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.

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

With this passage the writer gets into some advanced theology and doctrine, something for which we should all strive to be ready to study.  The first of those advanced topics about which the writer speaks is what happens when one who accepts Christ turns away from Him.  The writer tells us that those who turn away from God after experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit will never turn back to Him.  I have thought about this quite a bit, because I know several people who had an experience with God in their teens, fell away in their 20s, then later returned and became fervent followers once more.  On the other hand, I know a few people who followed a similar path, but never turned back to God (I have also read stories about a few more).  Looking at what I know about these people I think I see the difference.  The latter all seemed to have rejected God because they did not want to be subordinate to anyone, not even God.  While the former more or less lost their faith because of poor support systems when they faced troubles or hardship, coming back to God when the Spirit brought revelation into their lives.  Every time I read this passage I try to think through this difference and figure out how to explain it.  Unfortunately, I always feel like I cannot quite make it clear.  I guess the key difference is that people who lose their faith, who drift away from God because they stop believing that He exists, can turn back to Him, but those who know God exists but reject Him anyway will not.

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.

Because those He wished to aid were flesh and blood, Jesus also became flesh and blood human.  Since He was flesh and blood as we are Jesus was tempted as we are.  And since He suffered temptation as we do, He is able to help us when we are tempted.  Therefore we should fix out thoughts on Him, listening to Him as He builds us into the House in which He will dwell.  Having laid out the reason why we should focus our thoughts on Jesus, the writer goes on to warn us against turning away from God.  Further, he tells us that we should encourage our fellow Believers in their faith so that their hearts, and our hearts, may not be hardened against God by sin.  Which brings me to one final point I want to make about today’s passage.  The writer tells us of the importance of studying the Scripture.  Often times we will struggle with understanding what a particular passage has to tell us (and the Book of Hebrews certainly ranks high among those where we will struggle).  However, just as an athlete needs to train their body by repeated exercise, so we must train our minds and spirits by repeated study of Scripture.

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.

When the writer tells us that when we experience hardship we should view it as discipline from God, he is not telling us to look at it as punishment for doing wrong.  Rather, we should view it as an action which  strengthens our ability to do God’s will.  For example, a coach will have his players run laps in order to build up their discipline with no connection to anything they did wrong.  In the same way, God sometimes allows us to go through hardship to develop the discipline to live a godly life.  The writer tells us to strengthen our feeble arms and our weak knees so that the lame may be healed.  I am not sure what he is trying to say there, but he goes on to tell us to strive to live in peace with everyone and to be holy.  Then the writer tells us what it means to be holy: love one another, show hospitality to strangers, remember those in prison and those being mistreated, and be content with what you have.  The writer then gives us two quotes from the Old Testament which should give us all confidence and courage:

God will never leave us, nor will He forsake us

The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?

If we hold these two things close we will not fear, no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in.

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 of this letter tells us that our salvation comes from faith, just as Paul did in his letters.  He also tells us that faith has two elements.  If we have faith, we will be confident that our hopes will come to be and assured about things which cannot be seen.  He then goes on to write about many Old Testament characters who exhibited their faith by taking actions, some of whom were rewarded in this life for their faith, but many of whom experienced only suffering.  He gives us example after example of people who accomplished more than one would expect a mere human to be able to do.  He, also, gives us examples of people who refused to stop testifying to the power of God in the face of suffering and even death.  All of these examples the writer cites could have chosen to live as citizens of a country in this world, but instead they chose to live as citizens of the Kingdom of God, which had not yet appeared.  Let us choose to follow their example and live lives of faith.

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.

Much of this letter is an exposition based on Psalm 110, although the writer does take references from other portions of the Old Testament.  Today’s passage focuses on Psalm 110:4, where the psalmist writes:

You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.

He says that this means that the Levitical priesthood, and the Law which established it, could not provide for perfection to be obtained.  If perfection could have been obtained through the law which established the Levitical priesthood, a different order of priesthood would not have been necessary.  The writer then explains that perfection could not be obtained through the order of the Levitical priesthood because those priests had to offer sacrifices for their own sins year after year, and they would all eventually die.  However, Jesus offered a sacrifice once for all time, did not need to offer sacrifices for His own sins (since He did not have any), and, once He was resurrected, would never again die.

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.

The writer of Hebrews starts out by establishing from Old Testament Scripture that Jesus is equal to God.  I would argue that he actually establishes that Jesus is God.  He goes on from there to show that in Jesus, God was made fully human, subject to the same temptation and suffering that every other human experiences.  In the process of making these points the writer tells us that God has chosen to subject the world to come to us.  Everything will be put beneath our feet.  There will be nothing that will not be subject to our rule.  The writer reminds us that this has not yet happened, except that God has already subject everything to Jesus.  The knowledge that God has already subject everything to Jesus encourages the hope in us that He will do the same for us.  So, since Jesus has conquered death, He has saved those of us who put our trust in Him from death.  And when we face temptation we know that Jesus likewise faced the same temptation, which should give us confidence that He can guide us into overcoming that temptation.

I will stop writing here.  I feel that some of what I have written above fails to convey my thoughts as I intended, but re-writing those parts would require re-writing the whole.  So, I will leave it as it stands.

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.

I find this passage hard to write about because I feel that the writer has done such a good job of putting together the complex argument he is making that I am not sure how to highlight the key points which he makes.  The writer tells us that Jesus is our high priest, but He is not a priest of the Law of Moses.  Those priests were commissioned to serve in the earthly Tabernacle and Temple, which were but copies of the heavenly, eternal place of worship.  Further, those priests only served until their death.  Jesus, on the other hand, serves as high priest in the heavenly Tabernacle and in the direct presence of God.  Jesus also lives forever so there will never be a time when He is no longer high priest.  Jesus will be able to intercede between God and man for eternity.  The writer discusses how in the copy of the Tabernacle which existed on earth there was a veil between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, a veil which was torn when Jesus died on the cross.  That veil is no longer necessary because Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins and now we can enter directly into God’s presence where Jesus will intercede for us.

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