With this final section, the whole picture that we’ve studied throughout this series will come into focus. We’ll see the author’s whole thesis of his book boiled down into one statement. We’ll cross the bridge to enter the promise for which we all hope. Please start by reading Hebrews 13:1-25.
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| Click here for a printable handout for this section. |
The book of Hebrews wraps up as do many New Testament books. The author encouraged us to draw near to God through faith, to run the race focused on Jesus, and live at peace with God and others. Now, he’s going to give us some very practical lifestyle choices that will help make those things a reality. Beneath that list, though, hovering below the surface, is a life transforming message that will rock our world. Let’s consider the surface list, however, before we dive beneath the surface.
The First List of Seven
Love (13:1)
Let it continue. It can’t continue if it never started within us. It never started if we don’t first recognize the love Jesus has for each one of us. He is our example of love and we are His witness of love to the world.
Hospitality (13:2)
Show it to others. Open your heart, your wallet, and your home. Share a meal, a moment, and a smile. Who knows – you may be taking in one of God’s holy angels.
Prisoners (13:3)
Remember them. This probably originally referred to those imprisoned for their faith but it spreads to all incarcerated. Yes, they might have made some mistakes in their life, but haven’t we all? In prison, walls separate them from the Christian influences of society; they’ll never hear unless we take the message to them.
Marriage (13:4)
It’s one guy and one girl with a sexual relationship only between the two of them that’s consummated after the wedding vows are made. It drips with corruption in our perverted world and yet God calls us to live a life where the marriage bed is undefiled. Our standards may have deteriorated but His remain the same.
Money (13:5)
Don’t love it; live free from its consuming pull on your life. If money is the love of our lives, then we'll never be satisfied. We'll always live lusting after more, discontent with what God has given us.
Satisfaction (13:5-6)
We could link together this point with the last one but we can find many areas in our lives to harbor discontentment besides our financial situation. We cheat on our spouses, gripe about our jobs, accuse our kids of not living up to their potential, and dream of bigger houses and nicer cars. All that we have is from God; He gives us exactly what we need for the life to which He calls us. Be content.
Leaders (13:7)
Remember them. People have given of their lives to instill God’s Word into your life. They did so out of love for God and to pay it forward as a recognition to those who invested in them. Honor those people who have made a godly impact in your life and try to live your life according to their example.
The Second List of Four
We’re going to skip Hebrews 13:8-14. We’ll come back to it in a minute. First, let’s skim through our second list of lifestyle qualities consistent with one who has drawn near to God.
Praise (13:15)
Offer it as a sacrifice. Don’t only stand up and sing on Sunday morning. Sacrifice your thoughts and words until every one honors Holy God. Praise Him in those moments of struggle and pain when words of anger would so much easily slip from your mouth. Yes, it’s hard. If it isn’t, then it’s not a sacrifice.
Goodness (13:16)
Do it. Be generous; share with others. This one is similar to praise –don’t only give a little. Give until it’s a sacrifice to do so.
Obedience (13:17)
God established authority in our world; He expects us to obey those He put over us. Yes, sometimes they call us to do something contrary to God’s Word. At those times, we have to walk away. We have to obey God’s Word over the words of man. However, in general, God expects us to obey our leadership.
Prayer (13:18)
You’ll never make it if you aren’t regularly, intimately talking to God in prayer. It’s not hard, complicated, rigid, or structured. It’s a relationship where you sit and talk; sometimes you talk and sometimes you listen.
Beneath the Surface
I almost divided this last chapter into two sections. This list we’ve considered is already a lot to take in. I know I’m not living that way and I’m guessing you probably aren’t either. Despite the length, I sense God calling us to push on. After all, if we can’t read a few hundred extra words then we probably aren’t ready to run the marathon race to which He calls us.
Buried almost in the middle of these two lists are some significant verses that don’t really seem to fit in. That doesn’t surprise me, however, because I’ve learned that Hebrew writing often places their main point right in the middle of a text. We tend to put the main idea at the beginning or perhaps even at the end, but Hebrew writing doesn’t. We could almost picture a Hebrew text as an ancient pyramid with both sides building to the peak right in the middle.
This case is no different. Right between a list of seven and a list of four, we find the author’s thesis statement of his whole book – the whole picture painted in one powerful statement. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Don’t be led astray” (Hebrews 13:8-9).
The world will come at you trying to persuade you to follow a different Jesus or convince you that Jesus has changed. They’ll lure you away with a new message that’s contrary to the pages of Scripture. DO NOT be led astray. Jesus won’t change and neither will His message.
I don’t believe it’s an accident that the pinnacle of the pyramid is between the lists of 4 and 7. Those two numbers have repeated throughout this book; every time they contained significance as four directed us to creation and seven pointed toward the heavenly. Here in chapter 13, we see Jesus’ eternal, unchanging message is the bridge that links together the created and the spiritual.
Jesus’ Eternal, Unchanging Message
Establish your heart in God’s grace, not in rituals (13:9)
“It is good for the heart to be established by grace and not by foods, since those involved in them have not benefited” (Hebrews 13:9). The author of Hebrews uses the dietary restrictions here as an example of the rituals of the Old Testament. Even then, the foods and rituals of the law didn’t provide salvation. They were only the parable. Even then, salvation came by faith in God alone.
Eat at God’s Altar; His Body the Bread (13:10)
“We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle do not have a right to eat” (Hebrews 13:10). Because we have chosen to draw near – because He has called us as priests in His holy and true temple – we have the right and privilege to eat from the true table of bread in the heavenly holy place. The earthly priests didn’t have that privilege even though they did weekly eat the bread from the table in the earthly temple. And remember, Jesus is the bread that came down from heaven. Click here and here to read more.
Go to the Sacrifice; His Blood the Cup (13:11-13)
Our hope is the heavenly sanctuary; our inheritance is with Jesus forever. These have been common themes throughout this study. Right now, though, the work is done outside the camp and outside the temple. We can’t go into the eternal temple until we have first gone outside the camp where Jesus shed His blood. Click here to read more.
“Let us then go to Him outside the camp” (Hebrews 13:13).
- We go to Him there because that is where He suffered. He told us in John 15:20 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” We go to Him to suffer as He suffered because He is greater than us. May we never consider ourselves greater than Him.
- We go to Him there to be sanctified (13:12). It is there that He sets us apart from the world and consecrates us as holy unto Himself.
- We go to Him there to bear His disgrace. How can we be honored when He was shamed before the world? How can we be exalted when He was humiliated? How can we be praised when He was insulted?
Focus on the Eternal, Enduring City (13:14)
“For we do not have an enduring city here; instead, we seek the one to come” (Hebrews 13:14). Like all those listed in Hebrews 11 – from creation to the flood, from the flood to the Law, and from the Law to the cross – we focus not on the city of this world but on the city which is to come. We are part of those listed in the history of faith and, with them, we have a part to play in God’s story. Like them, we seek a future homeland – not the land from which we’ve come but the land to which we’re going.
Conclusion (13:20-25)
We leave our middle pinnacle point to focus on the conclusion of the chapter, the book, and this study. It’s been an incredible journey through the book of Hebrews – one that has brought me into a greater intimacy with the Savior, a greater perspective on His eternal plan, a greater understanding of His sufficient sacrifice, and a greater hope of our future home. Finally, it’s given me a greater focus on the work I need to do and the life I need to live right here and right now. I hope you’ve shared in this growth process with me.
All these areas overwhelm me at times. However, “I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you (or me) will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). I didn’t start this study on my own; I started it because of a compelling and prompting of the Spirit within me to draw near to Him through the study of the fullness and depth of His Word. And to that end, I know He will continue to work in my life – and in yours.
He alone has the power to raise Jesus from the dead and grant eternal life. It is with that same power that He promises to do all of these things and more within each one of us who draw near to Him. That is why the author of Hebrews leaves us with one final message which is where I also will end…
“Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus – the great Shepherd of the sheep – with the blood of the everlasting covenant, equip you with all that is good to do His will, working in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ. Glory belongs to Him forever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20-21).
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