Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 12-13.

In yesterday’s passage the writer listed many people who have gone before us who lived by faith.  He begins today’s passage by referring to them as a “great cloud of witnesses.”  I see two ways to interpret what he means by calling them witnesses, both of those things affirm the resurrection from death.  First. he could be saying that they are witnesses to our actions and that we should act knowing that these people witness our every action.  Second, and probably more correctly, he may be saying that they are witnesses to the things in which we put our faith. As the writer says in chapter 11 “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” These witnesses have now seen that in which we place our faith.  Since we know that they have now seen that for which we hope we should everything which hinders us from seeking to follow that faith. especially sin.  I want to note that the writer is telling us that there are things which are not, in and of themselves, sins which hinder us from following Jesus.  We should remove those things from our life, while recognizing other believers might not be hindered by those things.  As we struggle against sin, we should be willing to accept God’s discipline, even up to death.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 10-11.

The writer tells us that we should seek to draw near to God with faith.  We should strive to unswervingly strive to serve Him by considering how we can build others up in love and good deeds.  That means both loving them, doing good deeds, and helping them love others and helping them to do good deeds.  Our salvation comes through our faith, not through our actions, but we still must strive to leave sin behind.  Let us seek to emulate the saints of old who lived lives of faith and suffered for it.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 6-9.

Today I intended to write about how I have understood verses four through six of chapter six at the beginning of today’s passage.  Then I realized the verses seven and eight are expanding on those three verses.  Which made me think that I had not truly understood what the writer meant.  First, let’s look at what the writer says in the first verses.  He writes that those who have shared in the Holy Spirit and tasted the goodness of word of God and then turned away cannot (or, perhaps, will not) ever come back to repentance.  I have long understood that to mean that anyone who has welcomed the Holy Spirit into their lives then later rejects Jesus can (will) ever return to God.  Those verses seem clear.  I may have had some doubts about what constituted being in that condition, but I thought the writing was very clear.  However, I realized today that verses seven and eight were intended to be clarifying, were intended to provide a metaphor which would allow us to more clearly understand the writer’s meaning.  Rather than give me a clearer understanding of the verses preceding it, this metaphor leads me to questions.

So, let’s look at the writer’s metaphor.  He tells us that land which produces crops useful to those for whom it is farmed will be blessed by God, but land which produces thorns and thistles is worthless and may be cursed.  In fact, he tells us, such land will be burned.  As I think about this it makes me think that the writer is speaking of those who receive the Holy Spirit and then refuse to use their gifts to serve others.  In many ways it reminds me of what Paul wrote about those who spend time in pointless arguments, leading others into division and away from Christ.  It also reminds me of the Parable of the Sower.  The more I think about it the more I think this passage is speaking of those who receive the Holy Spirit then actively choose to do the opposite of what they are called to do.  I am not speaking of those who run away from their calling as Jonah did.  It would be as if Jonah heard God’s call to preach repentance in Nineveh.  Then instead of preaching repentance, he encouraged the people of Nineveh to continue in their sin.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 1-5.

There are two aspects of today’s passage which speak to me.  The first is the writer quoting Psalm 95, “Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts…” The writer tells us that this means that we must not have an unbelieving heart which turns away from God.  He points out that the passage refers to “today” and that as long as we call the day we are living “today” we have the opportunity to hear God’s voice and turn to Him.  Sin is deceitful and will try to turn our attention away from God and the works He has for us.  Which brings me to the second thing.  The writer tells us that those who put their trust in God will enter into God’s rest, will join Him in the rest He took on the seventh day of Creation.  And this breaks down into two pieces.  We must do God’s work until He brings us into His rest.  We have work to do for God until the day He brings us into His rest, into His Sabbath.  The Sabbath which God established for us every seven days represents a foretaste of the eternal Sabbath into which He will welcome us when our work here on earth is complete.  So, let us do the work which He has set before us while it is “today” in order that we might enter into the rest He has prepared for us.  Yet, each week let us set aside a day to partake of that rest as a foretaste of that rest into which He will bring us if we do not turn away from Him to sin.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 12-13.

I want to write about a couple of different elements in today’s passage, but I am not sure that what I write will link together.  At the beginning of today’s passage the writer tells us to focus our attention on imitating Jesus.  In doing so we will face opposition from those who refuse to accept righteousness, we should follow Jesus’ example and struggle against sin.  We should be willing to remain faithful even up to the point of facing death, just as Jesus did.  The hardships we face are God disciplining us as a father disciplines his son in order to develop his son into a better person.  God applies such discipline because He loves us, facing hardship provides us with evidence of God’s love.  Part of that struggle is striving to live in peace with everyone.  Interestingly, the writer links doing everything we can to live at peace with others to being holy.  As if we cannot be holy if we don’t do whatever is in our power to live at peace with others.  Of course, that link also creates a limit on what the writer thinks we should do in order to live at peace with others.  In particular, he does not, and tells us that God does not, expect us to do anything which is not holy in order to live at peace with others.  Which brings me to another thought: the areas where we fail at being holy are the areas where we fail to live at peace with others.  The final piece to focusing on Jesus, which will lead us to strive to be at peace with others and to be holy, is showing hospitality to strangers.  The writer reminds us that we never know what blessings we might receive when we show hospitality to strangers and we should be careful to never pass up such blessings.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 6-9.

When the writer of this book writes about Melchizedek people often get caught up in the details about the Melchizedek mentioned in Genesis.  The writer is describing the symbolism of Melchizedek.  When he writes that Melchizedek does not have parents, I do not think that he believed that the lack of Melchizedek’s parents being mentioned in Genesis necessarily meant that Melchizedek did not have parents.  Rather, he was using the fact that no genealogy was given for Melchizedek as a metaphor for Jesus’ lack of pedigree to be a priest.  The point of the writer noting that Melchizedek has no genealogy is not that Melchizedek was a figure whose existence was miraculous.  The point the writer is making is that Melchizedek’s priesthood did not rely on his genealogy, unlike the priests who were in the order of Aaron.  The writer does not talk about Melchizedek to reveal something to us about Melchizedek.  Instead he uses Melchizedek to illustrate the perfection of Jesus and His ministry.  Jesus is holy and blameless which means that He is able to save us for eternity by His sacrifice.  Further, He continues to intercede for us with no chance that death will interrupt Him in that task.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 1-5.

I am not sure that where I am going with today’s blog accurately reflects the message which the writer intended to convey, but I do believe it is a biblical thought.  The writer writes “See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ”  As I initially read that, the writer is telling us to be careful that we do not rebel against God.  However, the next sentence after the one I quoted reads, “encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. ”  Which suggests to me that the writer is telling us to encourage and build up our fellow believers in order to assist them in resisting temptation.  The writer says a lot about the failure of those who rebelled to obey God’s instructions, but he also tells us that those who rebelled did so because they did not share the faith of those who did obey.  So, let me write out my take aways from this passage:  When God instructs us we must listen and obey, but our obedience will grow out our belief and trust that God has saved us.  Further, we need to build up and encourage the faith of those around us so that they do not fall short of what God desires for them.  We are each responsible for our own actions, but we should seek to take responsibility for helping others do good as well.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 12-13.

The writer tells us that hardship and suffering come into our lives as discipline from God.  The way I read this passage the writer is using discipline with both of its two possible understandings.  Under the first understanding, discipline means negative consequences in order to change bad behavior to good behavior.  In the second understanding, discipline means working hard in order to achieve greater things.  So, God disciplines us so as to help us learn to not do things which bring us bad results.  But He also disciplines us to make us stronger and better at doing good things, just as an athlete applies discipline in their training routine in order to get better at their sport.  As we face hardship and suffering let us embrace them as the means by which God both teaches us to avoid sin, which brings us harm, and strengthens us so that we may do good works with ever greater effect.  Such discipline is evidence that we are indeed God’s children.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 10-11.

After writing in yesterday’s passage that he wanted to address more mature matters, the author tells us that we should continue meeting together with our fellow believers.  He suggests that some have given up on meeting with other believers, the phrasing suggests that they found such meetings counterproductive.  Perhaps because the people who were there were argumentative.  The writer tells us that we should be seeking how we can prod each other to be more loving and to do more good deeds.  If we follow the writer’s advice, we should act as a counter to those who choose to be argumentative.  Further, he tells us to encourage one another.  Another activity which is runs counter to being argumentative.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.