Sermon: Hebrews: Its Background (Part Nine)

#1465
John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)
Given 15-Dec-18; 70 minutes

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I have been on the subject of Hebrews for a long time, a lot longer time than might be apparent to you, because maybe you have heard it only since I began it here in Fort Mill. But actually, I began it all the way back in the 70s when for some reason, I do not know what started it, I got interested in Hebrews while I was pastoring the congregation out in southern California and then I kind of dropped it for a while when we moved to Columbia, South Carolina. But then again, I picked it up in Columbia a little bit later in the 70s and on into the 80s as well. And I actually developed it into a fairly substantial series while I was there in Colombia.

Again, I forgot it for a while, or maybe I just left off it for a while, but when we were in North Hollywood, I began it once again and every time that I have done this, I have expanded it a little bit further and now here I am on it again and where I made the expansion this time was in its background. I had very little on its background for quite a number of years there and I began to find that it was right in the book, in the Bible. It was in the book of Acts that the activities took place there within the church and within Judea and the calling of the Gentiles that the need for this book (or maybe my series on this book) began to become more apparent to me as well.

I have given a compilation, actually an overview on my series on the Hebrews at four or five different Feasts of Tabernacles that I have been a guest speaker in because I began to find out that the people in the church, even the ministry in the church, knew almost nothing about the book of Hebrews. It is one that is tended to be avoided. Exactly why I do not know. As I have speculated a couple of times, people think of it as being deep. Well, it is deep to a certain degree, not deep in the fundamental propositions that it makes, but deep in terms of it being a necessary part of our understanding of Jesus Christ and His responsibility as our High Priest. It may be the most needful book in the entire Bible for church members.

Now maybe I am doing a little bit of bragging there because I have spent so much time in it, but you will find out from Evelyn that I do not feel proud at all about going through this book. I feel almost vacant in terms of what is in that book because that book is telling us a great deal about Jesus Christ—very much. And He is, in one sense, the most needful Person in all of creation for our salvation and we need to know Him. We need to understand what He is carrying out in His responsibility to His Father and to us.

There are a number of items of varying importance that I feel need to be cleared up before actually moving in to the epistle to the Hebrews for a word-to-word expounding. This sermon is dedicated to that end, and in this sermon I will concentrate on some important summaries that I feel are needed to give us more of a background to what we are plunging into. Now, I may fall short of completing them so I only picked out four. Three that I am pretty sure that we will get done and then a fourth one which I feel is kind of interesting, and you may find very interesting. I do not know, we will see if we get there.

Our first summary is, what is the epistle to the Hebrews most direct purpose? I want you to consider the fact that most of the background for the book of Hebrews happened in the period immediately following that Pentecost in 31 AD when God gave His Spirit and He began calling people into the church; and He called a great number of people until, as we found as we were going through that part of this series, that the group of people, the congregation in the city of Jerusalem, appears to have been quite large. At one point it picked up 3,000 people. Just about two or three weeks later, it picked up another 5,000 people. And a little bit later, it was in excess of just under 6,000 people. So it was a pretty good size congregation. I am not saying that they were all attending there in Jerusalem. I am saying that that is where the headquarters church, if I can put it that way, was located, and apparently the apostle James was a very prominent figure within that, and Peter was for a while before he began traveling all over the place.

Now despite the cultural problems occurring within Judea, there were clearly urgent needs as the book of Acts shows, for the teaching contained within the epistle, especially for the individual church members' personal growth in the faith.

You have to remember that the central personality within the book of Hebrews is Jesus Christ. We have a number of people named, human beings named, but by far and away, Jesus Christ is the most important personality within the book of Hebrews. Now, let us say, this is because Hebrews instruction deals with exposing Jesus Christ's outstanding qualifications for being the Christian High Priest and thus strongly encouraging each person's personal relationship with Him and trusting that relationship within the day-to-day conduct of each one's life. We heard a very fine sermonette here, given by David, in which he was talking about this very thing, that we need this relationship with Jesus Christ. There is no more important relationship that you will ever develop anywhere at any time than the one with Him.

I want you to recall to mind John 15, verses 1 through 5. I have mentioned this scripture many times, but I want you to see at least a foundation for how great the need is for a relationship with Jesus Christ.

John 15:1-4 [Jesus says] "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me [we are branches] that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me [that means continue, go along with Me, travel with Me, walk with Me, do all kinds of things with Me.], and I in you. And as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me."

Do you see that? No fruit of the Spirit of God unless we abide in Him, unless we have a relationship with Him. Is that important or what? That is why I have been telling you that the book of Hebrews is all about Jesus Christ and what He is and can do for us, and if we cannot develop without a relationship with Him, then tough. We will not be there in the Kingdom of God. So abide in Me. Continue in Me. Stay with Me. Travel with Me. Walk with Me. Follow My steps.

John 15:4-5 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

Was Jesus bragging? Was He blowing smoke about how important He is to our salvation? Not in the least, brethren. He was telling us the flat-out truth, the ticket, the way to salvation and in the Kingdom of God is by means of the relationship with Jesus Christ.

Now try to tell me that there is a more important book in the Bible than Hebrews. I will tell you, it is going to be hard to convince me of otherwise. We need to have a relationship more with Him than any other personality on earth. It is pretty hard to top that when He says God is glorified by the fruits that we produce, but without Jesus there is no fruit. Is He needful or what? Is He needful for our salvation?

So John 15's statement points directly to this fact. The convert's growth in the glorification of God by means of our producing the fruit of the Spirit hinges to a great degree upon the quality of the convert's relationship with Jesus Christ. This one specific relationship, a spiritual one, which is conducted on the basis of faith is the all-important one in life. Recall also that Jesus stated to the Samaritan woman at the well (this is in John 4), that the Father is seeking worshippers who will worship Him in spirit and truth. And these two truths together in thought, demanding serious efforts by the convert to fulfill, because the physical world is ever-present demanding our time and attention away from our calling.

What I am getting at here briefly is that the responsibility to develop the relationship with Jesus Christ is on us. We can ignore Him if we want. We can spend our time doing other things rather than praying, rather than studying His Word, trying to understand and to grasp the things that are in His mind and what He wants us to develop into. It is very easy to be earthy in our approach to life when God is telling us we have to be heavenly in our responsibility, so this one specific relationship, a spiritual one, is in all of life that important. So, "without Me you can do nothing." The relationship is spiritual and it operates by faith.

Now the epistle was primarily intended to first go to the Jewish converts and then the Gentile converts as God began calling them to thoroughly grasp that the entire Old Covenant priesthood and their responsibilities at the Temple had in fact been supplanted by the single High Priesthood of Jesus Christ. He was indeed God as a man. He was indeed the Messiah. He is our Savior. And though now in heaven, He remains our God as our High Priest seated at the right hand of the Father there. In addition to being our King, He is the Captain of our salvation, and efforts on our part must be made to seek Him out every day.

That is a bare bones summary, but it is also true. It was and remains the convert's responsibility then (that was back in the first century), and now it is ours too. And if they were to continue following Christ and at the same time lead those who are being converted in the right way to rightly divide the truth they already possessed, that they too needed Christ.

So what Christ has said and done in His position of leadership is for all Christians. We went through some of that in the previous sermon. It was that which determined whether or not circumcision would be not required anymore or whether it was to be required.

Now here is a simple example of Christ and our relationship with Him. What did Christ say in Matthew 5:17-20? That verse ought to be on the tip of our tongue. What Jesus said in that three-verse statement there was, "That not even a jot or a tittle shall pass away until all, that is, the law, is fulfilled." It is not fulfilled yet. But that is a clear and dogmatic statement. The relationship with Christ is where a Christian begins his determinations, his evaluations regarding conduct in every circumstance. It is a broad statement, but it is a true one. It is good to know Christ and what He says and what He does.

Paul adds in Acts the 20th chapter that he preached the whole council of God. Now we need the whole Bible in order to rightly divide the word of truth, and the Bible is Christ's word. It was what Christ said and did or failed to do in the presence of the apostles that determined the issue regarding circumcision. Now instead of circumcision now, after setting aside circumcision a spiritual death—remember what part circumcision played as being the sign and the seal of the covenant made with Abraham. Now setting aside of circumcision, so instead of circumcision now, what has replaced circumcision is a spiritual death regarding the old way of life through repentance, a burial in a watery grave, and resurrection from it, thus became the sign and seal of the New Covenant.

That significant step of commitment is far, far more spiritually momentous than cutting off a piece of skin from an eight-days-old boy who had no comprehension whatever of what was going on. That difference in regard to the significance in a comparison between the two acts is very noticeable. Circumcision has no spiritual effect under the New Covenant, and thus, if we are going to be a follower of Jesus Christ and have a relationship with Him, circumcision is shown to have no spiritual value to a person who is intending upon dedicating his life to Christ under the New Covenant.

(You might wonder why this is on my mind. It is because somebody challenged that. Not somebody even in the United States, but away from that. That circumcision is still needful. You thought that in the first century of the Christian era that that was done away. Well, not done away. I am going to change my wording there. I am going to give you a better term than done away if I get to that by the end of this sermon.)

But the difference in regard to the significance of a baptism as compared to circumcision, one can easily see that with the baptism it is far, far, far more meaningful spiritually. And thus if we are going to be a follower of Jesus Christ, circumcision is shown to have no spiritual value to a person who is intending upon dedicating his life to Christ under the New Covenant. So the answers to these issues are already in the Book for those of spiritual understanding intent on following Christ.

Now, we are going to take a look at another obedience aspect of this relationship issue, one that has very practical value. Because following our baptism, we are to follow in our High Priest's steps. But we must never forget that He is not just our High Priest but He is also our King and our Master in all points of conduct regarding His way of life. Now if we are going to know—understand—how to live life, it is going to derive from the relationship that we have with Christ. He is responsible for teaching us, and that is done within a spiritual relationship with Him. And in that relationship, which is spiritual, there is a transference of understanding and attitude from Him to us that enables us to keep the commandments of God.

I Peter 2:19-21 For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.

That is part of the relationship; we have to follow His steps. If we do not follow Him, who are we going to follow? Well, in most cases it is going to be some other human being, or we will say the world in general. But following Christ is a spiritual responsibility that begins with the relationship, and we have to walk in His steps.

Let us go to I Corinthians 11. This is how The relationship is maintained.

I Corinthians 11:1 [Paul says] Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

If the relationship is going to be maintained, it is because we are walking with Christ, we are experiencing life with Him, we are following His commands, and doing what He does in His life. That is the way the relationship goes on.

Now, why does He want us to follow Him by doing what He does? Well, the first reason, the most obvious one, is if we do what He does, we gradually become like He does. We become experienced in doing the things that He does. It takes practice doing those things. But there is a secondary reason. It is not quite as important to us personally as the first one. But it is because Jesus Christ is not visible, is He? He is in heaven, we cannot see Him. He is a spirit being. The world cannot see Him either.

And we just saw in the sermonette that the world does not know Him either. So they are completely blind as far as who Jesus Christ actually is. And they do not become experienced in what He does because they do not follow Him. But He demands of us that we follow Him and therefore we do what He does as a witness to the world that it can be done. So we have to follow Him. Part of the reason is because us being visible, we are a reality acting in His behalf.

Now how can a person who does not follow Jesus Christ in the conduct of his life, even to observing something as obvious as keeping the Sabbath, do this? Can a person be considered a commandment keeping follower of Jesus Christ if he is not keeping the Sabbath? Now, to you and me, that is obvious. The answer is no. But so that they never have the opportunity to say that it cannot be done or it should not be done, there are witnesses in the public, meaning you and me, who do it regardless.

And there are times when doing this is costly. I know back in 1959 when Evelyn and I were coming into the church, I was very concerned about going to my foreman to get the time off. Well, I talked to him, and it was over, there was no problem. Christ had cleared the way already. And a small miracle had to occur for that to be done because I worked three tricks: 8 to 4; 4 to 12; 12 to 8, and I worked pretty much on a regular team basis with others. And his first comment back to me was, "Jack, if I give you a special schedule [meaning away from the rest of the group], if I give one to you, I'm going to have to give one to everybody who asks me." But he did anyway. I say it was a small miracle. And he never had to give anybody else in the time remaining, which was another 9 or 10 years that I remained in the mill in that group of people, a special schedule. Especially one who had such few years seniority. But he did it and he was blessed. No uproar was created. But he stepped up because Christ gave him the opportunity to see that it worked. So I had to do the work.

There are times when we are required by Christ to do things that are not very comfortable to do, but He wants a witness before the world that He is working in the behalf of His people.

Now turn with me to Acts 11.

Acts 11:25-26 Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

Christian means a follower of Christ. And as I said before, part of the relationship with Christ is that we have to do as He did. We have to follow His commandments and we have to keep them regardless of what it might cost to us.

Now the followers of Jesus were named Christian because they did what Jesus did. The Bible clearly shows that Jesus kept both the weekly and the annual Sabbaths. Now they did so, thus clearly displaying their loyalty to Him in a relationship with Him. They did not shirk their responsibility and not follow His steps. They did what Christ did. Christ kept the commandments. Christ kept the Sabbath, both the holy days as well as the weekly Sabbath. And their obedience to the commandments was not solely in regard to the Sabbath though. They imitated Him in regard to His every action, and that is why outsiders, nonmembers, observers of these practices called His followers Christians.

There are those who feel that Christian was a derogatory name. Nobody can prove that. It simply says they were called Christians. It could have been derogatory. It could have been praiseworthy. Nobody knows for sure because of the way that it is stated there.

Now their obedience to the commandment was not solely in regard to the Sabbath. The people imitated Him within this relationship in regard to His every action, and that is why outsiders, non-member observers of those practices called His followers Christians. They did not shirk their responsibility and as a result, Jesus was witnessed to before the public.

By our times in history, people may call themselves by that title but proclaim by their conduct that keeping the commandments as Jesus did clearly is no longer required of them. So how can that be a good representation? It is not. We heard in the sermonette about the man who thought that it was praiseworthy for people to keep Sunday if they did it sincerely and objectively, let us put it that way. But as we saw, what did that do to the relationship with God, with Jesus Christ? It broke the relationship, and if the relationship with Jesus Christ is broken, there is no salvation because salvation is through Him and doing what He does in order to maintain the relationship.

Jesus' true followers keep God's commandments as He did, and His way is the only way that leads to eternal life because it—one way—prepares one for living that way for all eternity in the Kingdom of God. So it is not just a matter of Sabbath keeping, but the imitation of Jesus within a relationship in everything. That is our goal. That is a tall order, brethren.

That is the conclusion of that first summary. We have to follow Christ in order to keep the relationship going. We break the relationship, then we have to repent.

The second summary is, what is the epistle's theme?

What is a theme? A theme is a topic to be developed and discussed for clearer understanding when writing or speech making. We might also define theme by placing the words in the definition in a somewhat different order. Such as this, here is another alternate definition of theme. A theme is a purposeful development of the reason for the writing or speaking.

What is Hebrews theme? What is the reason for developing things in this manner? It is Hebrews theme which provides the strong evidence that the epistle to the Hebrews was primarily first intended for Jewish converts because they were the only converts who had living experience with its subject material and illustrations. They were the ones who were going through most of the persecution that we find being made against the church in the book of Acts. They were its target. It is Hebrews theme which provides the strong evidence that the book was primarily written for those Jews. The new Gentile converts had little background to deal with Hebrews subject material. They had familiarity with the Old Covenant worship system only to to the extent that they gathered from sermons at Christian services following their conversion.

Hebrews theme can be most clearly perceived recalling what was happening culturally in Judea, which was occurring because many Jews were grasping the super-abounding excellence of Christianity over Judaism, and within all of its superiority, at its center is the High Priest Jesus Christ. Hebrews develops the theme of the immeasurable superiority of Jesus Christ as Christianity's High Priest over all that has gone before. Not merely all high priests who have gone before but over everybody who has ever lived on earth.

Mark that in your mind. Everybody who has ever lived on earth regardless of what office they held within God's creative purposes from the very beginning, from Adam on, nobody can even begin to match Jesus Christ in what He can do for human beings—and He is willing to do it! And He showed His willingness by dying for us! That is how willing He is to lift mankind up. But it takes a relationship with Him and a willingness to give ourselves to Him in that relationship so that the relationship is developed.

Hebrews dominant theme is the contrast between what converts, regardless of whether they were Jewish or Gentile, were called upon to give up by casting their lot with Christianity and being shown the exhilarating truths regarding what they had gained by choosing to live by faith in Jesus Christ.

Now this will take maybe a little bit of time. I hope your pencil is sharp and I hope that your ink pen has ink in it because we are going to turn to quite a number of scriptures. So let us turn to the book of Hebrews. When I said that He was greater than anybody who has ever lived on earth, I meant it. Hebrews the first chapter. I want you to see how Jesus Christ is exalted by the author of the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews 1:1-5 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person [Can you imagine anybody who comes close to matching God? The Son does. They are one and He is our High Priest.], and upholding all things by the word of His power [Can you imagine that much power contained within this one Person?], when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels [He is better than the prophets. He is better than angels. Can you imagine that?] as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did He [the Father] ever say: "You are My Son, today I have begotten you."

Hebrews 3:1-3 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all his house. For this One [Christ] has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house.

Greater than Moses. And openly admitting that He is the One who created all things. What a Friend! What an Elder Brother! Greater than anybody who has ever passed this way before.

Hebrews 4:1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest [the Son's], let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.

Hebrews 4:11-12 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Verse 14, He is greater than Joshua. God is going right down the list. Chapter 5, verses 14 through 17, He is greater than Aaron. Chapter 7, verse 19 all the way through chapter 10 and verse 39, where it compares Him to the whole ritual of Judaism. He is greater than the whole thing. Then Hebrews 11, verses 11 through chapter 12, verse 3 stresses His superiority over the entire panoply of saints listed in Hebrews the 11th chapter. Nobody even begins to compare to Him who has never sinned even one time!

I am going to go to Hebrews 10 because it gives about as clear a picture of Him as we might be able to get from Hebrews at this point because it shows the distinction between The Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

Hebrews 10:1-10 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. [The Old Covenant could never do it. Do you see? Never.] For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have no more consciousness of sin. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when He came [the Son] into the world, He said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me [that is, His human body]. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come [the Son]—in the volume of the book it is written of Me [what for?]—to do Your will, O God.'" Previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sins You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them" (which are offered according to the law), then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God." He takes away the first that He may establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Nobody else could do it because it took a sinless person to sacrifice Himself so that we can be forgiven and given eternal life. Is that a Friend that you want to have? Absolutely, brethren!

Now, from the things that I am saying maybe we ought to change the comparison a bit. There is a couple of key terms in the book of Hebrews (we are still on the theme here). Some have suggested that the key term throughout Hebrews is better. Everything about Christ is better than anything anybody else could possibly propose as being a comparison.

Again, He is better than angels. Again, He gives us a better hope. Again, we have been given because of Him a better covenant. He is a better sacrifice. He Has made it possible for us to have a better and a lasting possession in the World Tomorrow. This goes along with that. It says clearly in the book of Hebrews, Jesus had made possible for us to be part of a better country, a better resurrection. And in verse 40 of chapter 11, it refers to the covenant as a better thing.

So not only is better emphasized, but so also is greatness.

I have mentioned to you before and I am going to say it again, the entire book of Hebrews is extolling Jesus Christ in order to keep this relationship alive and working. Because every good thing in life is at our fingertips, as it were, because of Him. And if we want to be part of it—I am going to stress this again—we have to make the effort to keep the relationship going. It does not depend on us because Christ is mercifully going to intervene from time to time, but we have to see it as our responsibility to keep it going. That will please Him.

Now not only is better emphasized and so also is greatness mentioned many times but I will give you some of things that are in the book of Hebrews that Jesus has made great.

Chapter 2, verse 3, great salvation. Chapter 4, verse 14, we have a great High Priest. Chapter 9, verse 11, a great tabernacle that just puts it into comparison any building on earth. Chapter 10, verse 32, a great fight of afflictions. Chapter 10, verse 35, great recompense. Chapter 12, verse 1, there is a great cloud of witnesses witnessing before us, those who have gone before. And chapter 13, verse 20, Jesus is called the great Shepherd of the sheep.

Again, in contrast to what the Jewish converts gave up in converting is what they gained is drawn to their attention. This again is what the book of Hebrews does. It draws the convert's attention to things that are essential to our salvation.

Number 1, we have a great High Priest. Number 2, we have an anchor to the soul to keep us firmly attached to Jesus Christ. Number 3, we have an altar that we can approach.

Also in Hebrews we are exhorted to look forward to a world to come, to an age to come, a new covenant yet to be made with the house of Israel. It points ahead to good things to come, of a salvation to be revealed at the coming of the Redeemer. And of a city that is yet to be manifested.

Everywhere one turns to read within Hebrews, one is being quietly but firmly, almost forcefully drawn to one overriding reality. The center of Judaism was the Temple, the priesthood, and the sacrifices, and all of them were fine teachers and good experiences for the Israelites spiritual upbringing. But in Hebrews 8, and chapters 4 through 7 and 13, and though the converts are indeed deprived of these spiritual teaching vehicles, they are but shadows and symbols. And through their calling and God-given gifts provided, along with the calling which God Himself referred to as shadows, they were then, as we are today, dealing with realities. That may be one of the more important things that I have said in this sermon. We are dealing with reality in Jesus Christ. How more real can somebody be than One who never dies.

A third summary is, the book of Hebrews character.

Now I believe that we must first define character and then proceed on from there by letting the author himself tell us what he termed it as. In my Reader's Digest Great Encyclopedic Dictionary, character is defined broadly as, "The combination of qualities and/or traits that we discern in an individual, group, or thing." Now in this case, we are looking at characteristics in a writing by some unknown person. And that brethren, might be its first and most obvious characteristic.

Apparently the author is unnamed in order to clear the way for the readers of the epistle to the Hebrews to focus on the main character. And of course, the main character is Jesus Christ. And boy, I will tell you, there is plenty in that book describing Him. So the main character is Jesus Christ. The author of the epistle is not the originator. He is merely a servant. And so the main character is the Messiah, the greatest personality ever to come to earth.

And what is really interesting, He came to earth and He was born as a baby. Let that one roll around in your brain. That is the way God thinks. It is almost like, "I'm going to put Him on the same level as other human beings beginning life in this way." He overcame it. He overcame being a human being.

Part of this summary is that unlike the other epistles, it has no opening salutation. I mean, the book of Hebrews is different. No opening salutation identifying all of its vital information is intended. For it remains for the writing's readers to seek it out and make conclusions. Now I am making this job a bit easier for you and others have made it easier for me by going before me and picking some of these things out. But all of these things that are descriptors of Jesus Christ and His personality and His character, what He is doing and how He is doing it, He has put these things down there so that we will understand our responsibility. And our responsibility is to seek the Lord while He can be found. Seek Him and maintain the relationship.

A second characteristic is that unlike other epistles, it has no opening salutation identifying to whom all its vital information is intended for. We should know that it is intended for us, for God's Family so that we are able to obtain salvation. God has not hidden Himself for what He wants of us, and He even supplies us with a helper all along the way, and that helper is His Son. We get every break, brethren, reaching for the highest prize that exists in the universe. He did not leave us alone.

Third, and this might be its most valuable asset, it is that the High Priesthood of Jesus Christ is open to full view before us, and it is through Him and only through Him that salvation is given. The focus in our lives must be on Him if the writing is to be effective. We have to make efforts.

Fourth, another characteristic. It focuses on what we would normally consider Old Covenant teaching more frequently, thoroughly, and strongly than any other New Testament writing. Now why? I think it is this. The purpose in so doing is to achieve reviewing the contrast and similarities between Jesus and the New Covenant system.

The fifth characteristic. Its warnings against apostasy are easily by far the strongest and most frequent in the New Testament. God is clearly through Jesus Christ seeking purity of conduct to glorify Him and His Family, and to produce fruit. In one sense, brethren, there is no schoolmaster any higher than Jesus Christ. We have hit the top rung through God's calling.

The sixth characteristic. Its appeals to the brethren for faithful steadfastness and perseverance are frequent and very strong. I wrote down this note: This is graduate study and demanding in some of its requirements. God is not playing around. We have hit the top with the book of Hebrews because it puts us in touch personally with our Savior. You cannot go to a better tutor than Him. And so God gave us the best to achieve the most.

The seventh characteristic, and this one is exceedingly important. The first time that Jesus Christ is mentioned in the epistle is in Hebrews 1:3, and He is shown seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. You cannot go any higher than that for help. He is the top of the list. The insertion of that sets the emphatic tone for the entire epistle. Is there any other religion whose high priest is seated at the right hand of God? No other savior anywhere even begins to compare.

So Hebrews emphasis is heavenly in contrast to the reality that carnally, throughout our entire life, our natural focus has been earthy. And now here is what the author of Hebrews himself says. This is what he says about his own writing, and we will end here. The author gives it a bare bones character trait as being nothing more to him than a word of exhortation. Now the Amplified expands it a bit saying this.

Hebrews 13:22 (AMPC) I call on you, brethren, to listen patiently and bear with the message of exhortation and admonition and encouragement, for I have written to you briefly.

Now all four of those characteristics are vividly driven home within the context of Hebrews. Here is what the author says:

1. Be patient.

2. Yield to my exhortations.

3. Be warned that you are on trial and allow yourself to be encouraged because all I have written on is given to prepare you for your future.

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