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A Study Of The Apostle Paul’s Letter To The Hebrews

Don’t fall away!. Don’t Depart!. Don’t neglect your salvation!. Don’t cast away your confidence!. Don’t harden your heart!. Don’t drift away!. A Study Of The Apostle Paul’s Letter To The Hebrews. How can we neglect so great a salvation? ~ Hebrews 2:3. Tony E. Denton, 1/07.

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A Study Of The Apostle Paul’s Letter To The Hebrews

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  1. Don’t fall away! Don’t Depart! Don’t neglect your salvation! Don’t cast away your confidence! Don’t harden your heart! Don’t drift away! AStudyOf TheApostlePaul’s LetterTo The Hebrews How can we neglect so greata salvation? ~ Hebrews 2:3 Tony E. Denton, 1/07.

  2. Hebrews: Christ Is Superior! Superior Person (1:1—4:13) Superior to Prophets (1:1-3) Superior to Angels (1:4—2:18) Superior to Moses (3:1-19) Superior to Joshua (4:1-13) Superior Priest (4:14—7:28) Superior to Aaron (4:14—6:12) Superior to Melchizedek (6:13—7:10) Superior to Levi (7:11-28)

  3. Hebrews: Christ Is Superior! Superior Pact to Moses’ (8:1—10:18) Superior Promises (8:1-13) Superior Sanctuary (9:1-15) Superior Sacrifice (9:16-28) Superior Results (10:1-18) Superior Principle (Faith) to Moses’ (10:19—13:25) Superior Things (10:19-39) Superior Actions (11:1-40) Superior Relationship (12:1-29) Today we’ll consider verses 22-29. Superior Way of Life (13:1-25)

  4. We’re now headed toward the close of Paul’s thoughts about Christ’s Superior Principle of Faith (10:19—13:25); more specifically, 12:22-29 conclude his thoughts about how that this principle establishes a relationship that’s superi-or to what was possible under Moses. (This implies, of course, that since God spent thousands of years working out everything in order to get to this point, then it would be foolishofHimtoacceptanytypeofprevious- ly allowed relationship, i.e. any that dodges Jesus,e.g.returningtotheOldLaw.) So…

  5. In this section, Paul wrote his 7th warn-ing of the book: he warned against re-jecting God’s Christ and the kingdom He was in the process of establishing. Why? Because only through Jesus and this kingdom could they/we have total forgiveness, redemption, and a once-for-all restored relationship to God, a relationship in which we can accept-ably serve Him. Oh… One side-note: Daniel chapters 2, 7, & 9 are all alluded to in this paragraph.

  6. Hebrews 12:22  Butyouhavecome to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusa- lem, to an innum-erable company of angels…

  7. After writing in the previous verses about the awesome-ness in the giving of the Law of Moses, Paul began here to contrast something even greater! And… Butyouhavecome to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusa- lem, to an innum-erable company of angels…

  8. Thatwhichisgreateristhatwhichthey, asChristians,hadbecomepartof. Peter wrotethat they, as living stones, were being built up a spiritual house (2:5); i.e., they were already part of the king-dom(Col. 1:13-14)which was in the pro-cess of beingextendedtoEarth: Weare receiving a kingdom which [unlike that of Moses] cannot be shaken (v. 28). In fact, 13:14 more literally reads that (in their time—AD63),it wasaboutto[mello] arrive.(Cf.mello in 1:14,6:5,9:11,& esp.2:5.)

  9. Whatawondrousthingtobepartofthat whichwasevengreaterthanwhattheir ancestors were involved in and experi-enced! These brethren were involved in and experiencing the giving of the Law of God’s Son from Zion instead of the Law of Moses from Sinai (v. 18)! Let’s read Galatians 4:22-26.

  10. It is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bond-woman was born according to the flesh, andheofthefreewomanthroughpromise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mt. Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—forthisHagarisMt.SinaiinArabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—but the Jerusalem above is free [note pre-sent tense], which is the mother of us all.

  11. Zion was another name for earthly Jerusalem, often called Mt. Zion be-cause it sat on a hill (which is why the Bible sometimes speaks of going down to a place that was actually north of Jerusalem, cf. Luke 10:30). Butyouhavecome to MountZion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusa- lem, to an innum-erable company of angels…

  12. As discussed in chapter 9, God dwelt by the Ark of the Covenant, the only piece of furniture in the tabernacle’s Holiest of All; thus, in a sense, where the Ark was, God was.SobecauseKingDavidplacedtheArk of the Lord in Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6:17), it becameknownasthecityofGodorwhere God dwelt (Psa. 132:13), which in turn, of course, implies that when God destroyed it, He was indicating that He no longer livedthere(cf. John4:21).AndbecauseGod would ultimately live in another Zion—the NT kingdom, the term Zion is used numer-ous times in prophecies to refer to it (Isa. 1:27, 33:5, 60:14, & 28:16; cf. 1 Pet. 2:5-6).

  13. This is the very city that their most be-loved forefathers had looked forward to (11:16); it was a spiritual and eternal Zion, not a physical and temporary one like that of David (2 Sam. 5:7 & 9). I.e.... Butyouhavecome to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusa- lem, to an innum-erable company of angels…

  14. It was the heavenly Jerusalem (not the earthlyone)thatAb-raham looked for-ward to (11:10); ac-cording to 9:8, the Old Law didn’t make any provisions for men to enter into this wondrous city, the same wondrous city referred to in Revelation 3 & 21—22, words penned to othersufferingChris- tians of that time. Butyouhavecome to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusa- lem, to an innum-erable company of angels…

  15. In Revelation 3:12 Jesus said to one suf-fering congregation that was doing well, He who overcomes, I will … write on him … thenameofthecityofMyGod,theNew Jerusalem.Thenin21:1John wrote,I saw a new heaven & a new earth, for the first heaven & the first earth had passed away. (By the way, this correlates perfectly with Matthew 24:34-35 where Jesus said, This generation will by no means pass away till all these things are fulfilled.Heaven&earth will pass away, but My words [My new heaven & earth] will not pass away.)

  16. Then in Revelation 21:2-3 we continue on toreadmoreaboutwhat Jesusspokeofin Revelation 3:12 and what Paul wrote of in our text: I,John,sawtheholycity,the NewJerusalem,comingdownoutofHeav- en from God, prepared as a bride for her husband. And I heard a loud voice … say-ing,“Behold,thetabernacleofGodiswith men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.”

  17. Then in 21:9-10 we read, Then one of the seven angels … talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And he carried me away in spirit to a great and high mountain to show me the great city, the Holy Jerusa-lem, descending out of Heaven from God.

  18. Listing this here seems to imply that by becoming mem-bers of this heav-enly city, they had become part of the kingdom which in-cludes the angels of God, reminding us of Ephesians 1:10: Butyouhavecome to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusa- lem, to an innum-erable company of angels…

  19. That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times God may gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth. There’s that heaven and earth stuff a-gain. Right after this Paul wrote that Godhasraisedusuptogetherandmade ussit together in theheavenly placesin Christ Jesus (2:6).

  20. Hebrews 12:23  …to the general assembly&church of the firstborn who are register-ed in Heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect…

  21. As indicated in other versions (e.g. NIV), this refers to an as-sembly of celebra-tion,andhereit’sac-tually directly con-nected to the angels of verse 22; i.e., verses 22b & 23a should read some-thing more like this: You have come to a festive assembly of myriads of angels. …to the general assembly&church of the firstborn who are register-ed in Heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect… But…

  22. What does this mean or imply? 1.The angels (as part of God’s kingdom that Christians were being joined to) rejoiced over salvation and those be- ing saved (cf.Luke 2:13-15&15:10). 2. The angels also rejoiced because they were seeing how all of God’s labor over the centuries was finally working itself out for this salvation (cf. 1 Pet. 1:12).

  23. 3. Whereas there was terror exhibited in the giving of the Law by angels through Moses (12:18), these first century brethren should have been sharing in the joy that the angels were experiencing in the giving of the Law of Christ by the Spirit thru the apostles!

  24. This is a reminder of Philippians 3:20&4:3 where Paul spoke of Christians as having their citizenshipin Heaven … and in its Book of Life … even though they live on Earth.(Remember,the church is that part of the kingdom existing on Earth.) Question:    …to the general assembly&church of the firstbornwho are register-ed in Heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect…

  25. Who are the firstborn here in verse 23? 1.As the complete clause indicates, it isn’t a reference to Christ as in 1:6, but to Christians (the original term being plural in number). 2. It isn’t a reference toChristiansof all time,but to the first Christians,espe- cially the Jews who submitted to Je- sus before the holocaust. In fact…

  26. It seems the firstborn here are parallel to the remnant of Revelation 14:1-4: Behold, a Lamb standing on Mt. Zion and with Him 144,000, having His Father’s name written on their fore-heads….These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These wereredeemedfromamongmen,being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.

  27. Perhaps we today, then, fit better into the numerous Christians mentioned inRomans8:29wherePaulspokeofJesus asthe firstborn among many brethren. (By the way, it seems there’s also a sha-dow-substance correlation between thefirstborn of Hebrews 12 and thefirstborn of Exodus 12.)

  28. This phrase (taken from Genesis 18:25) is placed here probab-ly because He is the One who decided who was/is to be registered in Heav-en as a citizen and who was/is not to be so registered. …to the general assembly&church of the firstborn who are register-ed in Heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect…

  29. I believe Paul was thinking of all those saints who had gone on before these brethren, perhaps with special refer-ence to those he had just listed in the previous chapter. …to the general assembly&church of the firstborn who are register-ed in Heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect…

  30. Hebrews 12:24  …to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

  31. Whereas the old covenant was given through Moses as mediator (Gal. 3:19), the new and better covenant estab-lished upon better promises (Heb. 8:6) was given by God through His Son whomediates at His right hand (Heb. 1:3). …to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

  32. Next Paul contrasted Jesus’ blood with that of Abel. Heb-rews 11:4 says, By faith Abel offered to God a more excel-lent sacrifice than Cain … and through it he being dead still speaks. But…   …to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

  33. The question is, Did Paul have the blood of Abel’s animal sacrifice or Abel’s own blood in mind? If Paul had Abel’s sacrifice in mind (Gen. 4: 1-4), then he was likely contrasting blood that could not forgive sins (Heb. 10:4) with blood that could (Heb. 9:14 & 10:22). But… If he had Abel’s own blood in mind (Gen. 4: 10 & 15), then he was likely contrasting the blood of the righteous who cried out for ven-geance(cf.Mat.23:29-39)with the blood that was shed for forgiveness (Eph. 1:7).

  34. Either way, mercy & forgiveness were what was being emphasized. Now… Based on all of Paul’s contrasts be-tween the old and new covenants in verses 18-24, he went on in verses 25-29 to caution them against renouncing Christ and His kingdom.

  35. Hebrews 12:25  See [then] thatyou do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refus-ed Him who spoke on Earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from Heaven…

  36. The term for refuse means to disown or renounce, and the present tense term for see means to see to it on a continuous basis (translated be-warein3:12); so, put-tingittogether,Paul was essentially say-ing, You must see to itthatyounevereven consider renouncing Jesus! See[then] thatyou do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refus-ed Him who spoke on Earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from Heaven…

  37. If one fails to read verse 26 along with verse 25, he may struggle with trying to figure out how Abel fits into this statement, since he seems to be the antecedent for the pronoun Him here. See…    See [then] thatyou do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refus-ed Him who spoke on Earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from Heaven…

  38. Verse 26 makes it clear that Paul had gone back to talking about God when He came upon Mt. Sinai to give the Law thru Moses (Exo. 19:18—20:19&Heb.12:18-21)incontrast to His speaking thru Jesus fromMt.Zion(cf.Heb. 1:1 w/ 12:22 & 24). See [then] thatyou do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refus-ed Him who spoke on Earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from Heaven…

  39. This warning is actu- ally just a repeat of at least two others (2:2-3 & 10:23-30); it wasawarningbased on a logical conclu-sion: Since God did not let those who refused His previous inferior law escape punishment(3:7ff), certainly He would not let them escape an even worse pun-ishment for refusing His superior law! See [then] thatyou do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refus-ed Him who spoke on Earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from Heaven…

  40. Hebrews 12:26  …whosevoicethen shook the earth; but now He has promised saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also [the] heaven[s].”*

  41. Thisrefers,ofcourse, once again to the time when God gave the Law at Sinai: speaking of God de-scending upon Sinai, Exodus 19:18 says, the whole mountain quaked greatly. …whosevoicethen shook the earth; but now He has promised saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also [the] heaven[s].”

  42. This is a quote from Haggai 2:6, a pro-phecy finding its ful-fillment when the old law was replaced by the new; that’s the context in which Paul placed it here, and it also corres-ponds to Joel 3:16, the context of which speaks of the coming of the New Covenant administration at the destruction of the Old (cf. Joel 2—3). …whosevoicethen shook the earth; but now He has promised saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also [the] heaven[s].”

  43. Joel 3:16 says, The Lord will roar from Zionandutter His voice from Jerusalem [just as we’ve been discussing, cf. Luke 24: 47]; the heavens and earth will shake; but the Lord will be a shelter for His people. By the way, Isaiah 2—3 are parallel to Joel 2—3. And… In Isaiah 2:19 & 21 we read about how God would shakethe earth mightily at the time when the New Covenant ad-ministration replaced the Old; and this was obviously fulfilled in the last gener- ation of the Jews between Pentecost and Holocaust.

  44. When studying Hebrews 1:10 we dis-cussedat lengthhow that theprophetic usage of the phrase heavens & earth isusedinreferencetothedemiseofone administration in order to be supplant-edbyanother.(Cf.Isa.51:4-6, 15-16, 65:17, & 66:22; also cf. Mat. 5:18, 24:29-35.) So… It isn’t difficult to see how that thelit-eralshakinginExodusbecamethebasis for the Jews’ figurative expression, the shaking of heaven and earth, which de-notesachangeinadministrationorlaw, that which Paul had been dealing with throughout Hebrews.

  45. I agree with Adam Clarke who said that the prophetic writings often used this terminology: earth to describe the land or city of Jerusalem and heaven(s) to describe its political and religious con-stitution.* So in AD 70… When Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed, their heaven and earth— their world—were removed so that a new heaven and earth could be estab-lished by God.

  46. Revelation 20:11 says, I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose facethe earth and the heavenfled away. And there was found no place for them. Then after that in… Revelation 21:1 we read, I saw anew heaven and a new earth, forthe first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

  47. Hebrews 12:27  Now this, “Yet once more,” indi-cates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which can-not be shaken may remain.

  48. Paul drew attention to this phrase be-cause it indicates something that’s final, meaning that the new heavens & earth would be the last administration. Why? Because it’d be so perfect that there’d never be a need for another. Now this, “Yet once more,” indi-cates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which can-not be shaken may remain.

  49. This verse provides another indication why Paul wasn’t re-ferring to the literal heavens and earth: whatever would be shakenandremoved was in the process of being shaken at the time he wrote (2,000 years ago). And…    Now this, “Yet once more,” indi-cates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which can-not be shaken may remain.

  50. This perfectly cor-responds to 8:13 where (speaking of the first covenant), he wrote that it was—at that time—be- coming obsolete and coming obsolete & growing old … ready to vanish away, or (as he said earlier) it was passing away(2 Cor. 3:7ff), beingshaken. Now this, “Yet once more,” indi-cates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which can-not be shaken may remain.

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