The Book of Hebrews-Introduction

Good morning. And Bruce, it looks like the workday is still on. So, you know, didn't bring the walls down. Yeah, okay. Should we keep repeating that song every week? Well, anyway. All right. Today we begin our study of the book of Hebrews. And we'll be looking at today as an introduction to that book and then proceed through passages step by step in the weeks ahead here. Hebrews is a very special book. It's written to Jews, Jews, Hebrews, Israelites, those are synonyms, at a time when the sacrificial system in Jerusalem was still ongoing. And we'll see evidence for that shortly here.

And when we say sacrificial system, that meant that the altar there in the temple was still in full operation. The Jews were required to keep a fire going all the time. They were not allowed, not permitted under the law, to let it go. The fire was used as a part of the sacrificial system and so you would always see a column of smoke coming out from this altar area.

And then at certain times people bring in sacrifices of different kinds and sizes. Many Jews who had become believers in Christ were being tempted to drift back under Jerusalem and under the system. And there was quite a bit of pressure from those Jews who had not been saved by faith in Christ to fall back under that system and to rely upon it.

Now, one of the things that we'll bring out here is that Hebrews has a full cargo of nautical terms, that is, shipping terms. One of the things we've done is prepared a supplement here that we'll Refer you to but from the beginning to the end of the book of Hebrews lots of shipping terms And I think that's an important clue.

There's also a lot of athletic terms in the book and So we'll be encountering those at different places as we proceed through in our study one of them we saw just recently and that was read for us here this morning and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us and That is our running the race. And in fact, the way it's presented in verse two, Christ had his race as well.

There are other athletic terms, even the word from which we get our word gym or gymnasium is found in the book of Hebrews. So we'll be running into that. These nautical terms and athletic terms are two sides of a one-page supplement that is available in the cabinet to the right as you exit the room. We'll also have a number of those that you'll have available to download off the website here. And Hebrews 12, 1 and 2, that was one that was against the background of athletic competition, specifically running.

That wasn't the only sport. Actually, the original Olympics, begun 776 BC, that was even during the time of about the lifetime of Isaiah, had just a few sports. And it was a few different running events, boxing, and wrestling were some of the earlier ones that they had. 12 BC, Herod volunteered to have the Jews, of course they love to pay taxes, right? Volunteered to have the Jews pay for the Olympics in 12 BC, just before the birth of Christ there. And Hebrews was written to Jews living in Gentile lands, the evidence seems to point to. where athletics was a priority. We sometimes fail to grasp how important athletics was. We'll have our Olympics, and of course we get glued to the television set for all the different events that they have that the Greeks certainly didn't have.

But it was extremely important. There was athletic competition between cities, and if you were the representative for a city, everybody was looking for you to win. And by the way, they didn't have second or third place. You either won or you're in trouble. Because many times the losers were beaten. So it's very important that you get first, right? That's strong motivation. I would much rather have the victor's banquet and the victor's crown than be beaten. So a real sharp contrast between winning and losing.

There were a couple of places in the Mediterranean around Ephesus in northern Egypt where there's a significant concentration of Jews. Now here's your handout here on the first page, and you have this racing stripe that runs right through the middle of it here.

The book of Hebrews is kind of a graphical outline, if you will, that presents the book in kind of one glance or one viewing. And a couple things I'd like to point out. One is in this area of focus, which is the top line there. We have three things that stand out as we go through the book of Hebrews and One we have Christ's person is going to be the first thing that stands out in the first few chapters Focus on him and then on Christ's work that will be the the next step that will take us on several chapters into the beginning of chapter 10 and finally the walk of faith and and a big focus about the word faith and what it means and what it is.

So we'll see those three areas of focus as we step through the book. Topics that will come up during that study as we proceed through it will be the majesty of Christ in that first few chapters there. There will then be the ministry of Christ in the middle section. And then you finally see Christ's ministry through believers is the focus there towards the end.

There is a kind of an alternation that we'll also see, and that is first is to give them some understanding, some teaching, and then to exhort them. And so we'll see that pattern also going back and forth as we proceed through the book of Hebrews in our study in the weeks and months ahead here. Now, Hebrews has, interestingly, a few markers for the region of Ephesus. It doesn't prove definitively that it was written from or to the people in Ephesus, but I think some of these markers are worth looking at.

Hebrews says that Timothy was released from prison. And so that's very interesting. Here's a book where it doesn't, at the outset, it doesn't claim it was written by anyone. Apparently, the labeling as to who it was from was somehow detached from the book.

But Hebrews 13.23 says, take notice that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom, if he comes soon, I will see you, whoever that I is. So here's Timothy, no prior indication that he was ever in prison, but it seems to show up, you know, here. Now, Timothy, as you recall, had a Greek father and a Jewish mother, so he was half-Jewish, just like this picture here, right? Okay, so a Greek father and Jewish mother, half-Jewish.

Now, Paul had sent Timothy to Ephesus to deal with the false teachers, that's what 1 Timothy tells us, It's clear he did travel to other places. That is, Timothy did travel to other places and we get some indication of what some of those places were. Tradition says, and this is again outside of scripture but worthy of consideration I would say, that Timothy remained mostly in the city of Ephesus. He used it as a home base from then on. So that's something worthy of consideration here. That being the case, Timothy certainly spent some time in Ephesus, and that would be something that the readers would take note of, especially if they knew who that was.

The New Testament books of Ephesians and Hebrews and Revelation also do something interesting. They quote from the same version of the Greek Old Testament that came out of this region of Ephesus. So there's another marker for Ephesus here. It also makes sense that Ephesians was, when it quoted the Old Testament, quoted from the same version, and also the book of Revelation.

Remember in Revelation, you had the seven churches. Matter of fact, those are the ones that are labeled here on this map that's on the screen and also in your handout, I believe. Revelation starts off in the messages to the seven churches. The message to Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2 is the first one.

Now, we could ask, when? When was this book written? The author of the book of Hebrews wrote at a time when he could make multiple references, and he does, multiple references to an ongoing temple sacrifice system. That gives us a key indicator as to the fact that the temple was in operation when the author was writing.

What you see right in front of you, I'll see if I can point it out, this area back in here is where the sacrifices would take place. And that was an operation and he made present tense reference to the sacrifices as we'll see when we go through the book of Hebrews.

So it was an ongoing sacrifice system. As a matter of fact, if the temple wasn't there and it was destroyed, in 70 AD, if the temple wasn't there, that would have been a very good argument for don't have temple sacrifices and don't get all caught up in them, right? But the fact that he had to talk about an ongoing temple sacrificial system is a very good indication that that destruction of the temple had not taken place yet. And so they had all the sacrificial system including the altar the priests everything that was taking place then was happening Right then and he could make present-tense reference to it So when we talk about when there's something else in Hebrews 7 14 it says for it is present-tense evident that our Lord was descended from Judah well how would you say that it is evident in the present tense? It could only be evident if the genealogical records remained in the temple. And that meant that the temple was still there.

Here is a picture of a model of the temple area. It shows the temple courtyards around the outside, the total temple area with the courtyards and all the perimeter colonnades. was about the size of six football fields or soccer fields if you will. This middle part of the temple which only Jews were allowed to go into here was the area that had the sacrificial system. The area in front of that was an area that the Jewish women could go into, and obviously Jewish men as well.

And then behind that separation wall was the area where the sacrifices took place. Right here was where the genealogical records were kept on that part and that side of the temple. And so when the Romans came in and destroyed the temple, they also destroyed all the genealogical records.

And that's why if you ask a Jew today, which tribe are you from? They don't know. There may be some clues in the name. You ever hear of a Jewish person named Levi or Levite or Levitt? Any of those names may be an indication. Cohen is another one, means priest. So it's possible that there are some indications in the name, but really they don't know because all the genealogical records were destroyed. They were all destroyed.

They were located here and it was evident at the time it was possible for the readers of Hebrews and there in 714 to go into this area of the temple and check out the genealogical background on any Jewish person and validate any claim that anyone might make.

Continuing on with this when since the Romans fought against Jerusalem and overcame the city in the temple in 70 ad They did that late summer 70 ad Hebrews must have been written about 68 ad Or before why do we say that and they're not 70? the reason is because the Romans came in with waves of attack and began kind of partway through the process disrupting the temple sacrifices. So 68 AD would have been a time when it would be the latest that you could have a continuous sacrificial system. So then the Romans came in late summer of 70 AD and they attacked.

They actually brought in 12 legions from as far away as Britain. in order to make this final attack the last we hear of the descendants of Esau they actually volunteered to join the Jews in this battle and they did and we never hear from them again the descendants of Esau were at least by name wiped out in this Roman attack the Roman attack was vicious and many of the deaths were actually Jew against Jew any Jew that refused to fight was then slaughtered.

So this was a terrible horrific event and it is debated whether the destruction of the temple on the fire was actually an accident or a command but nonetheless that's what took place. The Romans destroyed it. There was no way to restore the system. The Romans drove off any remaining Jews. They took the Jesus told them would happen stone upon stone was taken apart As it turns out a lot of the rubble has been gone through this portion of it has been Kept just so that people could see Okay, here's what the Romans did they broke the temple in pieces and shoved it off the edge of the temple mountain So here's some of the remaining blocks and bricks.

I As the archaeologists went through it, they found some of the signs that warned Gentiles not to go into the inner part of the temple. At one place they found engraved on one of the stones, this is the trumpeter's place. Because music, trumpets and harps, were part of the temple practices and ceremonies.

So Hebrews also makes reference there to Timothy, as we pointed out, being released from prison. We have no record of Timothy being in prison throughout all the book of Acts. Acts chapter 16 is where we first see him. No record of him being in prison there. None of the early letters that were like Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians during the time that Paul was in House Arrest in Rome mentioned that.

So probably about 64 AD would have been the earliest time. So 64 to 68 AD, mid-60s, if you will, AD would have been the time of the writing of this book, kind of sandwiched between those two points that we have. Now, who? Who? All right. Commentators have made various guesses as to who is the author of Hebrews.

Paul has been one. I doubt that very much. Doesn't sound at all like Paul's writing. Some very original things. Apollos would be another one. The only thing is we have no other writing of Apollos. We have writings about him, but no other writing of Apollos to compare. Barnabas was another one, and we'll mention that briefly in a minute.

Luke, I don't think so. The writing is not like Dr. Luke's. Aside from which, the evidence from Colossians chapter 4 is that Dr. Luke was a Gentile. And to have written in detail about the sacrificial system and the writing to the Hebrews, that just doesn't sound like it's a good fit.

Peter, we have two of his letters, and it doesn't look like his writing style. Jude, we have Jude, the half-brother of Jesus. They're studying it in the elective. I guess that'll be later on once they get through James. It doesn't look like his either. Stephen, again, we have nothing to compare with. Besides of which, Stephen was martyred. decades before this, so that doesn't fit.

Sylvanus or Silas, again that's been put forward but we don't have any evidence of his writing. Epaphras or Epaphroditus, Philip the Evangelist, there have been people, now this is a favorite among those who really like the idea of women having equal ministry and all that. Priscilla and Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary the mother of Jesus I doubt lived this long, Clement of Rome, who if anything ought to be chastised and scolded, and others have been proposed.

Now, the masculine form of the word to tell, which refers to the writer, to tell in Hebrews 11.32 rules out a female writer, right? She says, I, and it's a masculine form, not female. So that sounds like it wouldn't fit Priscilla or Mary, the mother of Jesus, either.

So who is the author? We don't know. OK. The author of Hebrews had a vocabulary and writing style that was unique. We can't find any comparison. A lot of unique words, and we'll be pointing some of those out. unlike Paul, but still very sophisticated in the writing.

So that's something else to consider. The author of Hebrews had a familiarity with, as we pointed out, nautical, that is, shipping terms. And you can take a look at that in the supplement. We'll be remarking about those as we go through. A reference to anchors, references to missing the harbor, those kinds of terms. Both the author and those who are on the receiving end of this letter are very familiar with shipping terms. Athletic training, since those terms come up repeatedly, seems to be also a part of it.

And someone very familiar with the inner workings of the temple. That would indicate that it's very likely a Jew and not a Gentile author. I doubt that the Hebrew Christians would actually even listen to a Gentile trying to tell them to come away from the temple. So they're very familiar with the sacrificial system. Well, that would say, and notice I start with this with perhaps and then put a question mark at the end. So remember that.

Barnabas, who was a Levite, He was of the right tribe, and the Levites didn't do the sacrifices at the temple. The Levites did everything else about the temple that didn't have to do with the sacrifices. Everything else that didn't have to do with the sacrifices.

Because they were of the tribe of Levi, they could come in and be in that area and work in that area. But it was the priests, specifically, of the tribe of Levi who did the sacrifices. So a Levite would be very familiar with it, because they might be, for example, helping with the sacrifice, even keeping the fire going and moving equipment and things around, moving animals around. So possibly him.

But someday, when they'll go home to be with the Lord, Someday, when we're all gathered around the throne, someday when the heavenly elders are there, all gathered around the throne, somebody can ask, Lord, who wrote the book of Hebrews? And I volunteer Roger. Roger can do that. He can ask the Lord who wrote the book. I think I'll be a little preoccupied. But anyway, here we go. Now, to whom is he writing? Hebrews is written to Jews who had substantial Greek influence. Obviously, here's a book written in Greek. That's the first thing.

Who lived in or near a coastal or harbor city. For the author to have put so many references to little details of things like the harbor and the anchors and all the other little features, even warning them about not pitching stuff overboard. So there's repeated reference to lots of practices and even hardware. that have to do with the shipping industry, nautical terms, that would tend to say that they're a coastal city and very likely a harbor city. In other words, where being a harbor for ships is a significant thing. A number of them apparently, in order for this slipping back under the sacrificial system, a number of them had made regular pilgrimages to the temple in Jerusalem. So they'd done it regularly.

While not certain, Ephesus or likely a nearby harbor city. Because remember, we talked about the markers for Ephesus. Ephesus or likely a nearby harbor city. Smyrna would be a good one to the north. Miletus to the south. Candidate for the location that the readers called home.

But people would be very comfortable with the terminology used in the shipping industry. A harbor city would also make for an easier pilgrimage. Hey, it's time to go to Jerusalem instead of this trip on land and all that that involves. Let's just get on a ship and we'll come real close to where Jerusalem is, like Joppa, something like that, and have a much easier time making a pilgrimage and then get back to our business here. So, that seems to be a good candidate. Somewhere around Ephesus, a harbor city, Ephesus itself, or a nearby city, seems a good candidate.

Now, is this law in grace too? Well, sort of. Why would I say that? In February we concluded a hundred lesson series on Law and Grace. In fact, some people said they can't believe I went pounding and pounding and pounding on this Law and Grace series, you know. But at any rate, so now we're going to do Law and Grace 2. What do I mean by that? We could call our exploration and study of this book, this masterfully written book of Hebrews, Law and Grace 2.

Why? It's because what was the whole sacrificial system that's repeatedly referred to here It was the law as described by Moses. And it wasn't just, you know, do this on the Sabbath, don't do this on the Sabbath, etc. It wasn't just that. This was the entire sacrificial system in terms of what sacrifice was offered for what kinds of sin, and who was qualified to make a sacrifice, and who was not, and how often it had to be done.

Even, here's Mary and Joseph after Jesus is born, And what do you have to do? You have to come in and bring your baby in to the temple and have things done and make a sacrifice then. So even just having a baby was enough to have the temple sacrifices come to play. So it's law and grace too, but it's the sacrificial system that is the focus here, which of course we haven't touched on that in any great part. Why? It's because the temple hasn't been there for nearly 2,000 years. Over 19 centuries. Christ and His works are all given to us entirely by grace. Did any of you earn Christ dying for your sins?

No. None of us. Not a one. None of us. All we like sheep have gone astray. Isaiah 53, 6. All we like sheep have gone astray. It's entirely by grace that Christ did what he did, that he was the Passover lamb for us. That he was the sacrifice. That is completely superior to and supersedes the entire sacrificial system, which would make sense because the system was going to go away anyway. People need to recognize, look, if you latch on to and fall back under the whole Jewish sacrificial system and try to live and get life from that, it's all going to go away.

The Romans are going to come in and wipe it out. It'll be gone. And you'll have nothing. Why not just stay with Christ? Everything that was associated with that sacrificial system was about to go away. And yet, even while it was still operational, Jesus was superior to it all. There was no need to continue going back to and leaning on that sacrificial system. Now, there was a game show, right?

They would say, is that your final answer? Remember that? Is that your final answer? Drum rolls and all this stuff, right? And then, of course, the final answer, the guy said, yeah, that's my final answer. And of course, at times it was like, whoa, what did I just say? This is God's final answer, Jesus. And the author of Hebrews underscores that again and again.

In Hebrews 7.27, 9.12, and 10.10, The sacrifice that Jesus made is repeatedly stated as once for all. Once for all. Done once, perpetually valid. But the sacrifices that you made under the Jewish sacrificial system, you had to keep doing it, and doing it, and doing it. It's like this deja vu experience. I feel like I've been doing this, you know? Didn't I do this before? Yeah, you did. Because you keep doing it, and doing it, and doing it. Again and again and again.

Imagine what it was like on Passover. You had to take your lamb into the temple like everybody else. And they would slaughter your lamb, and then it's your job to take it home and do the rest. And you're supposed to eat it all that night. Not leave any.

Imagine what it was like. to be there that day with thousands and thousands of lambs being slaughtered and then next year we do it all over again again and again and again Christ our Passover lamb as Paul says first Corinthians Christ our Passover lamb once once for all and Paul's emphatic about that as we'll see the author of Hebrews also underscores the finality of Christ's work by describing things in the perfect tense. Now that's a tense in the Greek. It means a completed past action with ongoing and permanent results.

We are sanctified permanently, made holy. We don't go again and again and again and again and again back to do some sacrifice. We, even as we gather here this next Sunday for the Lord's Table, what do we do? We remember the once for all sacrifice of Christ. We remember what He did that has permanent effect.

As a matter of fact, it is finished in John 19.30. Jesus actually used just one word in the Greek, and it was an accounting term.

Paid. That's what it really means. Not just it's finished. Paid. And that's also in the perfect tense. Paid and it's completely paid. It's a completed past action with ongoing results into the future. Permanent outcome. Permanent outcome. It's finished.

The author of Hebrews follows through with that. Christ died once for all and what he did has permanent effect. And that's a really good thing. That's a really good thing. So as we go through Hebrews, we're going to see that. The author's got it very clear. Christ did it once for all. It's not like the sacrificial system where you keep having this déjà vu experience.

I feel like I've been here before. Yeah, you have. Maybe dozens of times. Now, I'm warning you, right? Warning signs. We're used to seeing them. I've seen some that are rather ridiculous. Here's one. Obey this sign. Do not read this sign under penalty of law. Danger. Dinosaur area. Keep out. Playing on athletic fields is prohibited. I don't know what you do there, but anyway. You've probably heard about some of the crazy warnings. Do not use this electric iron while you're in the shower.

Stuff like that. But he gives warnings that are for real. They're not just jokes. So we have a variety of warnings in our world, but the author of Hebrews is going to be giving warnings that are spiritual warnings. And they're not ridiculous. They're actually very useful. And at times, they'll be somewhat shocking. So brace yourself. Some of them are pretty strong, very intense.

But nonetheless, we're going to see repeated warnings show up as we go through the book of Hebrews. So prepare yourself for that. There are a number of warnings in this book, but one of the things we're going to see is there are two things that we're not warned about in this book. And there's a reason for that.

The first thing that we're not warned about is there is no warning that someone might not get saved. So he's writing to people who are saved, right? The second thing, there is no warning in this book, and that includes Hebrews 4-6, there is no warning that someone might lose their salvation. So he's got multiple warnings, but those two warnings are not among them.

And so we're going to see that as we go through the book here. The other thing that we're going to see is, in each chapter, there is the use of the word Son, or Jesus, or Christ, and in a few places, three, Jesus Christ. Not the reverse, by the way, as you see in the Apostle Paul's writing. Not Christ Jesus, but the Son, Jesus, or Christ, or, in three cases, Jesus Christ. And what's interesting is in the very first chapter, You see the Son, but not Jesus or Christ.

So very interesting in the way Hebrews introduces the person of Christ. So every single chapter has one of these references, sometimes multiple ones. In addition to that, we're going to see other roles, titles, qualities for Christ as well. And those are going to crop up sometimes uniquely. One of them, Christ will be presented as our high priest.

And that's interesting because he's not of the tribe of Levi. That's where it is evident. He's of the tribe of Judah. How can he be the high priest? Well, that's something we'll encounter there. Christ is also the great shepherd of the sheep. And so we'll see that in Hebrews. At the same time he is the shepherd, he is also the sacrifice. He is the sacrifice and the shepherd. Isn't that amazing? He is the lamb and the one who shepherds the lambs.

Both. Both. So we're going to see titles and identifications, roles and qualities of Christ given out. Even one that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. He does not change. That's one of the things that we'll see. Something else we'll see as a pattern as we go through the book. We're going to find words like better, more, and greater a lot. A lot. Okay? Better, more, and greater.

And why is it important that it's pointed out that what Jesus does is better, more, and greater? Because the comparison in many cases is to the Jewish sacrificial system. And Jesus is better, and he's more, and he's greater than the sacrificial system that the people are being tempted to get sucked back into. better, more, and greater. So as we step our way back through the book of Hebrews, we'll be seeing again and again who Christ is, what Christ has done, and what Christ is now doing. Now doing, that's important. what Christ is now doing and how all of these things are more and better and greater.

Notice the different tenses on this. Who he is, his identity, who he is now, what Christ has done looking at the past, what Christ is doing now. See, Christ isn't just, okay, see, at the right hand of the Father and has got to wait a few thousand years. It's not like that.

He is active on our behalf. And we're going to see that as we go through the book of Hebrews. He is doing things for us now. doing things for us now in the heavenlies, where we're seated positionally with Him, where we have our citizenship, where we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. And do you know why we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ? Because He's doing things there. That's part of our blessings, is what He's doing there.

Things that are more, things that are better, things that are greater. As we step our way through this book of Hebrews, we'll be asked to see Jesus. Hebrews 2.9, to see Him. Now, it's not physically, but spiritually. Spiritually, we're asked to see Him.

To consider Jesus in the very next chapter, Hebrews 3.1.

Consider Jesus. Have you considered Jesus? If you have had a challenging week, if you think you're going to have a challenging week ahead of you, consider Jesus. Consider Jesus. See Him. And as we saw before and was read for us this morning, to fix our eyes on Jesus. Fix our eyes on Jesus when things are rough out there. Fix our eyes on Jesus when we're too busy. Fix our eyes on Jesus when we've got really big decisions to make. Fix our eyes on Jesus when our kids and our grandkids are forcing us to make big decisions that we didn't plan on when the day started.

Fixing our eyes on Jesus Through everything. On Him. Seeing Him. Consider Him. Fixing our eyes on Him. That's what Hebrews is going to challenge us to do from near the very beginning to the very end. Looking to Him. Not just a, yeah, that's Jesus. Fixing our eyes, spiritually speaking, on Him. through the midst of everything including way too busy and not enough to do including things happening that we hadn't counted on including things happening we wish it didn't happen all those things fixing our eyes on him let's do that let's pray lord thank you that we we get to look at this exciting book of hebrews with Great things from start to finish.

Thank you for this wonderful, masterfully written book that's going to cause us to look to you again and again. That's going to cause us to consider you again and again. And pray in the midst of what certainly have been challenging times and will be challenging times ahead. We pray that we might indeed be learning to fix our eyes on you and in the race that is before us, letting things go by the wayside that will hinder and hamper our progress. Thank you for what you've revealed here because you love us so very, very much. We thank you and give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen.