TOPIC: THEBESTISYETTOCOME
Letuscontinuetobefaithfulinobeyingthewordof
Godbecause ourbestdaysareaheadofus.
KEY POINTS
  • Many have speculated over the centuries about who authored the book of Hebrews; however, the author of the book is unknown.
  • It is believed that Hebrews was written sometime between 67AD and 70AD(during the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero)to a group of Jewish Christians experiencing tribulation and persecution because of their association with Jesus Christ.
  • As a result of the tribulation and persecution, some of the Jewish Christians were turning away from Jesus Christ and, in many cases,returning to Judaism.
  • The author of the book of Hebrews was reaching out to this group of believers to encourage them that faith in Jesus Christ held promise of better things to come, and to admonish them to hold on to their faith.
  • The book of Hebrews has two main points:
1) Jesus is better than all the good things known up to this point. Better than angels & the Torah, Moses & the Promised Land, the Levitical Priesthood, the sacrificial system and the Old Covenant.
2) Remain faithful to Jesus in spite of tribulation and persecution because a promise of better things is on the horizon. The best is yet to come.
  • The author of Hebrews reminds the readers of how God has spoken to the Israel in the past, through the prophets and angels, andthen states that Jesus is much better than the angels and has inherited a much better name than they.
  • The author is demonstrating that the good news of Jesus is much better than the good news delivered by angels.
  • The book of Hebrews then transitions to make a comparison between Moses and Jesus. It is established that as a servant Moses was faithful in all things, but that Jesus is worthy of more honour because He was faithful in all things as a son.
  • Moses was faithful over a house that was already built. But as the Son of God Jesus was not only faithful, but he was also the builder of the house (Colossians 1:16).
  • The role of the priest was to represent the children of Israel before God. Daily and annually the high priest would offer sacrifices to God. The author of Hebrews makes the case that the Levitical Priesthood was incomplete because they offered sin sacrifices for themselves as well as forthe people.
  • Jesus doesn’t need to offer sin sacrifices for himself because he is holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens (Hebrews 10:26). Therefore Jesus has become a better mediator between God and man.
  • Hebrews makes the case that Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary was better that the system of animal sacrifices because the blood of bulls and goats could not remove sin once and for all.
  • Jesus represents the promise of better things and because of this we can take confidence that the best for our lives is yet to come.
  • We can approach God to receive grace and mercy knowing that he understands what we experience (Hebrews 4:14­16).
  • We have great examples of people who remained faithful to God during challenging times (Hebrews 11).We need to remain faithful to God even during difficult experiences in our lives.
  • Because our best days are ahead of us we offer acceptable praise to God and continue doing good.
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