1 HEBREWS Central Union Church of Christ Teaching Series ADVANCED EXPOSITION BIBLE STUDY - HEBREWS CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST Advanced Exposition Bible Study Parts 1-3
2 WHAT ARE WE LEARNING? REVIEW THE LESSON OUTLINE THIS IS AN ADVANCED COURSE BUILT FOR ANYONE TO LEARN HEBREWS ADVANCED STUDY CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST
3 To Jerusalem with Love A letter written at THE RIGHT TIME! HEBREWS ADVANCED STUDY CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST
4 WHATS THE 411? THE BACKDROP IN JERUSALEM • LIFE IN THE AD 60'S WAS WILD ZEALOTS SOUGHT TO RID THE CITY OF ANYONE WHO WAS SYMPATRIC TO ROME • THESE MEN TERRORIZED AND KILLED MANY ON A LARGE SCALE IN ISRAEL'S TOWNS AND CITIES • THESE MEN WERE ALSO CALLED "DAGGER MEN" DURING THIS TIME A TIME WHEN CHRISTIAN JEWS WERE THE MINORITY • HEAVILY PERSECUTED • MANY IMPRISONED FOR THEIR FAITH • MANY PAID WITH THEIR LIVES FOR THE CAUSE OF CHRIST
5 TO Jerusalem with LOVE • DURING THIS CONFUSING, BLEAK AND OBSCURE TIME CAME A LETTER • THIS LETTER WAS BELIEVED TO COME FROM A JEWISH CHRISTIAN IN ROME • THIS WAS A LIFELINE TO HURTING AND DROWNING PEOPLE OF GOD • THE TITLE OF THE LETTER WAS "TO THE HEBREWS“ OR IN GREEK "PROS EBRAIOUS"
6 What is Hebrews trying to say? The Central Message CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST HEBREWS ADVANCED STUDY
7 Hebrew's Overall Message. THE CENTRAL MESSAGE OF HEBREWS • HANG ON! DON'T JUMP SHIP • KEEP MOVING AND PROGRESSING • STOP GAZING BACKWARDS THE TEMPLE, SACRIFICES, AND PRIESTHOOD ALL REPRESENT AND OBSOLETE RELIGION • JESUS HAS THE BEST GOD HAS TO OFFER • HE IS SUPERIOR IN ALL THINGS! • FIX YOUR EYES ON CHRIST AND HANG IN THERE HEBREWS ADVANCED STUDY CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST
8 When Was Hebrews Written? TWO CLUES POINT TO ORIGIN • 1. WRITTEN TO AN UNPOPULAR PEOPLE ABOUT TO FACE SEVERE PERSECUTION PRIOR TO NERO'S EFFORTS IN AD 64 OR 65. • 2. WRITTEN IN A PRESENT TENSE POINTING TO JEWISH TRADITIONS, INSTITUTIONS OF JEWISH WORSHIP STILL FUNCTIONING. (SPEAKS OF THESE THINGS IN A PRESENT TENSE) THE TEMPLE WAS STILL STANDING DURING THIS TIME PRIEST SACRIFICES AND DUTIES WERE STILL OCCURRING PRIOR TO 70 AD. • THESE CLUES POINT TO AD 60 - 69. CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST HEBREWS ADVANCED STUDY
9 Written to which Hebrews? ALTHOUGH THERE WERE JEWS SCATTERED ACROSS THE WORLD, THIS WRITING FOCUSED ON THE CHRISTIAN MINORITY IN JERUSALEM CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST HEBREWS ADVANCED STUDY
10 How God The Lord speaks to us in different ways! HEBREWS ADVANCED STUDY CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST Speaks!
11 The God Who Talks to People! THE GOD WHO TALKS TO PEOPLE! HEBREWS 1:1 “GOD, WHO AT VARIOUS TIMES AND IN VARIOUS WAYS SPOKE IN TIME PAST TO THE FATHERS" GOD SETS APART WHO HE IS BY THAT STATEMENT THROUGHOUT HISTORY HE HAS SPOKEN CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST HEBREWS ADVANCED STUDY
12 The God Who Talks to People! • THE BIBLE RECORDS HUNDREDS OF INCIDENTS IN WHICH “GOD … SPOKE IN TIME PAST TO THE FATHERS” (HEBREWS 1:1 NKJV). • IT DOES NOT ALWAYS TELL PRECISELY HOW THE VOICE OF GOD WAS EXPERIENCED. BUT HERE WE HAVE SOME OLD TESTAMENT EXAMPLES. CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST HEBREWS ADVANCED STUDY
13 The God Who Talks to People! THE GOD WHO TALKS TO PEOPLE! HEBREWS 1:1 “GOD, WHO AT VARIOUS TIMES AND IN VARIOUS WAYS SPOKE IN TIME PAST TO THE FATHERS" GOD SETS APART WHO HE IS BY THAT STATEMENT THROUGHOUT HISTORY HE HAS SPOKEN CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST HEBREWS ADVANCED STUDY
14CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST How God Speaks. • VISIONS • GOD SPOKE TO ABRAM (LATER ABRAHAM) IN A VISION (GENESIS 15:1). • AUDIBLE • VOICE GOD “CALLED” TO HAGAR AUDIBLY* “OUT OF HEAVEN” (GENESIS 21:17-19) • ANGELS • AN ANGEL SPOKE GOD’S MESSAGE TO ABRAHAM (GENESIS 22:11, 15). • DREAMS • GOD SPOKE TO JACOB IN A DREAM (GENESIS 28:12-13). HOW GOD SPEAKS….
15CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST How God Speaks. • OBSERVABLE • GOD GRABBED MOSES’S ATTENTION WITH A BURNING BUSH, THEN SPOKE EVENTS DIRECTLY (EXODUS 3:2). • MOSES • GOD SPOKE TO THE NATION OF ISRAEL THROUGH MOSES (DEUTERONOMY 5:4-6). • PROPHETS • GOD SPOKE TO DAVID THROUGH THE PROPHET NATHAN (2 SAMUEL 12:7). • WHISPERS • GOD SPOKE TO ELIJAH IN A “STILL SMALL VOICE” (1 KINGS 19:11-13). HOW GOD SPEAKS….
16CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST How God Speaks. • SCRIPTURE • GOD SPEAKS THROUGH HIS WORD* TO YOUNG PEOPLE WHO WANT TO LIVE HOLY LIVES (PSALM 119:9-16) • THOUGHTS • GOD SPEAKS A “WORD BEHIND YOU” (THOUGHT, IMPRESSION, INSIGHT) (ISAIAH 30:21) • IMPLANTATION • GOD SPEAKS BY IMPLANTING HIS PRINCIPLES “IN THEIR MINDS, AND … ON THEIR HEARTS” (JEREMIAH 31:33-34) . HOW GOD SPEAKS….
17 God Spoke through Events. 80% GOD OFTEN COMMUNICATES THROUGH “THE BREAKS”—THE CIRCUMSTANCES OVER WHICH YOU HAVE LITTLE OR NO CONTROL. THE BIBLE TELLS HOW GOD SPEAKS TO PEOPLE THROUGH • VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS (EXODUS 19:18-19); • CROP FAILURE, RECESSION, OR SICKNESS (DEUTERONOMY 28:15-68); • WIND, EARTHQUAKE, AND FIRE (1 KINGS 19:12);
18 God Spoke through Events. 80% • FLOODS (ISAIAH 8:6-8); • MENTAL ILLNESS (DANIEL 4:28-37); • AND GETTING GULPED BY A GIANT FISH (JONAH 1:17—“A GREAT FISH”).
19 God Spoke through Events. 80% A GOOD QUESTION TO ASK AT SUCH TIMES IS, “WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY, LORD?” THEN LISTEN. HANG ON TO GOD’S PROMISE THAT “ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD” (ROMANS 8:28 NKJV).
20 Progressive HEBREWS 1:1 “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets“… (NKJV) God does not disclose all His secrets at once. “God could not reveal more than men could understand.”8 His special revelation of Himself is progressive. It unfolds gradually in two stages. CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST HEBREWS ADVANCED STUDY Revelation THE UNFOLDING EXPOSÉ OF GOD
21 The Silent The Silent Years Between Malachi (397 BC, the last OT prophet) and Matthew (the first book in the NT) came a 400-year dry spell during which no prophet’s voice was heard in Israel. CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST HEBREWS ADVANCED STUDY Years INTERTESTAMENTAL PERIOD
22 The Silent Then, after 400 years God broke the silence. The next word out of His mouth was His greatest and clearest. God’s extreme, ultimate Word is not something different from, or foreign to, Old Testament revelation; it is a continuation of the ancient story. In fact, it us the climax of the old, old story! CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST HEBREWS ADVANCED STUDY Years INTERTESTAMENTAL PERIOD
23 CHRIST is And them some!!! HEBREWS ADVANCED STUDY CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST ALL THAT!
24 Seven Facts about Jesus in Hebrews. 80% 1. THE SON OF GOD IS THE “HEIR OF ALL THINGS” (JOHN 17:10), (EPHESIANS 1:9-10 2. THE SON IS THE ONE THROUGH GOD MADE THE WORLDS (HEBREWS 1:2, COL. 1:18) 3. THE SON IS THE BRIGHTNESS OF GOD’S GLORY (HEBREWS 1:3, 1 JOHN 1:5 )
25 Seven Facts about Jesus in Hebrews. 80% 4. THE SON IS THE “EXPRESS IMAGE OF GOD’S PERSON” (HEBREWS 1:3, JOHN 1:14, 18) 5. THE SON IS CURRENTLY “UPHOLDING ALL THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER” (HEBREWS 1:3), (COL.1:17) 6. THE SON “BY HIMSELF PURGED OUR SINS” (HEBREWS 1:3)
26 Seven Facts about Jesus in Hebrews. 80% 7. THE SON “SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE MAJESTY ON HIGH” (HEBREWS 1:3)
27 ANGELS in Messengers and made for the will of God HEBREWS ADVANCED STUDY CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST In the Middle!
28 Jesus Superior to Angels 80% • CHAPTER THEME SHOWS CHRIST AT THE TOP OF THE CLASS • CHRIST IS THE COMPLETE REVELATION OF GOD’S CHARACTER • JESUS IS AT THE FOREFRONT FOR GOD’S GAMEPLAN FOR HUMANITY • TALK TOUCH “BY AN ANGEL” • SOCIETY HAS A FASCINATION WITH ANGELS
29 Jesus Superior to Angels 80% • ANGELS ARE REAL • THERE ARE GOOD AND BAD ANGELS • ANGELS CAN BE FOUND THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE (GENESIS TO REVELATION) • ARE MENTIONED 300 TIMES OR MORE IN THE BIBLE • THE WORD FOR ANGELS IN THE OT AND NT IS “MESSENGER”
30 Jesus Superior to Angels 80% • ANGELS ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS (HEBREWS 1:14) (LUKE 24:39, GENESIS 18:1-19:1) • NOT GLORIFIED DEAD PEOPLE, GOD CREATED THEM FOR A PURPOSE (PSALM 148:2-5), COL 1:16) • SOME ANGELS HAVE WINGS AND CAN FLY. (ISA 6:1-6, EZE 10, EXODUS 25:18, REV. 4:8) • ANGELS ARE ACCOUNTABLE TO GOD AND WILL FACE JUDGEMENT FOR THEIR CHOICES (JOB 2:6-7, 2:1-2, 1 COR. 6:3)
31 Jesus Superior to Angels 80% • ANGELS DO NOT DIE (LUKE 20:36) • ANGELS HELP SERVE GOD’S PEOPLE (HEBREWS 1:14) • THERE ARE BILLIONS OF ANGELS, TO MANY TO COUNT (DANIEL 7:10, HEBREWS 12:22, REV. 5:11) • ANGELS ARE ACCOUNTABLE TO GOD AND WILL FACE JUDGEMENT FOR THEIR CHOICES (JOB 2:6-7, 2:1-2, 1 COR. 6:3)
32 Jesus Superior to Angels 80% • ANGELS INFORM AND ENCOURAGE (LUKE 2:9-14, MATT 28:5-7, ACTS 27:23- 25) • ANGELS COMMUNICATE GOD’S MESSAGE TO INDIVIDUALS (MATTHEW 1:20-23, 2:13, 19, LUKE 1:11-20, 26-38, ACTS 8:26) • ALL ANGELS WERE ORIGINALLY CREATED GOOD, BUT ONE-THIRD REBELLED AGAINST GOD, WERE EXPELLED FROM HEAVEN AND BECAME FALLEN ANGELS (REV.12:7-9, MATTHEW 25:41, 2 PETER 2:4, JUDE 1:6)
33 Jesus Superior to Angels 80% • ANGELS ARE GOD’S COURIER, IN BRINGING HIS WORD OUR AND CARRYING OUT HIS WILL • ANCIENT JEWS CONSIDERED ANGELS GOD’S ARMY OR “HEAVENLY HOST” • ANGELS WORSHIP GOD AND JESUS CHRIST (PSA.148:1-2, HEBREWS 1:6, REV.4:6-11, 5:11-14) • ANGELS BECAME VISIBLE AND SERVED AT STRATEGIC POINTS IN JESUS LIFE.
34 Watch for flapping wings! 80% 1. AT JESUS BIRTH (MATT 1:20, LUKE 1:16, LUKE 2:9-14) 2. AT JESUS TEMPTATION (MATT 4:11, LUKE 22:43) 3. AT JESUS RESURRECTION (MATT 28:2- 4, MARK 16:5-7, LUKE 24:4, JOHN 20:11- 13) 4. AT JESUS ASCENSION (ACTS 1:10-11)
35 OK GOD, tell us what you Of JESUS HEBREWS ADVANCED STUDY CENTRAL UNION CHURCH OF CHRIST REALLY THINK
36 WHAT GOD thinks of the Son! 1. LET'S READ HEBREWS 1:4-14 2. THE LORD DROPS SOME INSIGHT AND CONVERSATION HEBREWS 1:8-9 3. JESUS IS NOT JUST ANY MAN HEBREWS 1:3 4. JESUS RULES FOREVER HEBREWS 1:8-9
37 WHAT GOD thinks of the Son! 1. LET'S LOOK AT TWO WORDS IN VERSE 9 2. “ANOINTED” AND “OIL OF GLADNESS” 3. ANOINTING WAS A TRADITIONAL CEREMONY THAT ANNOUNCING GOD’S CHOICE OF A KING, PRIEST OR PROPHET 4. TO BE ANOINTED MEANS CHOSEN, PREFERRED OR SPECIAL. THE WORD CHRIST LITERALLY MEANS ANOINTED ONE AND WITH ANOINTING GOES AUTHORITY Luke 4:18, James 5:14, Mark, 6:13, 1 Samuel 16:13, Acts 10:38, 1 John 2:20
38 WHAT is Sovereignty! 1. SUPREME POWER 2. AUTHORITY OR DOMINION 3. SELF-GOVERNING 4. GOD IS SOVEREIGN, WHICH MEANS HAS POWER, WISDOM AND AUTHORITY TO DO ANYTHING 5. UNRESTRICTED IN HIS SUPREMACY 6. ALL HAPPEN BY GOD’S PERMISSIVE WILL
39 Lordship implies Sovereignty! 1. THE SON IS LORD OVER THE SPIRITUAL UNIVERSE (EPHESIANS 1:21; 1 PETER 3:22). 2. THE SON IS LORD (HEAD) OF THE CHURCH (EPHESIANS 1:22-23). 3. THE SON IS LORD IN THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE (HEBREWS 1:3; 11:3). 4. THE SON IS LORD OVER THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF BELIEVERS’ LIVES, WORKING ALL THINGS TOGETHER “FOR GOOD TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD” (ROMANS 8:28 NKJV).
40 Lordship implies Sovereignty! THE SON WILL ULTIMATELY RULE THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD “WITH A ROD OF IRON,” BRINGING JUDGMENT AND RESTORING JUSTICE UNDER HIS TITLE, “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (REVELATION 19:15-16 NKJV).
41 JESUS the Conqueror ! JESUS THE CONQUEROR HEBREWS 1:13-14 BUT TO WHICH OF THE ANGELS HAS [GOD] EVER SAID: “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, TILL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES YOUR FOOTSTOOL”? SALVATION ASSISTANTS ARE THEY NOT ALL MINISTERING SPIRITS SENT FORTH TO MINISTER FOR THOSE WHO WILL INHERIT SALVATION?
42 JESUS SAVES • THIS IS THE BIG IDEA THAT RUNS THROUGH THE BIBLE, FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION. • GOD’S ENEMIES ARE COMMITTED TO DO ANYTHING THEY CAN TO MAKE HUMAN LIFE GENERALLY MISERABLE AND WRETCHED (1 PETER 5:8) AND, IF POSSIBLE, TO DESTROY HUMAN BEINGS ALTOGETHER (JOHN 10:10) • BUT GOD, IN HIS INCREDIBLE KINDNESS, HAS DEVISED A PLAN FOR US TO BE RESCUED, SET FREE, AND HEALED OF SPIRITUAL SICKNESSES THROUGH HIS SON
43 JESUS SAVES • THE WORD SALVATION IS BASED ON A HEBREW WORD MEANING “TO BE WIDE OR ROOMY” IN CONTRAST TO “NARROW OR RESTRICTED.” • OLD TESTAMENT JEWS PRIMARILY SAW SALVATION AS DELIVERANCE FROM OPPRESSION BY THEIR ENEMIES AND FREEDOM TO ENJOY GOD’S BLESSINGS. • NEW TESTAMENT HEBREW CHRISTIAN READERS UNDERSTOOD IT THAT WAY TOO, BUT WOULD HAVE ADDED THAT SALVATION MEANT BEING RESCUED FROM SPIRITUAL DISTRESS AND DANGER
44 JESUS SAVES • JESUS, IS PIVOTAL IN THE RESCUE OPERATION OF MANKIND • THE HEBREW WRITER STRESSES THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION AND THE DANGERS FROM MOVING AWAY FROM THE SAVIOR
45 ROYAL Position • POSITION OF POWER • POSITION OF SUPREMACY • POSITION OF CONQUEST HEBREWS 1 AND VERSE 13 CONTAINS THREE PICTURES OF HIS ROYAL POSITION:
46 ROYAL Position THE POSITION OF POWER THE POSITION OF POWER. JESUS IS TOLD TO “SIT AT [GOD’S] RIGHT HAND. “SIT” MEANS TO TAKE THE THRONE. “[GOD’S] RIGHT HAND” MEANS JESUS IS CO-RULER OF THE UNIVERSE.
47 ROYAL Position THE POSITION OF SUPREMACY THE “FOOTSTOOL” WAS A LOW SUPPORT FOR THE FEET OF A ROYAL PERSON, NECESSARY BECAUSE THE THRONE WAS RAISED TO KEEP THE RULER’S HEAD HIGHER THAN HIS STANDING SUBJECTS. THIS REPRESENTS JESUS’S DOMINANCE OVER HIS ENEMIES.
48 ROYAL Position THE POSITION OF CONQUEST IT WAS KNOWN THAT EASTERN CONQUERORS TO MAKE A “FOOTSTOOL” OF A VANQUISHED ENEMY, BY LITERALLY PLANTING HIS FOOT ON THE DEFEATED FOE’S NECK (JOSHUA 10:24)! THE TEXT GIVES A CONQUERING KING JESUS WHICH STANDS IN STARK CONTRAST TO THE POWERLESSNESS OF SINOPPRESSED PEOPLE NEEDING RESCUE AND LIBERATION.
49 MY SHIP IS ADRIFT • HEBREWS 2:1 GIVES OFF THE POTENTIAL DANGER CHRISTIANS MOVING AWAY FROM GOD • THE HEBREW WRITES USES NAUTICAL AND SEAMEN TERMS TO GRAB THE READERS ATTENTION • THE PURPOSE WAS FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD TO STOP DRIFTING LIKE ANCHORLESS VESSELS
50 MY SHIP IS ADRIFT • HEBREWS 2:1 GIVES OFF THE POTENTIAL DANGER CHRISTIANS MOVING AWAY FROM GOD • THE HEBREW WRITES USES NAUTICAL AND SEAMEN TERMS TO GRAB THE READERS ATTENTION • THE PURPOSE WAS FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD TO STOP DRIFTING LIKE ANCHORLESS VESSELS