, what it was that Jesus did!

And unlike the old covenant priests who needed to offer sacrifices continually for sins year after year, Jesus’ one sacrifice atoned “for sins for all time” (10:12). So He “sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet”—another reference to Psalm 110—because His work was completed.

All these wonderful truths about Jesus’ once-and-for-all sacrifice and His high priestly ministry gave first-century Jewish believers reason to continue following Jesus, even under persecution. So the author admonishes his Jewish readers to “hold fast,” which, incidentally, indicates that the possibility existed of their not holding fast. We also gain a glimpse of the degree of persecution that his readers had already endured for the sake of Christ. They had “accepted joyfully the seizure of [their] property,” knowing that they had “a better possession and a lasting one” in heaven (10:34). Some had been imprisoned. Their faith was genuine, and it would be rewarded (which is the theme of the next chapter).

Perhaps more than any other chapter in Hebrews, this one ends the debate on whether or not a true believer can forfeit his salvation. The author writes of the terrifying ends of those who have been sanctified by Christ’s blood, but who then “trample under foot the Son of God” (10:28-31). He warns of the dire consequences of those who are righteous but who don’t persevere in faith, who “shrink back to destruction” (10:36-39). It couldn’t be more clear to those who are honest with language.

May I stir up a little trouble? Thank you.

Pastors are often apt to quote Hebrews 10:25, reminding their flocks that the Bible says we should “not forsake our own assembling together, as is the habit of some.” Yet when the flock assembles, many pastors ignore what the immediate context of Hebrews 10:25 teaches, namely, what is supposed to happen when we assemble. We are to “stimulate one another to love and good deeds” and “encourage one another” (10:24-25). When we come together, we all have something to offer from the Spirit, and gatherings are supposed to be participatory, not a one-man show:

When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation (1 Cor. 14:26).

OK, I got that off my chest!

Without any doubt, the old covenant tabernacle and its furniture, coupled with the continual ministry of the priests, all served to reveal important spiritual truths. But the most significant truths they revealed, namely, concerning the ministry of Christ, have been missed by most Jews.

The author of Hebrews points out that priests were continually serving in the outer tabernacle, but into the inner tabernacle, the Holy of Holies, only the high priest entered once a year to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant, which represented the throne of God. Obviously, all that was done in the tabernacle under the regulations of divine worship did nothing to make it possible for the average person to enter the Holy of Holies. Even after the high priest performed the annual rituals of the Day of Atonement, it still was not permissible or even possible for anyone to enter the Holy of Holies, including the high priest himself, unless he came one year later, and under the required great precautions.

So what occurred continually for hundreds of years, first in the tabernacle and later in the temple, only foreshadowed what Jesus, our high priest, would one day accomplish. He would enter heaven before God’s actual throne, presenting His own blood as testimony to His suffering and death for the sins of the world, “having obtained eternal redemption” (9:12). Surely if the presenting of the blood of animals in an earthly tabernacle provided some cleansing benefit to worshippers, the blood of the sinless Son of God presented before God’s throne provides a much greater benefit. The author writes that it cleansed our consciences “from dead works to serve the living God” (9:14), another reference to the inward work of the Holy Spirit that results in sincere holiness stemming from a changed nature.

Remember that when Jesus cried out from the cross, “It is finished!” the veil in the temple was ripped in half (Matt. 27:51). We now have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, as we’ll read in the next chapter (10:19). If we could be transported back to Moses’ time, we could walk into the Holy of Holies without fear!

Doubtless, many Jews objected to the concept of a Messiah who was crucified. But the author points out that ancient covenants were often agreements made between two parties that had bearing only upon their descendants after they died. Some ancient covenants that included immediate benefits for covenanting parties were ratified by the death of an animal, perhaps symbolic of the deaths of both parties, and indicative of the finality and unchangeableness of the covenant’s conditions. This was what occurred at the inauguration of the old covenant. Thus the new covenant is revealed as superior again, because it was ratified, not by the symbolic death of an animal, but by the actual death of one of the covenanting parties, amazingly, God Himself.

Moreover, God has clearly and repeatedly demonstrated under the old covenant that “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (9:22). The old covenant was inaugurated with blood, and so it makes perfect sense that the new covenant would follow suit, and this also explains why Christ had to die.

Take note that the author believed that Christ did not just die for sins committed after His death, but also for sins committed under the old covenant (9:15). The fact is, no one in the history of humanity has had his sins forgiven apart from Christ’s death. Just as His death 2,000 years ago paid for sins that had not yet been committed, so it paid for sins committed by people who died long before Jesus lived, whether they realized it or not. Salvation has always been by grace through faith, made possible by Jesus’ future or past sacrifice.

Christ’s superior sacrifice of Himself was necessary only once (9:25-28). Under the old covenant, when the high priest exited the Holy of Holies to appear before the people, they knew it was just another year before they would witness another atonement. But when Jesus appears again, He’ll be coming “without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him” (9:28). Praise God!

The promise of Psalm 110 that God was going to appoint a perpetual high priest after the order of Melchizedek rather than Levi (highlighted in the previous chapter) implied the ultimate abolishment of the Levitical priesthood. This, in turn, implied that a significant part of the Mosaic Law that had anything to do with the Levitical priesthood would become obsolete. Thus one could easily see how the arrival of the promised perpetual high priest would necessitate a complete changing of the Law of Moses. We read in 7:12: “For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.” That change was nothing less than the end of the old covenant and the beginning of the new. Jews who were (and are) in sync with God’s plan have made that transition.

This reality becomes even more obvious when we realize that the priestly ministry under the old covenant was simply a foreshadowing of Christ’s priestly ministry. In this chapter of Hebrews, the author declares that the earthly tabernacle, for which Moses was given detailed construction plans by God, was a copy of a tabernacle in heaven (8:5; 9:23-24). Jesus was “a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man” (8:2). Thus, not only is Jesus personally superior in His priestly office as compared to any former priest, but He also has a superior ministry to any former priests as well. The high priests of the old covenant performed their ministry in an earthly, man-made tabernacle. They stood before a symbol of God’s throne in the earthly Holy of Holies to present the blood of animals. Jesus, however, presented His own blood before God’s throne in the heavenly Holy of Holies.

And it was that superior act in a superior place by a superior priest—foreshadowed thousands of times by inferior acts in inferior places by inferior priests—that inaugurated a superior new covenant. That superior new covenant, just like that superior high priest, had also been promised in the Old Testament. The author of Hebrews cites such a promise from Jeremiah 31:33-34, arguing that “if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second” (8:7). Because God promised a second covenant, that implied the fact that He found fault with the first, and naturally anyone who remained under the old covenant when the new covenant was inaugurated would be missing the mark.

The new covenant has made the old covenant obsolete (8:13). And we are now obligated to obey the law of Christ and not the Law of Moses. Any Christian, Jew or Gentile, who is trying to live under the old covenant is going backwards 2,000 years with God. Those who teach that Christians are obligated to keep the Mosaic Law might just as well start sacrificing animals to receive forgiveness of their sins!

Hundreds of years before the inauguration of the new covenant, God foretold through Jeremiah a few of the benefits that would be enjoyed by those who would partake of its promises. It would be superior to the old covenant because God would write His laws on hearts and minds, an inward work that would result in holy lives. Everyone who experienced that inward work would “know the Lord” (8:11), because knowing Him is revealed by a lifestyle of obedience to Him. So we see that hundreds of years before Jesus’ incarnation, God was already revealing the true nature of our salvation and exposing the false grace that is so often being peddled today, a grace that doesn’t change anyone’s behavior.

The apostle John similarly wrote, “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3). Knowing the Lord is synonymous with following His commandments, which was true even under the old covenant. The Lord also once said through Jeremiah:

Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy; then it was well. Is not that what it means to know Me? declares the Lord (Jer. 22:15-16).

Melchizedek is mentioned only twice in the Old Testament, within just four verses (Gen. 14:18-20; Psalm 110:4). Yet what is contained in those four verses emboldened the author of Hebrews to declare the end of the Levitical priesthood, a thousand-year-old institution founded by Moses in obedience to God. The author’s ultimate intention was to assure his wavering Hebrew readers that they were in sync with God’s plan. They had lost nothing by believing in Jesus, and had rather gained the benefit of a superior high priest.

Melchizedek was the “king of Salem,” an ancient name for Jerusalem. “Salem” is derived from the Hebrew word “Shalom.” Thus Melchizedek’s title means “king of peace” (7:2). Jesus, the “Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6) will of course one day rule from Jerusalem.

Melchizedek’s name means “king of righteousness,” which also reminds us of Jesus, “the Holy and Righteous One” (Acts 3:14). Melchizedek was a king and a “priest of the Most High God,” as Jesus is also.

And there is more about Melchizedek that makes him resemble Christ. There is no information in Scripture about his genealogy, his birth or death. So like Christ, he seems to have no beginning or end. Some suspect that Melchizedek actually was Christ in a pre-incarnate form. But the Bible doesn’t say so.

We’ve already learned that, according to Psalm 110:4, the Messiah was appointed by God to be an eternal priest after the order of Melchizedek. So the author of Hebrews first shows how the Melchizedekian order was superior to the Levitical order as a means to prove Christ’s superior priesthood. He points out that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. By this act, writes the author, Levi, a future descendant of Abraham “in the loins of his father,” in effect paid tithes to Melchizedek (7:9). Moreover, when Abraham paid his tithes, Melchizedek blessed him, and “without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater” (7:7). So Melchizedek was greater than both Abraham and his descendant, Levi, and thus his priestly order was superior to that of Levi’s. All of this is to say that Jesus is a superior high priest.

The author also argues that, if the levitical priesthood had been sufficient, God would never have announced a plan to install an eternal priest of a different order who was not a descendant of Levi. But God did make such an announcement in Psalm 110, and it was after He had established the levitical priesthood. Jesus, who was so much like Melchizedek, was obviously the promised priest of Psalm 110.

But there is more to be gleaned from Psalm 110 that points to Christ’s superiority. The eternal priesthood of Jesus came by an oath from God the Father Himself, which was not true of any other priest before Him (7:20-22). And unlike Christ’s priesthood, God never promised that the old covenant priesthood would go on forever.

Under the old covenant, there were many high priests. Prevented from continuing in their service by limited life spans, they followed one another successively from generation to generation. But Jesus is the only high priest of the new covenant, as He is alive forever. Consequently, He can offer us eternal salvation, because He will always live to ensure our covenant with God (7:25).

The old covenant priests had to make daily sacrifices for their own sins and the sins of the people. But Jesus was sinless, and no sacrifice was required for Him. And as the perfect, sinless sacrifice, He needed to offer Himself only once for our sins (7:27). By His sacrifice He atoned for every sin once and for all.

Finally, Jesus was a superior priest because He was not just a man, but also the Son of God (7:28).

The message to Hebrew Christians was clear: There was no sound reason to revert to the Levitical system of the old covenant now that the promised, long-awaited, superior, eternal, heavenly, sinless, God-appointed, perfect high priest had been revealed to the world. In fact, if you suspect that the entire Levitical system was designed by God to ultimately point to the priestly ministry of Christ, you are correct. Stay tuned!

We gather from the last four verses of chapter 5 that the author of Hebrews was not pleased with the slow spiritual progress of most of his readers. They had become “dull of hearing” and should have been teachers by that time, but they had need for someone to teach them again “the elementary principles of the oracles of God” (5:11-12). Six of those “elementary principles” he lists, the first of which are “repentance from dead works” and “faith toward God” (6:1). How tragic it is that many evangelical ministers today are lacking understanding of these most basic of the “elementary teachings about the Christ” (6:1), having redefined faith so that works are not a component and having removed repentance from the gospel. “Dead works,” by the way, are religious works that do not stem from a living faith in Christ, but instead from ingrained tradition.

“Instruction about washings” could be translated “instruction about baptisms,” of which the New Testament speaks of three: the believer’s baptism into the body of Christ, baptism by immersion in water, and baptism in the Holy Spirit.

By means of the “laying on of hands,” another “elementary principle,” healing power or an anointing of the Holy Spirit is transferred or bestowed (Matt. 19:13-15; Mark 5:23; 8:23; 10:16; 16:18; Luke 4:40; Acts 8:17-18; 9:12-17; 1 Tim. 4:14; 5:22; 2 Tim. 1:6). The baptism in the Holy Spirit is often administered through laying on of hands.

“The resurrection of the dead” refers to the foundational truth that every person, righteous and unrighteous, will one day be bodily-resurrected.

Finally, “eternal judgment” is the fundamental Christian belief that all persons will stand before God, and the results of each person’s judgment will be eternal, something that seems to be rarely mentioned from many pulpits these days.

Taken at face value, 6:4-8 proves once again that it is possible for saved people to forfeit their salvation, which was, of course, one of the primary concerns of the author of Hebrews for his contemporary readers. It is in fact impossible, he wrote, for believers who have fallen away from the faith and who fit the five criteria listed in these verses to regain what they lost.

One who cannot regain the salvation that he lost first must be “enlightened” (6:4), which means he recognized his sinful condition and need for a Savior. Second, he must have “tasted of the heavenly gift” (6:4), that is, received the gift of eternal life. Third, he must have been born of and baptized in the Holy Spirit. Fourth, he must have “tasted the good word of God” (6:5), indicating more than just a beginner’s understanding of God’s Word. He grew beyond the “milk stage” into the “meat stage,” no longer a baby Christian. Fifth, he must have tasted “the powers of the age to come” (6:5). That must mean that he had some experience with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

If a person has reached that level in his Christian walk and then falls away, “it is impossible to renew [him] again to repentance” (6:6). He’s compared to ground that was formerly fruitful but which now produces only thorns and thistles, reminding us of one of the soils in Jesus’ well-known parable by the same name. Such a backslider, in effect, re-crucifies Christ and thus inherits a curse which will result in hellfire (6:6-8). It is incredible that any commentator would claim that those five criteria can be met by a person who is only considering becoming a Christian, yet many do in order to protect the false doctrine of unconditional eternal security.

Clearly, the author of this letter wanted to prevent the Hebrew Christians from the consequences of falling away from Christ. Their love for the saints, manifested in practical ways, proved their current genuine faith, and provided assurance of their salvation (6:9-12). Yet ultimate salvation was not “in the bag.” It is through faith and patience that we ultimately inherit what God has promised us, as proven by Abraham, whose patient faith ultimately paid off. Similarly, our faith will be rewarded if we persevere. It is impossible for God to lie, and His promise is an anchor for our souls (6:18-19)!