BIBLE STUDY MINISTRIES It doesn’t get better than this! Studies 5-8 Hebrews August 2014 Contents Study 5 – Hebrews 4:1‐13................................................................................................................................... 2 Study 6 – Hebrews 4:14‐5:10 ............................................................................................................................. 5 Study 7 – Hebrews 5:11‐6:20 ............................................................................................................................. 8 Study 8 – Hebrews 7:1‐28................................................................................................................................. 11 2 STUDY 5 – HEBREWS 4:1‐13 FOR STARTERS With our significantly increased life‐expectancy over previous generations, “retirement” has become very big business indeed! Should Christians think any differently about retirement than the rest of society? 1. LOOK FORWARD, NOT BACK! In Hebrews 3:7‐19, the readers were exhorted to look back to the past and to be warned by the negative example of Israel they saw there. Hebrews 4:1‐13, however, is the flip‐side. The author now turns his readers’ attention to the future, to look to what lies ahead of them. Read Hebrews 4:1‐11 In these verses, the author weaves together a number of themes. Compare the following sets of verses to see what word, phrase or idea is common to each set. 1, 3, 5, 6, 10, 11 _________________________________________________________ 2, 6, 7, 11 _________________________________________________________ 1, 6, 9 _________________________________________________________ 3, 4, 9, 10 _________________________________________________________ These four themes are key to understanding verses 1‐11. Behind them lie three events in history – two in the past and one in the future – and they also speak of the response to those events God requires. We will take the themes in reverse order. a. What event in past history is common to verses 3, 4, 9 and 10? (Note: the word “Sabbath” is derived from the Hebrew word for “rest”, and the first time “rest” is mentioned in the Bible is in Genesis 2:2.) When the author speaks in this passage about “rest”, what “rest” does he primarily have in mind? b. What do verses 1, 6 and 9 add to this theme of “rest”? Where should the readers of Hebrews be looking for this “rest” – in the past or in the future? c. What event in past history (and what response on the part of Israel) is common to verses 2, 6, 7 and 11? (Hint: remember Hebrews 3:7‐19; see also Numbers 14:26‐35.) 3 Moving forward 40 years after Numbers 14, read Joshua 21:43‐45. What does the word “rest” refer to in Joshua? According to Joshua, have the Israelites entered into God’s rest? In Hebrews 4:8, what is the author’s view of all this? Did Joshua give the people “rest” or not? From verses 9‐10, on what basis can the author of Hebrews so brazenly contradict the Old Testament? What is the evidence he provides that the “rest” Joshua achieved was not the true “rest” God ultimately had in mind? From verses 6, 7 and 11, then, how would God view the readers’ intention to return to Judaism? d. Drawing all this together so far, in verses 1, 3, 6, 10 and 11, what is the conclusion the author gives his readers? Where do we find God’s true “rest”? Who can enter it, and on what basis (verses 3 and 11)? Re‐read Hebrews 4:1‐11 and summarise what the author is saying in your own words. 2. THE DIVINE SCALPEL Read Hebrews 4:12‐13 These verses can seem, at first glance, to be unrelated to what we’ve just been reading. However, there are two very important connections to notice. The first is the word, “for”, which begins verse 12. This indicates that verses 12‐13 are giving a further reason why the readers of Hebrews should “make every effort” to enter God’s rest (v 11). However, the second connection is not as obvious. Compare verse 2 with the beginning of verse 12. Verse 2 literally says (quoting the NASB translation): “For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them …” How does the beginning of verse 12 echo verse 2? 4 How do verses 12‐13 describe “the word of God”? What would be the result of the readers turning their backs on the word of the gospel that they had heard? What confidence can this vivid description of the initiative‐taking, powerful word of God give to those who believe (remember verse 3)? 3. HEBREWS AND US People look forward to lots of periods of rest in their lives – weekends, holidays, retirement, etc. What does Hebrews 4:1‐13 do to our thinking about and planning for “rest”? According to Hebrews 4:1‐13, what ought to be the thing that’s always at the very top of your most urgent “to do” list? Is that reflected in your life? What can you change to make it so? We people tend to assume that we are masters of the messages that come to us – that we’re free to take them or leave them as we please. However, how does Hebrews 4:12‐13 challenge that assumption? How should the reality that God’s word lays every heart open before him affect what we do day by day? 5 STUDY 6 – HEBREWS 4:14‐5:10 FOR STARTERS Even in some protestant churches people will still refer to their ‘priests’ and ‘altars’. What is dangerous about such a mindset? 1. A HIGH PRIEST WHO GIVES US CONFIDENCE The passage for this study is a transition passage. It brings together many ideas from previous chapters, and it prepares us for several new ideas which the author will develop later. This study will focus on what is already familiar to us, while some of the new ideas (e.g., the mysterious ‘order of Melchizedek’) we will return to another time. Read Hebrews 4:14‐16 At first glance, verse 14 doesn’t seem to follow logically. It begins with “therefore”, but there’s no mention of “a great high priest who has gone through the heavens” in the immediately preceding verses. When, previously, did the author speak about Jesus being a “high priest”? Look carefully at Hebrews 2:10‐3:1. What similarities can you find between that passage and these verses here? (Look especially for words that are common to both passages.) The idea that Jesus is the high priest who has ‘gone through the heavens’ – that is, has already entered into God’s rest as the ‘author (i.e., trail blazer) of our salvation’ (Heb 2:10) – won’t be developed in any detail until later on in Hebrews, in chapters 7‐9. There are, however, a couple of applications the author draws out in this passage. The author of Hebrews is clearly picking up again on what he taught at the end of chapter 2. However, there is a strong connection with last study’s passage as well. What was the biggest theme we looked at from Heb 4:1‐13? How is that connected to verses 14‐16? How does the description of Jesus in verse 14 give us confidence to ‘approach the throne of grace’ (verse 16)? What does the expression ‘our time of need’ refer to (see 4:15 and 5:7), and what is the ‘help’ an exalted high priest such as Jesus can offer to his people at that time? 6 2. A HIGH PRIEST WHO UNDERSTANDS Read Hebrews 5:1‐10 This passage divides into two neat halves. Who are verses 1‐4 talking about, and who are verses 5‐10 talking about? a. Human high priests (1‐4) What task was given to the high priests (verse 1)? What quality was expected of them and why (verses 2‐3)? How did they acquire the privilege of high priesthood (verse 4)? b. The great high priest (5‐10) Psalm 2 is an interesting passage to quote in connection with priesthood, to say the least (Hebrews 5:5)! That is, Psalm 2 is a royal Psalm which speaks about the authority God gives to his chosen king; it says nothing about priests. But there are two reasons for quoting it. Read Hebrews 1:3‐5. What hints of a priestly role can you see contained in the description of Jesus’ exaltation as God’s king? That is, what does he do which results in him being exalted to God’s right hand? Read Psalm 2:7‐12. In what way does the ‘Son’ (that is, God’s exalted king) exercise a priestly role towards the nations (especially verse 12)? Back to Hebrews: How did Christ acquire the privilege of high priesthood (verses 5‐6)? On what basis was it given to him? What qualities did Jesus display (verses 7‐8)? Given the situation the readers of Hebrews were in (facing persecution), how do these qualities in Jesus make him the perfect person to be their high priest? 7 What high‐priestly task does Jesus perform (verse 9)? Compare the high priesthood in the order of Aaron (5:1‐4) with the high priest in the order of Melchizedek (4:14‐16 & 5:5‐10) – what the priests are like and what they accomplish. Why specify that Jesus is a high priest belonging to a new order? Why was it important for the readers of Hebrews to obey the high priest in the order of Melchizedek (verse 9)? What would that mean for them in practice? 3. HEBREWS AND US The world of priests and sacrifices seems very distant and foreign to most of us. Why is it important for us to understand the priestly ministry of Jesus? How does Jesus as our ‘great high priest’ help us both today and for the future? Is it just coincidence that those Christian and ‘para‐Christian’ traditions (e.g., Roman Catholicism and Mormonism) which continue to emphasise a human priesthood and human priestly ministries, have little to no confidence regarding their ultimate standing before God? Why must all human priesthoods be abolished and replaced by the one ‘priest in the order of Melchizedek’ if we are ever to have real confidence in approaching ‘the throne of grace’? “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin” (Heb 4:15).