The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (157 page)

According to the common pattern, the exhortation is followed by a warning not to drift away (4:11—16). The people of God are to heed his voice as he calls out to them “today” (see Psalm 95). The author compared God's word to a double-edged sword that pierces through all human excuses, exposing the innermost portions of the heart, painting a picture of the hearer of the word being naked so that his thoughts are laid bare. People are indeed defenseless before God when they disobey his word. Hebrews 4:11—16 forms what Westfall called a “discourse peak,” concluding the first section of the letter with three inseparable exhortations: “Let us make every effort” (4:11); “Let us hold fast to the confession” (4:14); and “Let us approach the throne of grace” (4:16).
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Typical of the author's transitions, the movement between the major sections is seamless. The warning not to drift away (4:11—16) is both the conclusion to the present section and the introduction to the next. In theatrical terms, the author preferred a fade to a hard cut.

II. Jesus Our High Priest (4:11-10:25)

Prior to 4:13 the author referred to Jesus as “high priest” (2:17; 3:1), but now a sustained defense of the meaning and implications of his priesthood is presented. Just as the previous section was an exposition of Ps 95:7—11, so this section is an exposition of Ps 110:4, which is not cited in any other NT book: “The LORD has sworn an oath and will not take it back: ‘Forever, You are a priest like Melchizedek.’”

A. Carry on to Maturity (4:11—6:3)
Hebrews 4:14—16 draws a conclusion based on the humanity of Christ (mentioned in chap. 2). The readers should “hold fast” to their “confession” because they have a high priest who is familiar with their sinful condition
without having succumbed to it. For this reason they are able to go before God's throne to receive mercy and find grace to help.

Having declared Christ's high priesthood, the author describes the perfection of this high priest through his earthly life and sufferings (5:1—10). He begins by noting God's intent for the Levitical high priest, who was appointed to serve God by offering gifts and sacrifices for sins on behalf of his people. It was God's intent that a human being serve in this role since he would be familiar with people's weakness, and the high priest himself is included in the sin offering. Finally, he was not self-appointed but designated by God.

Similarly, Christ was appointed by God yet not in the likeness of Aaron but according to the order of Melchizedek (5:5—6). Verses 7—8 most likely refer to Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane where his ultimate request was for God's will to be done. Thus “He learned obedience through what He suffered” (5:8).
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From 5:11 to 6:12 the author took a temporary reprieve from his explication of the high priesthood of Christ. The reason for this is that his hearers had become slow to understand
(nothroi;
“sluggish, lazy”). The reason they could not understand the author's teaching on Melchizedek was not that the nature of his priesthood was impossible to grasp but that they had ceased paying attention to the teaching of God's Word and needed to go back to the ABCs of the Christian faith.

B. Maturity Enables Hope (6:1-7:3)
The “elementary doctrine of Christ” (ESV) is spelled out in 6:1—2 (another transitional passage). Instead of languishing at these elementary things, the author wanted his readers to press on to maturity. The exhortation (the only in this entire unit) is in the passive (most likely, a “divine passive” with God as the agent of the action), conveying the sense “let us be carried on [by God]” to full maturity. This was important because it was impossible to renew those to repentance who were “recrucifying the Son of God” (6:4—12).

If it is kept in mind that the author envisioned his hearers in a similar situation as Israel in the wilderness, then the description of those who fell—“once enlightened” (v. 4), “tasted the heavenly gift” (v. 4), “partakers of the Holy Spirit” (v. 4 NASB), “tasted the good word of God” (v. 5) —does not necessarily refer to believers. Just as Israel in the wilderness saw the pillar of fire, ate the manna, witnessed the manifestation of God's power in Moses' mighty miracles, and received the divine promises of deliverance from their enemies, the readers had seen manifestations of God's reality, presence, and power all around them in the congregation of which they were, at least nominally, a part
(6:4—6).
Yet as is still true today, external association with a given congregation does not guarantee salvation; what is required is a heart that trusts in God and the provision he made in Christ.

The author contrasted his hearers as following either in the footsteps of Joshua and Caleb or of the disobedient generation of Israelites who perished in the desert. Those who fell away repudiated Christ similar to those who rejected him in Jerusalem—thus “recrucifying”
(6:6)
him does not have an atoning significance but emphasizes the rejection of Christ—and openly casts aspersions on him. Thus the illustration in 6:7—8 describes believers as those producing fruit and unbelievers as producing thorns, reinforcing the previous affirmation that true believers persevere to the end (see 3:14). Nevertheless, the author had confidence in the salvation of most of his readers (6:9—10).

The believer has assurance of enduring faith because the oath made to Abraham has application also for believers today (6:13—7:3). By two immovable realities—God's oath and his word—God established the covenant with Abraham that his seed would be innumerable. This covenant implies the endurance of the believer. Believers thus have encouragement to seize this immovable hope secured for them because Jesus entered the inner sanctuary for them as an eternal high priest like Melchizedek.

Hebrews 7:1—3 establishes who Melchizedek was and how Christ resembled him in certain respects. Melchizedek was the priest of the Most High God who received tithes from Abraham. The name
Melchizedek
means “king of righteousness,” and he was the “King of Salem” (i.e., king of the city of “Salem,” meaning “peace”). The author also skillfully exploited the silence of the OT and noted that Melchizedek had “neither beginning of days nor end of life” because the Genesis narrative where he is introduced mentioned neither his birth nor his death.

C. Drawing Near to God (7:4—10:25)
In the prominent central section of the letter, the author developed (1) the arguments for Christ's high priesthood (7:4-28); (2) the accomplishment of Jesus' priesthood (8:1—10:18); and (3) the proper response to Jesus' priesthood (10:19-25).

Hebrews 7:4—10 establishes the greatness of Melchizedek's priesthood over the sons of Aaron, for three reasons. First, the sons of Aaron collected tithes from their brothers, but Melchizedek blessed Abraham—the possessor of the promise of God—proving that he was Abraham's superior. Second, the sons of Aaron died, but there is no mention of Melchizedek's death; thus, in a sense, he still lives. Third, Levi himself, while still in Abraham's loins, paid tithes to Melchizedek prior to Levi's birth.

Having established the superiority of Melchizedek, the author moved on to the changing of the priesthood—implying that the old covenant deals with Aaron, and the new with Melchizedek—and its superiority (7:11—19). He begins by asking the question, If perfection came through the law, why was there the need for another priest not of the Aaronic order? The answer is that there must be a change of law as well. Jesus became high priest not by a command of the law and physical descent—after all, he was from Judah—but based on the power of an indestructible life (a priest forever like Melchizedek).
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The words “not without an oath” (v. 20 NIV) (a litotes) emphasizes two important points (7:20—25): (1) Jesus' priesthood was confirmed by the oath of God; and (2) the Aaronic priesthood possessed no such oath. Because Jesus' priesthood was sworn by God
as a permanent oath, it will never be taken away. This could not be said of the old Levitical order. The emphasis on the duration of the two sets of priests continues throughout this section. The Levites were prevented from being permanent priests through their own deaths, but not Jesus. The great benefit, of course, is that because Jesus lives forever, he is able to save forever those who come to him on account of his priesthood. Jesus is qualified to be believers' high priest in every way. He is “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens” (7:26); he offers a better sacrifice and serves for a better, eternal term.

Hebrews 8:1—6, the main assertion of the chapter, is supported by 8:7—13. In the former unit, the author highlighted the main point: Jesus is a superior high priest, serving in a superior (i.e., heavenly) tabernacle.
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Levitical priests only served in a faint copy of the heavenly tabernacle. The upshot is stated in 8:6: “But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree He is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been legally enacted on better promises.” At 8:7—13, the author provided scriptural support for his assertion, calling attention to the promise of the new covenant in Jer 31:31—34 and noting that the fault was not with the old covenant itself but with the old covenant community, that is, the people (8:8). Because people were unable to keep the old covenant, God promised a new covenant, indicating that the old covenant was about to disappear.

Hebrews 9:1—14 further explicates the assertions made in 8:1—6. In 9:1—10, the author described two main limitations of the old covenant. First, there were serious barricades separating the worshipper from God under the old covenant. The purpose of the separation of the holy place and the holy of holies was to show that the way to God's presence was not yet open (see 9:8). Thus the setup of the earthly tabernacle pointed forward to a new day. The second limitation of the old covenant was that no one was perfected by the sacrifices it required. Hence the old covenant was ultimately ineffective because the worshipper was required to repeat the same sacrifices year after year.

In 9:11—14 the contrast with the inefficacy of the old covenant is completed by showing the accomplishment of Christ in cleansing the believer. He entered the holy of holies in the more perfect tabernacle once for all, not once a year; offering his own blood, not representative animals; obtaining eternal redemption, not a temporary covering. The author then summed up his argument with an appeal from the lesser to the greater (animals versus Christ) to declare the actual cleansing of the people of God.

By his perfect sacrifice Jesus became the mediator of the new covenant (9:15—28). The reason Jesus had to die was rooted in the ancient Near Eastern practice (see Gen 15:1—18; Jer 34:18—20), where in permanent covenants animals representative of the two parties making the covenant were slain and divided between the parties establishing the agreement. The blood of the new covenant—the blood from the death of Jesus as believers'
representative—insured the permanent arrangement. As in the old covenant where the instruments of the tabernacle were cleansed by blood, so Jesus' blood effected cleansing for believers as they appeared in the heavenly tabernacle. Jesus' death was so powerful that it removed sins once for all, obtaining an eternal salvation. The next action of Jesus that believers awaited was the ultimate salvation to be effected at his (second) coming.

In 10:1—4 the author summarized his previous arguments. The old sacrifices made no one perfect; the very fact of annual sacrifices was a reminder of sin; and the blood of animals did not truly remove sin. In 10:5—10 the result was stated that these symbolic and repeated sacrifices were replaced by the all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ. The next paragraph pictured the futility of the old covenant after the advent of the new covenant was announced (10:11—14). The author pictured the Levitical priests perennially performing the obsolete offerings that could never permanently remove sins. The contrast was between the standing priests of the old order and the seated priest of the new order according to Melchizedek. Jesus completed the course of Ps 110:1—4 and was seated, awaiting the subjugation of all of his enemies. As Bruce stated,
“A seated priest
is the guarantee of a finished work and an accepted sacrifice.”
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Finally, 10:15—18 refers again to the text of the new covenant. When God said, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless acts,” this implied a completed payment for sins. There was thus no other offering for sin; the temple sacrifices achieved nothing, while Jesus' sacrifice accomplished everything that was necessary for salvation.

The capstone of the previous teaching is found in 10:19—25.
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Three exhortations to the readers (“let us”) mark this section as a thematic peak that both concludes this section and introduces the next section through the third exhortation.
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There are also several links back to the previous trio of exhortations (4:14—16). Because of what Jesus accomplished, there was no longer a series of boundaries between the believer and God since the veil had indeed been torn down. The proper response of believers is to draw near to God with confidence, knowing that their sins are forgiven; to hold on to their confession without wavering because God is faithful; and to exercise genuine care for other believers, spurring them on to love, good works, and faithful fellowship.

III. Jesus the One Who Ran the Race Before Us (10:19-13:16)

The dominant thought throughout this section is that believers are pilgrims in this life, looking forward to the life to come. Lane called this the concept of “committed pilgrimage.”
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The author began by describing the life of faith as a race.

A. Run the Race (10:19-11:40)
The entire passage is so tightly knit structurally that the discussion of “divisions” is problematic. Having given the thematic commands, the author suggested a course of action: move forward rather than drawing back. The declaration that a believer, by definition, does not draw back elicits the discussion of faith in chap. 11, which in turn is predicated on the encouragement to run the race with endurance.