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The Letter to the Hebrews

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The Letter to the Hebrews THE LETTER TO THE HEBREWS An Explanation of this Letter Especially for You Rock Solid #9 Ger de Koning The original Dutch version is available at Webshop: www.uitgeverijdaniel.nl Orders: [email protected] Translation: Ursula Moestapa Cover design: Jan Paul Spoor / Sjon Heijenga Layout: Piet Versteeg © 2016 by Ger de Koning. All rights preserved. No part of this publication may be – other than for personal use – reproduced in any form without written permission of the author. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. 4 Contents Foreword 9 Abbreviations of the Names of the Books of the Bible 11 Old Testament 11 New Testament 12 Explanation of general format 13 The Letter to the Hebrews 15 Introduction 15 Hebrews 1 20 The Sevenfold Glory of Christ | verses 1-3 20 The Son Far Above the Angels (I) | verses 4-5 25 The Son Far Above the Angels (II) | verses 6-14 30 Hebrews 2 35 Holding On To the Word | verses 1-7 35 We See Jesus | verses 8-12 40 Be Made Like the Brethren | verses 13-18 45 Hebrews 3 50 Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest | verses 1-6 50 Encourage One Another Day After Day | verses 7-13 55 Hold Fast the Assurance Firm Until the End | verses 14-19 60 Hebrews 4 65 The Rest of God | verses 1-11 65 Three ‘Aids’ | verses 12-16 70 Hebrews 5 76 Aaron and Christ As High Priest | verses 1-7 76 Milk and Solid Food | verses 8-14 82 5 Hebrews 6 87 True or False | verses 1-8 87 God’s Promise Is Sure and Steadfast | verses 9-20 93 Hebrews 7 99 Melchizedek | verses 1-7 99 Priesthood of Levi and of Melchizedek | verses 8-19 105 Such a High Priest Was Fitting For Us | verses 20-28 110 Hebrews 8 115 The Main Point | verses 1-5 115 The Old and the New Covenant | verses 6-13 121 Hebrews 9 127 The Earthly Sanctuary | verses 1-10 127 Christ, High Priest and Mediator | verses 11-15 133 The Purification and the Appearance | verses 16-28 138 Hebrews 10 144 I Have Come To Do Your Will | verses 1-9 144 Sanctified By the Will of God | verses 10-18 150 Confidence To Enter the Holy Place | verses 19-21 155 Draw Near To God | verses 22-27 160 He Who Is Coming Will Come | verses 28-39 165 Hebrews 11 171 To Live By Faith (I) | verses 1-4 171 To Live By Faith (II) | verses 5-8 176 To Live By Faith (III) | verses 9-16 182 To Live By Faith (IV) | verses 17-23 187 To Live By Faith (V) | verses 24-30 192 To Live By Faith (VI) | verses 31-40 197 Hebrews 12 203 The Author and Perfecter | verses 1-4 203 God Deals With Sons | verses 5-11 208 Pursue Peace and Sanctification |verses 12-21 213 We Have Come To Better Things | verses 22-29 218 6 Hebrews 13 224 Love and Confidence |verses 1-6 224 Let Us Go Out To Him | verses 7-13 229 Exhortations, Blessings and Greetings | verses 14-25 234 Other Publications 240 7 8 Foreword Dear friend, Herewith I can offer you the next volume of the ‘Rock Solid series’. This volume is about the letter to the Hebrews, a letter which almost certainly is written by Paul (see the Introduction). It is a letter with a special character. He presents the Lord Jesus in a special way. You will see Him in His glory that far surpasses all created things and in a humiliation that goes deeper than any man has ever experienced. The special character of this letter also is that the writer explains in it the Old Testament worship. He shows that the whole wor- ship service points towards Christ and His work and great results thereof. It is a very inspiring letter for living in faith. The further you progress in your study of this letter, the more you will have the joy of being a Christian. I repeat a few tips that might help you that were also given in the other volumes: 1. Provide yourself with a good translation of the Bible. Some good translations are the New American Standard Bible (NASB), the New King James Version (NKJV), the New Trans- lation by J.N. Darby (JND) and the King James Version (KJV), preferably with the New Scofield word updates. I will be using the NASB, with permission granted by The Lockman Foundation on February 10, 2016 when referencing and quot- ing Scripture unless I note otherwise. 2. I tried to write this book in a way that encourages you to use the Bible. At the beginning and end of each section, I have list- ed the Bible verses pertaining to that section. I encourage you 9 to read those verses before and after reading the section. It would be a good idea to keep your Bible open to those verses so you can easily refer to them. 3. Self-discipline is very important. You have to be willing to dis- cipline yourself to take time to understand the Bible better. I suggest that you read the Bible at a set time that’s best for you. To help you with this, I have divided this book into forty-one sec- tions. I also noted with a ‘V’ which verse is explained. You could read one section every day. If you can be self-disciplined in this, you will have gained some insight into one of the most splendid letters of the Bible after six weeks. The whole Bible is a wonderful Book. It is my prayer that you will be convinced of that more and more. I wish you God’s blessing! Middelburg, Netherlands, English edition 2016 ✆ Tel. (0031) 0118 638458 @ E-mail: [email protected] 10 Abbreviations of the Names of the Books of the Bible Old Testament Gen - Genesis Exo - Exodus Lev - Leviticus Num - Numbers Deu - Deuteronomy Jos - Joshua Jdg - Judges Rth - Ruth 1Sam - First Samuel 2Sam - Second Samuel 1Kgs - First Kings 2Kgs - Second Kings 1Chr - First Chronicles 2Chr - Second Chronicles Ezra - Ezra Neh - Nehemiah Est - Esther Job - Job Psa - Psalms Pro - Proverbs Ecc - Ecclesiastes Song - Song of Songs Isa - Isaiah Jer - Jeremiah Lam - Lamentations Eze - Ezekiel Dan - Daniel Hos - Hosea Joel - Joel Amos - Amos Oba - Obadiah Jona - Jonah 11 Mic - Micah Nah - Nahum Hab - Habakkuk Zep - Zephaniah Hag - Haggai Zec - Zechariah Mal - Malachi New Testament Mt - Gospel of Matthew Mk - Gospel of Mark Lk - Gospel of Luke Jn - Gospel of John Acts - Acts of the Apostles Rom - Letter to the Romans 1Cor - First Letter to the Corinthians 2Cor - Second Letter to the Corinthians Gal - Letter to the Galatians Eph - Letter to the Ephesians Phil - Letter to the Philippians Col - Letter to the Colossians 1Thes - First Letter to the Thessalonians 2Thes - Second Letter to the Thessalonians 1Tim - First Letter to Timothy 2Tim - Second Letter to Timothy Tit - Letter to Titus Phlm - Letter to Philemon Heb - Letter to the Hebrews Jam - Letter of James 1Pet - First Letter of Peter 2Pet - Second Letter of Peter 1Jn - First Letter of John 2Jn - Second Letter of John 3Jn - Third Letter of John Jude - Letter of Jude Rev - Revelation 12 Explanation of general format PERSONAL PRONOUNS are capitalized when pertaining to Deity. BRACKETS [ ] are used in this commentary in the Bible text to indicate words which are not found in the original Hebrew, Ara- maic, or Greek but implied by it. SHARP BRACKETS < > are used in this commentary in the Bible text to indicate words possibly not in the original writings. ALL CAPS in the New Testament are used in the text to indicate Old Testament quotations or obvious references to Old Testament texts. 13 14 The Letter to the Hebrews Introduction This letter is called by someone: the letter of the opened heavens. You will discover how justified this description is. In this letter the writer is directing your attention to an opened heaven. And what do you see there, or better said, Who do you see there? Christ. You get to see the Lord Jesus in many glories. Both in His Person and in His offices (i.e. His official services) there is a vari- ety of His glories. You will see His glories as God and His glories as Man, for He is both perfectly and truly God and perfectly and truly Man. Although the name of the writer is not mentioned, this way of presenting the Lord Jesus just gives us all reason to presume that Paul is the writer of this letter. Like no other writer he shows us in all his letters the glory of the Lord Jesus as the glorified Man, while He also fully maintains His Divinity. Paul does not mention his name as writer of the letter, in order to catch all the atten- tion for the Lord Jesus. If he would have presented himself as an apostle at the beginning of the letter, he would then have drawn attention to himself too, and that would not be appropriate here. Besides, the Lord Jesus Himself is presented as Apostle in this let- ter (Heb 3:1). That too makes it inappropriate for Paul to present himself in that way. Therefore, from now on, I will not mention his name, but speak of ‘the writer’.
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