HEBREWS CHAPTER 5
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Heb 5,1-10
(30h) Gift of God
>>
God is our Father >> God favors you by His grace >> He favors you through His son
(80l) Thy kingdom come
>>
Prayer >> The priesthood >>
Jesus ministered to people through His ministry toward God – Jesus did not appoint Himself
High Priest,
but was called by His Father, who delegated the authority to Him. That is, Jesus didn’t die for the sins of mankind based on His
own authority or compassion but based on the Father's authority and
compassion. Nor did He fulfill His own agenda, He gave His flesh in obedience to His Father. In
other words, it wasn’t the mercy of Christ that led Him to die for our sins,
but the mercy of His Father. This has huge implications; first, it demonstrates the
brotherly relationship we have with Christ, in that we are following the same
path of obedience that He walked. Second and more importantly, the love of
Christ originating from the Father shows that we are accepted in heaven from
the pinnacle of God's authority. See also: Father sent the Son;
Heb 13-15; 252f
(173b) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >>
Scripture that contradicts the Catholic faith >>
Relationship between Jesus and His mother >>
Jesus is our mediator, not Mary (or the apostles) –
Why do the leaders of the Catholic Church call themselves priests if they do
not offer any gifts or sacrifices for the sins of the people? If we asked a
Catholic priest, he might say that communion (they call it Eucharist) is their offering,
but communion represents the offering
of Christ, so still what gifts or sacrifices do they offer? The Catholic priests bless the
communion offering, claiming that if they didn't, the ceremony would be in
vain, but it sounds like they are vain. We are to remember the
blood sacrifice that Jesus made for us, and taking communion will continue in heaven.
Heb 5,1-6
(83g)
Thy kingdom come >> Jesus intercedes for us >> He is our Great
High Priest – The writer of Hebrews is contrasting the role
of Jesus as our High Priest against the role of the high priest of the old covenant.
The high priest was obligated to offer gifts and sacrifices both for the sins of
the people and for his own sins, unlike Jesus who offered gifts and sacrifices
for our sins, but not for his own, since He was innocent of all
evil. When the old covenant high priest made the annual sacrifice in the Holy of
Holies, he took blood with him behind the veil, not His own but that of a cow, because
the earthly priest was
tainted with sin. It was not that the blood of a bull was pure, but that a cow cannot sin,
because it never received a commandment, hence it has no consciousness of sin.
Nor could the bull pay for our sin, because it could not obey the Father, but
the blood of Jesus could pay for our sins as a perfect man. The fact that Jesus
is God further benefits the worshipers by allowing Him to intercede for us
before the Father. Jesus came in the flesh as our High Priest, gaining the ability to sympathize with our
weakness by experientially suffering the same things we
do. The Old Testament says that the life is in the blood, so when Jesus
fulfilled His office as High Priest and made the sacrifice, He offered His own blood
in place of an animal. All the high priests throughout the generations of
the old covenant inadvertently represented this one sacrifice that Jesus
made with his own flesh.
(230h)
Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Mystery of
godliness >> Mystery of the trinity >> Obey the mystery of godliness
like Jesus did – There are many mysteries about God that we
will never understand until we meet Him, and there are other mysteries that we will never understand, such as God’s existence in
eternity-past. Our comprehension of God is based on experience, which enables us
to relate to Him, just as His understanding of us is based on experience.
Heb 5,1-5
(96h) Thy kingdom come
>>
Attitude >> Having an attitude of humility
Heb 5,1-3
(9g)
Responsibility >> Strengthen us by
the sword of His Spirit >> Through prayer –
In
the old covenant these "gifts and sacrifices for sins"
translated to keeping the incense burning and other perpetual temple duties,
but in the new covenant it refers to the word of God and prayer.
(35a) Gift of God
>>
God is willing to Give >> He is generous with
the flesh of His Son
(236c) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >>
All things are for your sake >> God’s purpose
is for your sake
Heb 5-1
(71i) Authority >>
Ordained by God >>
Jesus is ordained by God -- This verse goes with verse 4
Heb 5-2
(37f)
Judgment >> Judgment of God
>>
Jesus’ humanity >> Jesus had human limitations
-- This verse goes with verses 7-9
(128h) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Gentleness >>
Jesus is gentle
(161e) Works of the devil
>>
Wandering >>
Follow the wrong leader
(172j) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >>
Scripture that contradicts the Catholic faith >>
Jesus never to die again >> Because His death
was sufficient -- This verse goes with verses 7-9
(176a) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance >>
Misguided
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Heb 5,4-6
(141g) Witness
>>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears
witness to the new >> It bears witness to Jesus >>
Prophesy about Jesus’ resurrection – Melchizedek is mentioned twice in this
chapter, quoting Psalms 110-4 and then elaborates on him in
chapter 7, starting in the last verse of chapter six. Melchizedek was a man
without origins; he suddenly appeared in Abram’s life, and then vanished,
never to be seen or heard again. His genealogy was untraceable, which was
characteristic of Christ. The Bible goes through great lengths to document the
origins of Christ, and then abruptly stops at His Father, because He was God. The Holy Spirit deposited His seed
in Mary’s womb, so when she bore a Son, He would be both 100% human and
divine. This furnished Him with a body that was tempted to sin but with a
soul that could not sin. God raised Him from the dead, based on his sinless
life and gave Him a resurrected body that could not die. In this way
Christ’s priesthood was synonymous with the person of Melchizedek, whose
origins were untraceable.
(209k) Salvation
>>
The salvation of God >> Jesus is our sacrifice >>
Jesus paid the price for us >> Father sent His
son to the cross
Heb 5-4,5
(22l) Sin
>>
Pride glorifies self >> Seeking the glory of man
(32m) Gift of God
>>
Father will honor you >> Father honors His Son
(77d) Thy kingdom come
>>
Humility >> Refusing the glory of man >>
Refusing to exalt yourself
(91i) Thy kingdom come
>>
The called >> God’s calling transcends the
will of man >> We are called by God through His
choice of us
(94j) Thy kingdom come
>>
God’s perspective >> His perspective on
the premise –
The Father prioritized His Son as the Great High Priest, and the premise of
His ministry was the cross. Jesus was born into the world through the will of
the Father, and He did many things before He entered His 3½ year ministry.
During that time John said that all the libraries in the world could not hold
the books that could be written of all that He did, proving that He was
Israel’s Messiah. He was a very busy man, the most zealous man for the
Father who ever lived, more zealous than Paul or King David or any other
example we have in the Bible. He dragged His disciples along with Him and just
about wore them out, and at the end of His ministry he gave His life for the
sins of the world, offering up His body to be tortured and crucified; and
while nailed to the cross, He died. The Father raised Him on the third day and
he ascended into heaven and was seated at the right-hand of Almighty God. In
that position he resides as the Great High Priest, interceding for the Church
in heaven. All of this was the Father’s priority, and the premise of His
priesthood was the cross; He had to go through the cross to find His way back
to the Father and now intercedes for His people who believe in Him, and He
will continue to intercede for us throughout eternity. People who don’t feel
the need to believe in God according to Scripture invariably have a false view
of God, seeing Him as someone who will readily accept them apart from faith in
Jesus Christ. It is impossible for God to be happy with those who express
unbelief in Jesus Christ, in that He intercedes for us before the Father.
Without Jesus we could not approach the throne of God or enter heaven; we
would have no hope of eternal life. All the religions of the world: Moslems,
Hindus, etc… they all need to believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of their
sins and let Christ intercede for them before the Father, or they will never
see heaven. God is not pleased with religion, only faith in Jesus Christ. No
other religion has addressed the Father but merely assumes His favor on them,
because of their religion, but God is not impressed with religion; He was
impressed with His Son, and if we seek the Father’s favor through Him, He
will listen, but if we don’t believe in Him, we have no hope.
(184g) Works of the devil
>>
The origin of lawlessness >> Abusing the grace
of God >> Spending His grace on your pleasures >>
Abusing your position
(234a) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the glory of God >> God chooses us as we seek His glory
>> As we submit to Him
Heb 5-4
(8n)
Responsibility >> Prevent sin from coming
between you and God
(71i) Authority >>
Ordained by God >>
Jesus is ordained by God -- This verse goes with verse 10 –
Aaron, whom God
specifically called, was the first priest in the line of Levitical priests
that would come after him for the next 15 centuries. Aaron was the only
person who was called by God, who represented a type of Christ; the rest
were called as his descendants, who were an outcome of Aaron’s calling. Comparatively
speaking, Jesus also was personally called
by God both as the Son of God made mortal and as the son of man for a
perpetual priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek, who was described as
being without origins. We Christians, the disciples of Jesus, are called as
priest after Jesus as an outcome of His calling. Heb 7-3 says, “Without father, without mother, without
genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like
the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.” In the Old Testament
Melchizedek simply appeared; He was Jesus Christ, who came and met
with Abraham, who gave tithes to Him; hence he gave Abraham an opportunity
to act like a priest, whose purpose among other things is to offer gifts and sacrifices
for the purpose of interceding for the people. In many respect this too is
our office as evangelist to the world and ambassadors for Christ.
Heb 5,5-9
(98f) Thy kingdom come
>>
Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> (Faith à
Suffering à Glory of Christ) >>
The cross
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Heb 5-5,6
(253f) Trinity
>>
Relationship between Father and Son >> Father
and Son glorify each other >> Holy Spirit honors
the Son through the Father >> Father honors the
Son who honors the Father –
What does it mean that the Son was begotten by the Father? This is a case
where two things are true at the same time and both are in conflict with each
other. We cannot have something that has no beginning and no end and also have
someone who was begotten, suggesting a beginning. Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb through the
Holy Spirit as the only man conceived in this way. So, “begotten” means
conceived. God did not conceive Adam; He created him from the dust of the
ground. Even after Adam disobeyed the Lord, his spirit did not die, but
his flesh returned to the earth. In contrast, Jesus had a physical beginning
as a mortal man, but he never had a spiritual beginning. Jesus always was a
man, but He wasn’t always mortal. “Man” is a term we use to
differentiate between us and animals, but
actually “man” is a term that defines the nature of God, who said, “Let
us make man in our image” (Genesis 1-26). God made Adam in the image of
Christ, using finite matter from the dust of the ground and breathed eternity
into it; and then He made Christ in the image of man when He conceived Jesus
in Mary’s womb. God made Jesus a Great High Priest, thus preparing Him for sacrifice. He performs
His perpetual ministry in heaven seated at His Father's right hand, continually interceding for the people. We were once sinners,
but we are now being perfected through suffering and are already perfect through faith in the
blood
sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
See also:
God is an artist; Phi 2-13;
229d
Heb 5,7-14
(187a) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>>
Separation from the old man >> Die to the flesh >>
The ministry of dying to self >> Die to self to
minister to God
>> Jesus died to self and ministered to God
– Jesus suffered temptation in His flesh though
He never submitted to it, being by far His greatest miracle. He was 100%
God, but outwardly He had the body of a man, being subject to temptation.
For this reason the cross demonstrated the boundless integrity of God, while
His life of 33 years demonstrated it all the more in His daily encounters with
sin. There was plenty of time and opportunity for temptation to
wear Him down and take over His mind and body, but Jesus’ determination to
keep Himself spotless was greater than temptation's ability to overwhelm Him.
Every time He overcame temptation He was offering gifts and sacrifices for sin
to His Father, similar to the old covenant priests who had a host of daily
obligations in service to God and the people. It wasn’t just the cross that
bought our redemption, for without a perfect life His sacrifice would have
been unacceptable to the Father.
Had Jesus sinned just once, His death wouldn’t have meant any more than
if you or I had been nailed to that cross, or if the high priest had taken his
own blood into the Most Holy Place to make atonement for the people. Jesus took on the role of a priest, not just
at His crucifixion, but also throughout His life in every moment He lived
without sin, like offering a turtledove every time he conquered temptation. He
performed
a critical function by resisting sin for the sake of all mankind in order that
His sacrifice would be holy and acceptable to God. So, we too, when we overcome
temptation, sometimes with loud crying and tears to the one able to save us
from death, God hears us because we
believe in Jesus for eternal life. We too act as priests by overcoming temptation for the sake of those around us,
and even more with our life of prayer, a ministry toward God enhanced behind
closed doors, fighting for those on our prayer list and for freedom from sin
through our love of the truth.
Heb 5,7-10
(45f) Judgment
>>
Believer’s sin >> Through His Son >>
Jesus absorbed sin of the Church
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Heb 5,7-9
(8l)
Responsibility >> Responsible to defend God’s cause >>
Preparing the sacrifice –
The cross was the one act of righteousness that justified the ungodly when
they repented and believed in the gospel. It is the sacrifice that God used to
secure man’s salvation, but behind that one act of righteousness was a whole
life lived for God without sin. Each rise above temptation was an act of
righteousness that sanctified His body and made his blood holy
to the Lord for the propitiation of sin.
(26i)
Sin >> Consequences of sin
>>
Death of Christ – Jesus prayed to His Father who was able to save Him
from death. The writer of Hebrews was not talking about the cross when he said
that; rather, he was talking about the span of Jesus’ life, that for
thirty-three years He suffered like nobody else to remain
without sin. Had Jesus committed a sin, He would no longer
have been welcome in heaven, having no better standing with His Father than
Lucifer. How could He sacrifice Himself for the sins of the world if He too
were a sinner? The possibility
was always there for Jesus to sin, since He had a body of mortal flesh
just like our own, who was tempted in all ways yet found faithful (Heb 4-15).
(37f) Judgment
>>
Jesus’ humanity >> Jesus had human limitations
-- These verses go with verse 2. It
is hard to imagine how much suffering Jesus endured throughout His life. To put absolute perfection in a
fallible body must be the very definition of suffering. Heb 12-4 says that we have
not resisted to the point of shedding blood in our striving against sin, and
of course Jesus bled, but before a single drop was shed, He
suffered the vexation of His soul and the temptations of His flesh for years.
He prayed to His Father with loud crying and tears; how many of us pray like
that? Often we just fall to our temptations. In our fight for freedom, how willing are we to resist
temptation? Do we go to
God with loud crying and tears? The
majority of us do not, yet this is the level of commitment He would like
us all to have in our striving against sin. Scripture suggests that this was a
regular occurrence for Christ; although He was free from sin, temptation was
always right around the corner, coming to Him at various opportune times (Lk
4-13). See also: Freedom; 119f
(38c) Judgment
>>
Jesus defeated death (Satan) >> Resurrection
overcomes death
(39g) Judgment
>>
Jesus defeated death >> Jesus’ victory was
through His flesh
(41b) Judgment
>>
Satan destroyed >> Be like Jesus >>
Jesus is without sin >> He fulfilled the law
(42k) Judgment
>>
Satan destroyed >> Conform to the glory of
Christ’s death
(43k) Judgment
>>
Satan destroyed in the absence of sin >>
Perfected in weakness – Jesus was perfect on the inside; His soul was the Holy Spirit, while His flesh was
no different from ours. It says He
was made perfect, that is, He was perfected through suffering. Through His
life Christ used His perfect Spirit to perfect obedience in His flesh, which
qualified Him as a High Priest for us, who became our source of eternal
salvation. The fact that Jesus never committed a sin made His sacrifice acceptable to the Father. Some people snub the idea
that Jesus never committed a sin, though He lived in a body like ours;
this was His greatest
miracle. Absolute
perfection was shoved into an imperfect body that had every opportunity we
have to sin. Jesus exercised His will to remain faithful to His Father and in the process
learned obedience. God knows everything, but to know about something on a cognitive
level is different from experiencing it firsthand. God knew
vicariously what it was like to live in a body of sinful flesh, but He
didn’t know by experience until Jesus came in the flesh and lived among us.
Similarly, being perfect is different from being perfected.
(44a) Judgment
>>
Satan destroyed >> Complete >>
It is finished >> Fulfillment of God’s will
(70d) Authority
>> Righteous judgment (outcome of discernment) >> Being sensitive to the Spirit
>>
Spirit grieves over the flesh
(93g) Thy kingdom come
>>
Following Jesus >> Disciples follow Him
(95l) Thy kingdom come
>>
Positive attitude about suffering >> Suffering
under the hand of God –
The
Father asked His Son, ‘If temptation implored You to choose sin, would You rather choose righteousness?’ Jesus answered ‘yes’. This was the question
God asked both Adam and Job. How unjust would it be to ask this of others and not of
Himself?
Satan is the accuser of the brethren; he accused Job in the presence of God,
asking, ‘You say he’s perfect? Touch his flesh and he will curse you to your
face!’ (Job 2-5). God considered that He must test Job to see if Satan’s
accusations were correct. God could have answered Satan with His foreknowledge that His servant Job
would do no wrong, but figured it more useful if Job proved it.
God knew that Satan would
have answered with: ‘Prove that this is not mere conjecture,’ refusing to take God’s word for
it. (Note that God was more willing to use His foreknowledge to anticipate
Satan's criticism than use it to answer his question.) Actually, Satan had a
point; God doesn't want a creation that He simply knows will obey Him but one
that can prove it. Therefore, the only way to answer Satan's question was to touch Job’s flesh and note his
response. As a result, Job was perfected in weakness, just as Jesus was perfected in
weakness, and as a result Jesus became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey
Him. God doesn’t take our word for
it; He makes us demonstrate our faith. God could use His foreknowledge to look in the future
and see if we would obey Him, but “what good is
that” (Jm 2-16)? This suggests that God sees no application to His foreknowledge
in the real world, so much for Hyper-Calvinism. See also: Test; 189e /
God allows suffering and evil to test us like He
tested Job;
Jm 5-10,11; 12a
(101f) Thy kingdom come
>>
Zeal >> Fulfill your calling with zeal
(103i) Thy kingdom come
>>
Purifying process >> God purifies His Church >>
Jesus goes through God’s purifying process –
We could combine all the miracles Jesus performed and together they would not
compare to the miracle of remaining perfect in sinful flesh for
thirty-three years. The Father sent Him to us knowing He would overcome sin, though He could have had a moment of
weakness. Note that God used His foreknowledge to determine the outcome, still
He felt Jesus should be subjected to trial, suggesting that the outcome is not
the most important result of being tested but the experience itself of being tested.
Had Jesus sinned, His
Father would have
eternally banished Him from heaven. There were two kinds of sin Jesus could
have committed: He could have transgressed the laws of Moses, or He could have
transgressed the will of His Father, primarily involving the cross. The battle He fought in the Garden of Gethsemane where He sweat
droplets of blood was intense, not because He worried about dying, but because
He feared the notion of being separated from His Father, at the same time
having all the sins of the world (past, present and future) heaped upon Him. This was
Satan's opportunity to break the unity of the Godhead, successfully tempting
Jesus to retreat from His Father's plan to send Him to the cross, Satan employing his tactics
of divide
and conquer. By this the Heavenly Father would have essentially lost His Son
to sin, but He sent Him knowing this would not happen, because Jesus never
fails.
(116c) Thy kingdom come
>>
Faith >>
Working the grace of God >> Through worship >>
Through our relationship with Him
(119f) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Freedom >>
Fences of freedom >> Being a slave to freedom –
The Church
is hazy in their understanding about Jesus’ relationship with His Father; He
did not go around doing whatever He wanted; He was
bound to His Father’s will, but He was also free, not free to disobey but to
obey (Jn 6-38). We can talk about freedom, and people in the world would probably tell us that the main reason they are not
interested in Christianity is
that they want their freedom to live however they choose, but this eventually leads
back to bondage. In contrast, the freedom Jesus enjoyed in
obedience to His Father was a solution to bondage and a sustainable way of life for all nations. People who reject the will of God treat their freedom as a consumable
resource, but Paul said that freedom was for freedom's sake (Gal 5-1). It is a
primary goal and a tool we use to achieve other goals, yet most people use it as a
commodity, like money; they spend it on their pleasures. True freedom is not
free but has fences. That is, we must choose righteousness if we want
to keep our freedom or we will lose it.
Jesus was not free to choose against His Father’s will; He was free to do
the will of His Father. Freedom is therefore
defined as having the power to choose righteousness. Absolute freedom
can only be enjoyed in heaven, where temptation does not exist and where
there is no law. See also: Freedom; 189e
(119i) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Curse of sin is
broken >> Curse of death is broken
(137i) Temple
>>
Building the temple (with hands) >> Maturity >>
Maturing in Jesus is hard work >> Maturity is a
training process -- These verses go with verse 14
(172j) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >>
Scripture that contradicts the Catholic faith >>
Jesus never to die again >> Because His death
was sufficient -- These verses go with verse 2
(189e) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>>
Separation from the old man >> Martyr >>
Tested for faithfulness to the death – Without
God testing us, we wouldn't have the opportunity to exercise our freedom. He tests us to show us we are truly free
and faithful to Him. Without being tested, these questions would
have surfaced in a million years from now, and we would have
eventually needed to ask, ‘How am I free?’ There would have been no way to
adequately answer that question apart from an experiential framework but nowhere
to test us outside His perfect creation; hence, all our questions must
be answered before He recreates a perfect universe. Questions like, ‘How do I
know I love God and my neighbor?’ and ‘How do I know I am faithful and
loyal?’ are questions that God foresaw from the beginning. The level of
freedom God has given us demands an answer, and without the ability to prove
our love and faithfulness, any answer would be inadequate, which would
have made us feel constrained as though incarcerated in paradise. However, with
these questions answered, we will be totally free and we will know for sure that we
love God, because we proved it. For this
reason God setup a world that would test us, and He
sent His Son through the same testing process and found Him faithful in all
things. Think of the trouble God endured to answer these simple yet
fundamental questions, the
millennia of human suffering He has allowed, even sending His own Son to die
for our sins that we might live to righteousness. These questions are as big as
the universe itself, big enough to make our eternal experience with God
something less than heavenly if they weren't fully answered. God thinks that without experience
we have no knowledge, and without the knowledge of sin, we could not sit with
Christ on His Father's throne or be fully made in His image. Intrinsically, that includes possessing the knowledge of good
and evil. Right now, we don’t understand why that is so important, but one
day when we move into our new heavenly abode where no sin exists, we will
realize that this was by far the most important question to answer before
eternity resumed. It will have the effect of infinitely enhancing our relationship
with God and enhancing our ability to manage His universe. See also: Freedom;
37f / Test; Heb 5,7-9; 95l
/ Freedom defines us as
made in the image of God;
Rev 14,9-11; 64f
(190b) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>>
Separation from the old man >> Masochism
(Self-made martyr)
>> Taking your sinful nature by force
(194a) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>>
Turn from sin to God >> Run to God >>
Run the race that is set before us
(194i) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>>
Turn from sin to God >> Yielding >>
Yield to God’s right to direct your way
(234i) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >>
Sold out >> Relinquishing your assets to Christ >>
Dispose of every asset except Christ
(253k) Trinity
>>
Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is
subject to the Father >> Jesus is subject to God’s
ability
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Heb 5-7,8
(46g) Judgment
>>
Spiritual warfare >> Fall of Satan >>
Removing Satan’s obstructions –
Had Satan successfully led Jesus into sin, what would have happened to the Father?
He would have begun to doubt
Himself as a person. Therefore, we say that God risked everything and could have lost it all, and
Satan could have grown one step closer to subverting His throne. Were the angels nervous?
Jesus never fails! The Father had absolute confidence in His Son that He could
make Him live in a body of sin without concern of Him faltering; yet vested
in weakness look what it took to avoid sinning: loud crying
and tears. Jesus knew what was at stake, being the person of God; He was absolute perfection in
Spirit, and He was not about to submit to His flesh. It says Jesus was
heard because of His pity. His Father took pity on Him and sent angels to
help Him in His struggle against sin. The crescendo took place in the Garden
of Gethsemane prior to his crucifixion, the greatest temptation of all to
abandon the Father's will and run for His life.
Had
He run, what would have remained of Him but a body of flesh that was slated to
get old and die? His hope in God would have perished with Him, and the same
would happen to us if we abandoned our faith! See
also: Satan tried to hold man hostage; Rev 18-20,21; 28i
(87c) Thy kingdom come >>
Obedience >> Jesus obeyed all
the Father’s will – Jesus “learned obedience from the things
which He suffered.” That is, God in Christ learned something; that sounds like a
paradox. In a way it is not paradoxical at all, in that Jesus limited Himself to the
weakness of human flesh and opened Himself to a world
of learning experiences, but in a way it is paradoxical in that He put
Himself in that position in the first place. God already knew about
our suffering, but not by experience, and He would not be out done by His
creation, but seeks sovereignty over all things (Phi 3-20,21). He suffered our experiences in hope that we would experience
His joy and heavenly glory forever. He wanted to know
everything about us so we could know everything about Him. He did these things
knowing that the more He had in common with us, the more we would have in common with
Him, and the closer bonds we would
form with Him. The trinity existed in eternity past, and the
Son has always obeyed the Father, and it was never difficult for Him, but when Jesus
took on human flesh, the sinful nature competed against the will of God in His
heart to obey the Father, which proved His loyalty.
Heb 5-7
(82d) Thy kingdom come
>>
Three elements of prayer >> Our approach >>
How to pray
(245i) Kingdom of God
>>
Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >>
Literal manifestations >> Manifestation of God’s
righteous judgment >> Manifestation of Jesus’
victory over sin – Jesus is our High Priest by virtue of His
divinity, but had He not been born into a physical body, His divinity could
not have made Him a high priest. The fact that He lived in the weakness of
human flesh is what qualified Him as our High Priest, and the fact that He lived a
sinless life perfected His high priestly office. Therefore, our faith in His sinless life and
subsequent sacrifice makes us equally blameless before God. Our salvation is hinged on
the understanding that we are sinful people, but that Jesus never committed sin, and that God called Him to sacrifice His fleshly body on a cross,
so when we bind our faith to His sinless life, we would take on His perfection
and righteousness and become acceptable to God to
the degree that He has accepted Jesus’ blood sacrifice for the propitiation
of our sins.
Heb 5-8
(239e) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge
of the kingdom >> Teachers >>
Teachable students >> The teachable are taught
by God -- This verse goes with verse 14
KJV
WEB
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Heb 5-9
(41d) Judgment
>>
Satan destroyed >> Be like Jesus >>
Jesus overcame sin
(61d) Paradox
>>
Two implied meanings >> Perfect—Inherent
quality / Maturing process –
This word, “perfect,” has two implied meanings: Jesus was a perfect Spirit, and He was perfected in the flesh.
The paradox of the Son of God was that He lived in a body that had an
affinity for sin, while possessing a Spirit that was incapable of sin, these two
being opposite forces competing against each other for control. In that sense,
Jesus was the first Christian, for we are acquainted with this same struggle
since Jesus placed His Spirit in us. God could place Himself in a body that is
in rebellion against His own authority and never
once succumb to it, proving His sovereignty over all things and perfecting His
love for righteousness. Jesus having lived in a body of sinful flesh, yet without sin
by far was His greatest miracle, which consecrated His sacrifice. Jesus said in Mat 23-16,17, “Which is more
important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?” The gold represents the cross, while the temple that sanctified the gold
represents the body of Jesus. What is more
important, then, the cross or His perfect life that sanctified the cross?
Without a perfect life, His cross could not have purchased our redemption.
(87ia) Thy kingdom come >>
Obedience >> Those who obey believe in God >> Those who obey the Holy
Spirit – There is no difference between
"belief" and
obedience. However,
we often see people claiming to believe but are not able to demonstrate their
beliefs through obedience. This is evidence of a person who does not know God.
In contrast, a lifestyle of obedience is evidence that a person indeed knows
God. This is what the Bible teaches; it is how the Bible separates the
righteous from the wicked, not by what they believe, but whether they
obey.
(88a) Thy kingdom come
>>
Faith produces works >> Relationship between
faith and works >> Works establish your faith –
Some people claim to believe in the Bible, quoting the Apostle’s Creed every
week in church along with the Lord’s Prayer. There is nothing
wrong with that; in fact, Paul commanded Timothy to promote certain doctrines (1Tim
6,3-5), not just to believe in them, but for people to fashion their lives around them
to promote godliness. Many people go to church every week
and agree together that these things are without question the gospel truth, but
after church they go about their lives in a way that does not complement their
beliefs.
(207k) Salvation
>>
The salvation of God >> Salvation verses >>
The generosity of God’s salvation >> Salvation
is eternal life
Heb 5-10
(71i) Authority >>
Ordained by God >>
Jesus is ordained by God -- This verse goes with verse 1. In
conjunction with being High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek,
Jesus was also a mortal man as it said in Psalm 2-7, “You are My Son, Today
I have begotten You.” This alludes to the Father conceiving Jesus in
Mary’s womb. His ministry on earth was to die for the sins of mankind as the
son of man, for He was equipped to make the sacrifice, and He showed us favor by His presence
in the flesh. This does not overshadow his priestly office on the order of
Melchizedek that speaks about Him in eternity as the Son of God, who will perpetually intercede for us in the Father’s
presence, suggesting we will always need a Great High Priest to intercede for
us. This means the Father will never accept us apart from Christ. Even after we have
lived in His house, seen His face and fellowshipped with Him for eons, still we will
never be acceptable to Him apart from Christ, for to be apart from Christ is to be in rebellion against Him.
KJV
WEB
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Heb 5,11-14
(4c) Responsibility
>> Advocate God’s cause >> Being accountable
to the word of God –
It has been said that everyone knows the difference between good and evil,
but this is not inherently true. We all have a conscience, but it
can only teach us to treat others the same way that we want to be treated.
Without the Bible we wouldn't know about Jesus, much less know about God's
specific will that the Holy Spirit teaches us through the Bible, which this
verse is referring. Our parents probably taught to us about good and evil
based on what they knew about the Bible, and in this way God conveys His
influence from one generation the next, but take the Bible's influence away and
people will soon lose their ability to discern good and evil. That is why we
need to keep our nose in the Bible. See also: Bible (Unwilling to endure the word of God); 2Tim 4-3,4; 57j
(7j)
Responsibility >> Use time wisely
>>
Get ready >> Take time to prepare –
We
think we know what the future holds, and so we consciously or
unconsciously prepare for it, but we never know for sure what is right
around the corner. Things change so fast that before we are ready to assume
our role that we have anticipated, either the circumstances have changed or
we have changed, and we consequently step into a role for which we have not
prepared. Instead of postulating the
future, we should become students of God's word and disciples of prayer and
let Him decide our future and how He will use
the truth that we have treasured in our heart. He promises us a role in His
plan if we dedicate our lives to Him.
(72m)
Authority >> Hierarchy of authority
>>
Authority makes you accountable >> Children
are accountable to their parents
(76m) Thy kingdom come
>>
Desires >> Word is food >>
Hunger for the word
(80j) Thy kingdom come
>>
Know the word to minister to people >> To
edify one another
(97h) Thy kingdom come
>>
Attention >> Facing the direction of God’s
will >> Focusing your attention on what
matters to you
(138f) Temple
>>
Building the temple (with hands) >> Reproof >>
Reprove your brother for not thinking right
(175f)
Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance
>> Dodging the issue (willful ignorance) >> Evading the word of
God – The
ultimate skill that maturity bestows is the ability to
discern between good and evil, and this passage says that babes in
Christ don’t have this aptitude. That is, they don’t know when
they're sinning. Although they are ignorant, they are not innocent of their lack of knowledge, for they are willfully ignorant. They
think that if they remain spiritually ignorant, God will not be able to
charge them with sin, because they didn’t know any better, but God knows
that they were avoiding the knowledge of the truth, and He will judge them
according to truth's availability and their willingness
to learn about Him. God has given us all the tools we need in the Bible to
grow in the grace and knowledge of our Jesus Christ, and if we don’t make
an effort, He will know. There is only one reason we don’t mature in the
things of God: we want to remain in the flesh. We like this world; it
is all we know, like a bird that has always lived in a cage. We just want to be saved, remain in the flesh,
have no effect on the world and then go to heaven, but we are living a lie.
We don’t know the difference between good and evil just like we don't
know the difference between truth and error. We have
chosen not to be spiritual, but are we spiritually blind? If a light shines in
our eyes
and we don’t see it, it means we are blind; that is the test. The
writer of Hebrews is shining the truth in our eyes and we are unresponsive
to it from willful ignorance of the truth. We think this will
deliver us from guilt, but in fact it is multiplied by willfully ignoring Him.
(193h) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>> Turn from sin to God >>
Repent >> Repent from not renewing your mind
(197a) Denying Christ
>>
Man exercises his will against God >>
Spiritual laziness >> Rebelling Against what
God wants you to do >> Refusing to renew your
mind –
Today the Church is spiritually in ruins; if someone were inclined to teach
the word of God, there would be no place for him. There are teachers in the Church, but they must be of a certain social
order. What matters more is friendships with people in high
places and agreements on certain foundational doctrines designed by the
devil that over a course
of two millennia have impeded spiritual growth, causing apostasy which has
dragged the Church into the abyss of secular humanism. We scarcely understand the gospel,
much less believe
in Him, because of the doctrines we have put in place of the truth. Thanks
to many denominations that teach we don’t need to obey God or
be committed to the faith, we only need to believe in certain doctrines,
such as that Jesus died for our
sins, and in believing we are given a free pass to
heaven. Paul did say that salvation was a free gift, but if we are not
growing in the things of God over the decades that we have been saved, who
can say we actually believe?
(230e) Kingdom of God
>>
God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Partaking of the power of God >>
Partaking of the word of God
Heb 5,11-13
(21b) Sin
>>
Disobedient to the call –
The initial readers of the book of Hebrews had become dull of hearing to the word of righteousness, though like the Church of the 21st
century, they were probably ready to hear all about the mercy and grace of God
through the blood of Christ, but nothing about being disciples of Jesus or accountability.
The book of Hebrews contains some of the deepest theology of the Bible, yet its original audience was not prepared to hear about perfecting
obedience in the flesh, suggesting that there is no deeper theology than
godliness. Perhaps they were saved for a decade,
yet they are still babes in Christ, being reminiscent of the Church today. No one is spiritually growing in our generation
either, and very few are being saved. We know God expects us to grow, but we don’t
think we need to grow because we are saved by grace through faith, not of
works.
(168l) Works of the devil
>>
Manifestations of the devil >> The world has
deaf ears to God >> God does not speak to people
who will not hear Him
(175a) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >>
Trying to bend kingdom principles
(196f) Denying Christ
>>
Man exercises his will against God >> Immaturity >> Not mature enough to seek God
>>
Unable to know the mind of Christ – The writer of Hebrews wanted to elaborate on
the role of Melchizedek but had to stop saying, “it is hard to explain since
you have become dull of hearing.” The early church was having the same
problems that we are having in these last days; people are unwilling to mature
and grow in their faith, remaining babes in Christ. They want to be
saved and call it sufficient and continue their lives with the
gospel of Christ remaining ineffectual, so it doesn’t hinder them from
living the way they want. The reasons for not maturing in the faith are all
evil. They are full of want and crave pleasure. Whether they actually desire heaven is
questionable; they get saved just to avoid hell,
but don’t want to serve Jesus. They are
spiritually lazy. After all the things Jesus did for us, after offering prayers and supplication with loud crying and tears to
remain innocent of all evil throughout His life, and then going to the cross and being tortured
and suffered a horrible death at the hands of some of the most vicious and
terrifying men this world has produced, the beneficiaries of all His suffering
refuse to raise a finger to serve Him. Although outwardly they are religious,
hidden in their hearts is unbelief.
(239g) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge
of the kingdom >> Teachers >>
Teachers are construction workers >> God raises
up teachers to raise up the body
KJV
WEB
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Heb 5-13,14
(69ba) Authority >> Discernment >> Discerning the knowledge
of God >> Discerning true motives
Heb 5-14
(41k) Judgment
>>
Satan destroyed >> Be like Jesus >>
The word leads you to godliness
(70b) Authority
>> Righteous judgment (outcome of discernment) >> Sensitivity To The Spirit
(86g) Thy kingdom come
>>
Obedience >> Be doers of the word >>
Clothe yourself with the word of God >> Practice
the truth
(92c) Thy kingdom come
>>
The narrow way >> Trail of good works >>
Practice walking a straight line
(127n) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Goodness >>
Devote your life to doing good
(137i) Temple
>>
Building the temple (with hands) >> Maturity >>
Maturing in Jesus is hard work >> Maturity is a
training process -- This verse goes with verses 7-9
(239e) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge
of the kingdom >> Teachers >>
Teachable students >> The teachable are taught
by God -- This verse goes with verse 8
See
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