Hebrews 1:1-3 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high…

Why did God give us the Book of Hebrews? Why Is “Hebrews” So Important For Us In America Today?

People are in a constant state of confusion in America. Many children are growing up confused about their sexuality. The vast majority struggling with sexual identity come from broken homes. Their mothers or fathers – or both – abandoned them, abused them in their formative years, and so the child is confused.

A child, like a plant, will only grow and be fruitful in the proper soil and in proper care. Left to its own, the weeds of life take over. Poorly tended, children turn to crime, drug abuse, or confusion of face (furries)!

How are we going to see the rips in American society repaired? Will a political party, some man made “god” do it? No! What will fix the Church in America, the Church that has so compromised that its ministers have become molesters, and it’s mission to fly a rainbow flag? Another denomination isn’t going to fix it.

We need to get back to the Source of Life. We need to get to God. That’s what the Book of Hebrews is about.

Let’s start with the name of the Book, “HEBREWS”. According to Allan P. Ross, the author of the Baker Academic textbook “Introducing Biblical Hebrew” (2001):

“Hebrew belongs to the CANAANITE group of languages. Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages”

That’s fascinating. Our Old Testament is written in Hebrew and Aramaic, both languages coming from Canaan. Though Canaan was a land of “milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8; Numbers 14:8; Deuteronomy 31:20; Ezekiel 20:15), Canaan was filled with an evil and idolatrous people. Rather than worship the God Who made them, they created their own gods and goddesses. When God sent Israel into Canaan, He ordered that they “utterly destroy all in the cities” (Joshua 6:21). Why did God want the Canaanites all gone? Because God gave the Canaanites a beautiful and bountiful land. God gave them rain in due season, great harvests, and wonderful weather along with fertile soil. Rather than walk with God, the Canaanites despised God, abused that which He gave, and created false gods that they paid homage to.

And their civilization fell apart. They became savage.

Pastor Don Stewart notes:

“The Promised Land in which the Israelites were to settle was populated by the Canaanites who had corrupted and perverted God’s truth. They had corrupted themselves to the place where they were beyond saving. Had any been permitted to live, they would have infected Israel with their moral depravity.”

Canaanites followed false gods. They murdered and abused their children. They rejected a walk with God. In the midst of all this madness, we see God reach out to a person of Canaanite heritage. A HEBREW by the name of Abram.

Genesis 14:13 (ESV) … Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre …

Abram – who would follow God and become known as ABRAHAM – was from Canaanite stock. “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). God reached out to Abram, Abram didn’t reach out to God. Abram was broken. He had no children, nor any prospect of children. God reached out and called this Hebrew to salvation. God said:

Genesis 12:1-3 (ESV) … Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Abram-Abraham was a pagan who heard a call to salvation, and began to follow the Lord because of it. He separated from his Canaanite family and Canaanite religions to honor the Lord who saved him. What did God promise Abram/ Abraham? He promised Abram a child. God said, “I will fix your broken life and the broken life of your wife if you follow Me”. God promised Abram many children. God said, “I will make of you a great nation”. God promised not only to fix Abram, but to give him a SUPERABUNDANCE OF GRACE. But what else did God promise Abram? God said, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed”. God would give Abram GRACE, but a GREAT GRACE would come through Abram’s heritage. Now here’s a question for you to ponder.

What did God NOT promise the Hebrew Abram? He did not promise him HEAVEN. And yet, that is so much of the focus of preaching in America today.

It was through the lineage of Abraham – the Hebrews – that God would send the Messiah. Why did God call out to Abram/ Abraham? To lead him out of the mess of Canaanite society, and to invite him to walk with God Himself. Why did Jesus come to this earth? He came through the Hebrews to give us life RIGHT NOW. It’s not about eventual Heaven. Yes, we want to go to Heaven. The Bible tells us:

John 3:16-20 (NKJV) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

If you walk through this life without Jesus, without the One that the Hebrew Abraham followed, then you have CONDEMNATION. Your life is in pieces. You are not living the life God meant you to live.

Jesus came into this world to not just save you from Hell, but to lead you in this life. He came to take your brokenness and, through His Grace, bless you and give you the life the devil doesn’t want you to have.

The Target Of Salvation Is To Walk With God

Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets

God has been reaching out to mankind since our start in the Garden of Eden. We’re told in verse 1 that God reached out “at sundry times and in divers manners”. This is two Hebrew words, polymerōs polytropōs. The God Who is “the Everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 40:28) reached out “at many different times, and in many different ways” to SPEAK or COMMUNICATE with us. God wants us to understand that He is the Creator of life. He is our Maker. When we walk apart from Him, we walk in darkness and in misery. God called out men whom He called “prophets”. The Prophets were the oracles of God. They, like Abraham, were willing to listen to God. These men in turn told others what God wanted them to hear.

God kept His Word, and out of Abraham raised up a nation called Israel that was to introduce the whole world to life with God. But Israel went to Egypt, and there got away from God. They gave their hearts to the gods of Egypt, turning back to the darkness. As a result the nation that was supposed to BLESS the world was CURSED in their world. Pharoah told the midwives, those who delivered the babies of the Hebrew mothers:

Exodus 1:16 … When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.

When you get away from a relationship with God, He will often allow troubles to come. It is God Who brings stability to our lives.

Jeremiah 3:25 We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

The Pharoah determined that he wanted the male babies of the Hebrew women to be killed. Had this happened, the Nation that God was going to bless the whole world with would have died out. When the midwives wouldn’t do this evil, Pharoah tried working the Jews to death. As slaves, he made their lives more and more difficult.

Israel cried out to the Lord for salvation when the whip of the taskmaster cut their skin. The prodigal son decided to go home to his father while he was eating out of the hog trough. Trials wake us up and remind us of God.

Israel cried out to God,

Psalm 3:7-8 Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For You strike all my enemies on the cheek; You break the teeth of the wicked. SALVATION BELONGS TO THE LORD … Selah!

When Israel called out to God, repenting and trusting in Him, God heard them. God always hears when we cry out. God called to Moses from a burning bush, saying:

Exodus 3:7-8 (ESV) … I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey…

Israel was saved by calling on the name of the Lord. They heard the voice of the Prophet Moses. God spoke to His people, saying “Follow Me and I will bless you, I will save you from wasted life.

Psalm 116:13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord …

Romans 10:13 … For WHOSOEVER SHALL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED …

Salvation has always been by GRACE, by REPENTANCE, by turning from yourself and thrusting yourself by faith into the arms of God. Israel was saved by Grace. Abraham was saved by Grace. The New Testament tells us that:

James 2:23 Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. And he was CALLED THE FRIEND OF GOD ..

Romans 4:3 … Abraham BELIEVED GOD, and {this faith} WAS CREDITED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS (a quotation of Genesis 15:6)

Abraham was not saved by keeping a Law, but by loving and following Him Who made us. We are all broken. We think we know best, but apart from God, we do not. When we hear God’s call and follow Him, He covers our sins, and guides us into His light.

Romans 4:6-8 (ESV) … just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

To Be Saved Is To Follow God. Jesus Is God.

Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

God called humans to walk with Him through His prophets. Moses was a great Prophet. But God also wanted us to understand that, though salvation is free to us – it comes at a GREAT COST.

How could God describe the GREAT COST of our salvation? He first did it with the Law, with animal sacrifice. Israel followed the Prophet Moses to Mount Sinai, and there God gave Israel an elaborate series of feasts, festivals, and sacrifices. God established a Tabernacle and later a Temple for worship. The center of the Hebrew’s life was the animal sacrifice. God told the Hebrews to gather

Exodus 12:5 … year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats

The animal was killed as “a sin offering for atonement” (Exodus 29:36). The blood of the blemishless creature COVERED the sin of the people. The Hebrews were to “make atonement for their souls” (Exodus 30:15). The animals were to be killed on an altar to God, then burned to signify the wrath of God being poured out on the blemishless creature for the penitent sinner. The animal suffered the punishment of sin. The animal sacrifice was prophetic, for it had no ability to actually pay the price of sin. Salvation is a gift of Grace, but Someone MUST pay the penalty of sin, which is death.

Some 80 times in the Bible God through the Prophets spoke of ATONEMENT, the covering of sin. In each instance, an animal without blemish was PUNISHED, killed and BURNED to pay for the sins of the people.

Word Study: The word ATONEMENT (Greek katallagē, “Reconciliation with God”) is only found FOUR TIMES in the New Testament (Romans 5:11; 11:15; 2 Corinthians 5:18; 2 Corinthians 5:19). In these passages it never refers to an animal sacrifice – but to what Jesus did for us. For instance, the Bible says:

Romans 5:8-11 (ESV) … but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation (ATONEMENT (Greek katallagē).

We have “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). In the Old Testament, the Hebrew was called to walk with God by faith, and to temporarily cover his sins by animal sacrifices. In the New Testament “we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son”. The Old Testament Law was a shadow, looking forward to the Messiah. We now walk with God by faith in Jesus Christ, believing that HIS DEATH ATONED FOR OUR SINS.

It was prophesied in the Old Testament that God Himself would come into humanity. The Scripture says:

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel (meaning “God with us”)

This Messiah would come forth from God to be born in Bethlehem:

Micah 5:2 (ESV) But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

This Messiah is Jesus. He would come into the world to ATONE for our sins, so that we can, by Grace, walk with God. We are told later in this Book of Hebrews:

Hebrews 10:5-10 (ESV) Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’” 8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

God was never satisfied with the sacrifices of animals, no matter how spotless they appeared. God never considered the sacrifice of animals to be an atonement for sin. No, the Messiah must come. The Prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah.

How Much Does God Want You To Walk With Him?

The Jesus that God sent into the world is no mere Man. We are told:

Hebrews 1:2 {God} Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

The Jesus Who came into this world is co-eternal and co-equal with God. Though He took upon Himself humanity, being made of virgin and Holy Spirit, Jesus is the Eternal Word of God. The Scripture says:

John 1:1-3 (ESV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

When God said “Let there be Light”, and there was Light, JESUS WAS THAT LIGHT (Genesis 1:3). God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit made life. When you walk with Jesus, you are walking with the Creator of Life:

John 1:4 (ESV) In Him {Jesus} WAS LIFE, and the life was THE LIGHT OF MEN …

Before Jesus Christ “the Word became FLESH and DWELT AMONG US” (John 1:14), Jesus is co-equal and co-eternal with the Godhead. Jesus is no mere man, a sinner like us.

Jesus is Eternal God Who BECAME FLESH so that He could BE MADE SIN FOR US, that is, in our place. “God the Father MADE Jesus to BE SIN FOR US; that WE might BE MADE the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The Bible says of Jesus that

Colossians 1:13-17 (ESV) {God the Father} has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom {Jesus} we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 {Jesus}| is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by {Jesus} all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

In Jesus, all things are held together. YOUR LIFE WILL FALL APART IF JESUS IS NOT IN IT!

Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

Jesus is the Maker of all things, so He is the HEIR of all things. It is Jesus Who holds all things together. It is Jesus Who “by himself purged our sins”. I read somewhere that in all of the Temple, there was no place, no chair for a Priest to sit down. The Priests worked around the clock, making sacrifices, and had no time to sit. But Jesus, once He purged our sins by dying in our place, He “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high”. When He said from the Cross,

“It is finished” (John 19:30)

He drank the Cup of punishment for us. Instead of giving us a Cup of punishment, Jesus gave us a Passover Table and a Cup to remind us:

Matthew 26:27-28 (ESV) … {take this Cup}, drink of it, all of you; for this is My Blood of the {New} Covenant, which is poured out for many FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS …

If you have believed on Jesus, then the Bible says:

Ephesians 1:5 (ESV) {God the Father} has PREDESTINED US FOR ADOPTION AS SONS THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, according to the purpose of His will…

We are not what we were, but are “new creatures in Christ”. We have received “the Spirit of adoption as sons” (Romans 8:15), and await eagerly for our Heavenly redemption (Romans 8:23). We are not saved by Law, but by the Blood of Him Who satisfied the Law. Now saved, we DO NOT TURN THE GRACE OF OUR GOD INTO LASCIVIOUSNESS (Jude 4), denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. We live our lives following Him Who saved us, pleasing Him in all that we do.

May God touch your hearts with His Word and Spirit. Amen.