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NOTE
The way I’m going to break these next two weeks up is a little different than what is suggested in the manual. Instead of teaching Hebrews 1-6 this week and 7-13 the next, I’m going to label this week’s lesson “Hebrews-Part 1”, and then next week “Hebrews-Part 2”. And I’ll explain why. I really want you to understand the major thrust or message of the Book of Hebrews as a whole. Paul has a specific purpose here in writing this book and I’m afraid that if we divide it up into two separate lessons, it may not have the same clarity or impact that I’d like it to. So this week we are going to focus solely on that message throughout all 13 chapters of Hebrews. We’re going to take the flyover, big picture, painting with broad brushstrokes approach to the book in its entirety. Then, next week we’ll dive into some of the finer details and take a close-up view of some of the insights we find in Hebrews—especially what Paul has to teach us about the nature and character and importance of Jesus Christ.
BACKGROUND
So let’s begin with some background here.
First of all, we don’t know when Hebrews was written or from where. In fact there is even some doubt amongst Biblical scholars whether or not Paul is even the author or not, but some statements made by Joseph Smith lead us to the probable conclusion that Paul was most likely the author. So if you don’t mind, throughout the video, I’m just going to refer to Paul as the author. Who is the audience of Hebrews? Well as the title suggests, it was written to Hebrew or Jewish converts to Christianity. Now to what specific group of Jewish converts this is directed, or from what city they come from, or if it was just written generally to all Jewish Christians, we don’t know. But we do know that they are a group of Hebrews that have faced some persecution since their conversion (see Hebrews 10:32-34) and are contemplating an abandonment of their newfound faith. Life as a Christian was harder than they had anticipated it would be. And so Paul’s major purpose here is to convince them to maintain their faith in Christ. He wanted to show them that what they had gained in their faith in Christ, was far greater than anything that they had lost in their Jewish roots. One additional thing you’ll notice as you study Hebrews. It’s a book that is deeply grounded in the Old Testament. Which makes sense. He’s speaking to Jews and you’re going to see many, many references to Old Testament characters, stories, and teachings. So it’s good that we’ve got some background there from last year to help us out.
ICEBREAKER
For an icebreaker, a discussion activity. Have your students pair up and tell them that you are going to give them a set of words or choices. Their task will be to explain to their partner which of the two they feel is better and why. So here are a few you might consider using.
Spring or Fall
Cats or Dogs
Big City or Countryside
Pancakes or Waffles
TV Shows or Movies
Snowboarding or Skiing
Chocolate or Vanilla
And you can just allow your pairs of students to have a fun little discussion with each other on each of these questions, or, if your class isn’t too big, you could do these collectively as a class and just have certain students express their thoughts.
TRANSITION
Well, if I were to choose one word to sum up the entire book of Hebrews, that word would be BETTER. Paul is going to show us how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is BETTER than anything else we can choose. Remember, he’s specifically writing to the Jewish converts that are struggling under persecution and the difficulties of discipleship. They’re contemplating a return to Judaism. I mean, just like any convert to the church, many of them were struggling to let go of their former ways and traditions. It’s not easy to change, and the temptation to return to what is familiar and customary becomes very real. I know that some of the individuals that I taught on my mission that were baptized, did not stay active in the church. Sometimes, when people join the church and then discover that living the gospel isn’t easy, or they start to face opposition in their newfound faith, they sometimes retreat back into their previous life. Well, that is what Paul is dealing with here. Hebrews is Paul’s attempt to show them that Christ’s gospel is “better” than or superior to the Old Mosaic law. That the Christlike life is “better” than their former life. Not that the old law was useless or wrong, but that the new law was better. So why not choose the better?
SEARCH
I want to show you this theme in Hebrews. The key words to look for are of course, “better”, or sometimes Paul uses the phrase “more excellent”, and sometimes just the word “more”. Each one suggests the same idea. Let’s see if we can find the “better” in each of these chapters. And we could approach this as a handout. Not only does it give your students the chance to search for the “BETTERS” but when you’re done, you’ll have a list there in front of you of all of them for reference.
Chapter 1
Can you find the “better” in Chapter 1? Christ is better than what?
It’s in vs. 4. Christ is better than the angels. And we can see another phrase from that verse that expresses that idea. Christ has “more excellent name” than the angels. Now what does Paul mean by this? How is Christ better than the angels. Go back to verse 1-2
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
What does that mean?
He’s saying that in the past, God only communicated with man through prophets, and later in verse 4, through angels speaking to prophets. But now he’s sent his son, who is a “better” messenger.
You’ll see that same idea in verses :5-6
5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
6 And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
So you can see, Jesus is better than the angels. And the rest of the chapter emphasizes that same idea. And we’ll go into more depth on that next week as we focus more closely on Pauls’ teachings on Christ’s character.
Chapter 3
Now let’s jump to chapter 3
The key word in this chapter is not going to be better, but the word “more”. So same idea. See if you can find the “more” phrases in this one. There are two of them and they’re both found in vs. 3.
3 For this man (Jesus) was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.
Now who was considered the great prophet of the Jews. The great lawgiver. That was Moses, right?
Well, who is an even better lawgiver than Moses? Jesus Christ.
He continues:
4 For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.
5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;
6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
So Moses was the servant in building up the house of God’s church. But Christ is the owner of the house, he created everything that the house was made of to begin with. Therefore, he is even greater than Moses. Not that Moses is nothing or isn’t important, it’s just that Christ is better. A better lawgiver.
Chapter 4
Now we’re not going to find the words better or more excellent in chapter 4, but the idea is suggested. See if you can find the key word in this chapter. Christ offers a better “this” than what was offered the ancient Israelites. It’s a repeated word found all over this chapter. It’s in vs 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10,11. What is it?
The word is Rest.
Christ offers a better rest than the children of Israel. Their rest, was the promised land, but the better rest, is heaven, right. You can see this in vs. 8-10
8 For if Jesus (Now I know this is confusing, that’s not referring to Jesus Christ, that’s referring to Joshua from the Old Testament. Jesus is actually another form of the name Joshua, so If Joshua) had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
So if the promised land was the greatest rest you could obtain, then why would Joshua have continued to teach the people to obey and continue their works. The reason: Because there was still a better rest beyond the land of Israel. Heavenly Father’s rest. The rest of heaven.
Chapter 5
The better of chapter 5 actually starts in chapter 4. So see if you can figure it out. Finish the sentence. Christ is a better____ _______.
Read 4:14-15 and 5:1-3
14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
1 For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:
2 Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.
3 And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.
The answer is: Christ is a better High Priest.
Paul tells us that the high priests of the Old Testament made offerings on behalf of the people, but they themselves were still compassed with infirmity. The high priest wasn’t perfect. So he not only had to make an offering for the sins of the people, but for himself as well. But not Christ, he’s a better high priest, because even though he was tempted just like we are, he was without sin. He didn’t have to make an offering for himself. He was perfect. Therefore, Christ is a better high priest.
Note
We’re going to skip chapter 6 for now. It does have a “better” in it, but thematically we’ll come back to it. It’s a different kind of better.
Chapter 7
But on to chapter 7. And I hope this isn’t too confusing, but there are three betters in this chapter. Can you find them?
:7 7 And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.
But, that doesn’t really tell us WHAT is better. It just tells us that we are blessed by whatever it is. We’ll come back to that idea in a minute.
:1919 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.
Ah, Christ offers us a BETTER hope.
:22 22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
Jesus offers us a better testament, or covenant is what that means. Now, none of those verses really tells us the bigger BETTER of that chapter. They just point to it. But they are connected though. They’re where the hope and the testament come from. And I bet you could figure this out on your own.
Read verses :11-17 and if that doesn’t help, just look at the chapter heading. The answer’s right there.
If Christ is a better high priest, than what does he possess? He also has a BETTER priesthood, a higher priesthood. The high priest acted by authority of the Levitical or Aaronic priesthood. But Christ had the Melchizedek priesthood. Like he says in verse 17
17 For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
I also think the word used in the chapter heading is great, the Superiority of the Melchizedek priesthood. So our last blank here is Christ possesses a BETTER priesthood.
Chapter 8
This has three. Can you find the one “MORE EXCELLENT” and the two “BETTER’s”?
Yep, all in vs. 6.
6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
A more excellent ministry
He is the mediator of a BETTER covenant
Which was established on BETTER promises.
Chapter 9
Can you find the two “MORE” phrases, and the one BETTER
What are they?
Verse 11
11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, (ah, love that title for Christ. A high priest of good things to come. That’s what he is. It doesn’t use the word better there, but that’s the idea. Christ provides us with a better future, but continuing) by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
Remember the most holy place for Jews was the tabernacle or the temple. And everything in the tabernacle was symbolic. Even things symbolizing Jesus himself. But Paul says there is a better tabernacle now. What is that tabernacle? Jesus’ body. Remember how Jesus referred to his body as a temple when speaking to the apostles? That he would tear it down and raise it up in three days. He was speaking of the temple of his body. Jesus is a better tabernacle because he is the real thing, not just the symbol of it.
We could relate to this by saying in the temple that we understand that the Celestial Room is a place on earth that represents the Celestial Kingdom, but it’s not the Celestial Kingdom itself. As wonderful as the Celestial room is, the Celestial kingdom will be BETTER.
The next more is in vs. 14 But let me include 12, 13 and 15 as well so you understand the idea.
12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
So we have a BETTER blood, than the blood of the animal sacrifices that they used to use. Why? Because Christ’s blood can purge our conscience, redeem us from our transgressions, and bring us the promise of eternal inheritance. It’s a better blood, than the blood of goats and calves.
Then we’ve got one more BETTER in vs. 23
23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
So, Christ’s sacrifice is a BETTER sacrifice than those done of old.
Chapter 10
Well, we’ve done a lot of these. You getting the hang of it? Let me give you a harder one. It doesn’t have the word more or better in it at all, but it’s implied. What is the better in vs. 1?
1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
What’s the better? A BETTER LAW
The law was just a shadow of better things to come, a higher law. What would you rather have? A shadow of a candy bar, or the candy bar itself. A shadow of a new car, or a new car itself, to stand in the shadow of the temple, or be in the temple itself. The real thing is always better than the shadow. The Mosaic law was a shadow of the higher law, Christ’s law. So Christ’s law is a better law.
Now there is an actual BETTER in this chapter. See if can you find it?
:34
34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
So, a BETTER substance. And you could put that word in that blank and it would be correct but I a word that Paul uses in vs. 35 instead.
35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
The point Paul is making here, under Christ, you have a BETTER reward or recompense, that’s what he means by substance.
We may give up a lot of things in this life. We make sacrifices. Our goods may get spoiled at times. But what we receive in heaven is always far greater than what we give. That is the essence of sacrifice. I sometimes like to say that there really is no such thing as sacrifice, because whatever we give, we are always paid back and more. Better sacrifices bring better rewards
Chapter 11
There are 3, and a quick note here. Hebrews 11 is what I would call the Hall of Faith. You’ve heard of the Hall of Fame, right, well here is the Hall of Faith. Paul is going to just list example after example of people from the Old Testament who lived by faith, and all the blessings they received because they possessed it. We’ll look more deeply into this chapter next week.
But our first better is in vs 16
:16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
So, a BETTER country, or a BETTER city.
If you start back in vs 8 you’ll see that he’s referring to Abraham who left his hometown in the area of Babylon to seek for a better city. A city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God, like it says in vs. 10. I love that word “foundations.” God’s city has foundations, unlike Babylon and Satan. Remember the great and spacious building had no foundation. It was floating in the air. And then in vs. 13-14
13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
All the great patriarchs including Abraham sought something better than this earth. They felt like strangers here. I suggest that that’s a good thing. If you feel like you weren’t quite made for the things of this world, if you feel uncomfortable in Babylon, that’s good. A pilgrim is someone who leaves behind his native country to seek for a better place. We all are like Abraham, we’re seeking for a BETTER CITY AND A BETTER COUNTRY, What’s the name of that city? Zion, or the New Jerusalem.
Our next better in this chapter is in verse 35.
35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
So, A BETTER resurrection
And then vs. 40
40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
So better things. And if you read this verse with the JST it says this. “God having provided some better things for them through their sufferings, for without sufferings, they could not be made perfect. Now there’s a thought. Some may ask why God allows bad things to happen to good people. Well here’s a part of the answer. It’s because He knows he can provide us better things THROUGH our sufferings
Chapter 12
I’m going to give you another challenging one. You aren’t looking for the word BETTER or MORE here, but a person. A person whose story illustrates the whole principle that Hebrews is trying to teach us. Who is that person?
You’ll find him vs. 16 Esau
16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
And then vs. 17
17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
Esau is an example of somebody who gave up something better, his birthright for something of much less value. For a morsel of meat. Paul’s message? Don’t make the same mistake! Jews! Hebrews! Don’t give up these promises and blessings you’ve been given for a morsel of meat. Christ extends to us a BETTER birthright. These eternal rewards are BETTER than the temporary filling of our “natural man” stomach. And you know, there are individuals who are still making Esau’s mistake today. Unfortunately, I see it more particularly in young people. They begin to despise their birthright and sell it. What is their birthright? The priesthood, serving a mission, a temple marriage, the words and counsel of living prophets. How do they sometimes treat those things? These incredible opportunities and blessings that have just been handed to them? Eh, it just doesn’t mean much too them. They’d rather fill their bellies with the things of this world. Sadly, many times they do come back seeking the blessings of their birthright carefully with tears. And we help them of course, but some things are impossible to restore. Later in life they wish they had the blessings of a temple marriage, or the testimony and experience that would have come from serving a mission, or they wouldn’t have had to endure the consequences of overcoming an addiction, or sexual immorality. So youth! Don’t make Esau’s mistake. You are BETTER than that.
Last chapter, whew, that’s been a lot. I know. But chapter 13
Again, you are not going to find the word BETTER or MORE, but the idea is in there. I’ll help you out.
Paul talks about the priests who offered sacrifices in the temple. The meat from those sacrifices was sometimes eaten by the priests to help sustain them since they were always working in the temple. Well, where were those sacrifices offered?
See if you can find what would complete our sentence here: A BETTER ____________. Look for it in vs. 9-11
9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
The answer is A BETTER ALTAR. I guess you could also say a better meat as well. Paul says in vs 10
We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
What’s he referring to here? What meat do we eat? Is there an altar where we eat and drink something that represents a sacrifice blessed by priests? Yeah, It’s the sacrament. So Paul’s final Better, we worship at a better altar.
So WOW look at that list!
Do you see what Paul’s done? He has just built and built and added and added to that list. 13 chapters of BETTERS. He’s a very persuasive teacher isn’t he? He’s almost overwhelming them to make his point. And his point? Hebrews, Just look at all of this! Look at all the betters! How can you reject THIS! It just doesn’t make sense. He’s put together a very compelling and convincing case for following Christ.
LIKEN THE SCRIPTURES
And have YOU been convinced? Do you believe that? Let’s have a quick Liken the Scriptures moment. Do you believe that discipleship to Christ is BETTER than anything the world has to offer? What has convinced you of that? And I’ll throw my testimony of this out there. From my life experience, I believe deeply that the pleasures and rewards and honors of the world are NOTHING compared to the blessings of the gospel. For those of us born into the Church, wo have enjoyed the privileges of the restored gospel from birth, sometimes it’s easy to take them for granted, because we’ve never known anything else. But the more I’ve experienced life, and through travel, and meeting more people, and seeing more of what the world offers and what happens to those who get wrapped in it, the more and more I’m convinced of Paul’s message here. Nothing compares to Christ. Nothing compares to the blessings of HIS restored gospel. Why on earth would anyone want to give all that up for a morsel of worldly meat.
ACTIVITY
Now if you’re teaching a younger audience and wish to add some variety to your lesson, you could have them take all BETTERS you just found and invite them to try and find all those words in the following word search I put together. You could even make it a little contest and have them work as individuals or partners to see who can find all the words first. I’ll make this handout available for download, and if you choose not to use the word search, you could always just cut off that half of the page.
Therefore What?
Now there’s much more to Hebrews than this. There is another equally compelling message running throughout the book as well. We’ve only covered the first half of Paul’s principle. So we’re going to go back through Hebrews and look for the second half of the message. There is a THEREFORE in this message. A BETTER that I deliberately left out. Perhaps the most important BETTER of all. And it’s the one in Chapter 6. Can you find it?
It’s in verse 9:
9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
The message is pretty straightforward. Because we have been given something so much better, THEREFORE what? Therefore we should be better. God asked for Better behavior from them.
If you wanted to sum up the entire message of Hebrews in one simple statement, you would need go no further than this short cross reference from the Doctrine and Covenants.
Doctrine and Covenants 82:3
For of Him unto whom much is given, much is required, and he who sinneth against the greater light, shall receive the greater condemnation.
Now, I don’t mean to scare you too much. But that’s a sobering message when you stop compare Paul’s audience back then to us—the members of Christ’s Church in the LATTER days. Look at it like this. If what the people of the New Testament received was that much BETTER than what they had in the OLD Testament, and if that meant that God required more of them because of it, what does that mean for us in the Latter-days then? Have we been given even greater things than they had in the New Testament? You bet we do. We live in the dispensation of the FULLNESS of times. We have far more than even those of the New Testament had. They had one temple, we have hundreds, they had a few Melchizedek priesthood holders, we have millions, they had one book of scripture, we have five. We have more truth revealed to us than any generation before, more opportunities, more access to the words of living prophets, more programs, more temporal blessings and ease than they had. Much has been given us. Therefore, much is required. And I think we sometimes water that verse down a little bit. I used to read that as meaning, “Where much is given, much is expected.” But that’s not the word that he uses is it? Let’s not water down the meaning of that verse, the word is REQUIRED. Required is a much stronger word than expected as far as I know. We must be BETTER. It’s required of us.
The Let-Us’s of HEBREWS
So now let’s go through some other verses in Hebrews to discover some of those things that are required of us. And if the catch phrase for the first half of this lesson was BETTER or MORE, the common phrase you are going to look for here is. LET US. We’ve got to find all the let us’s in Hebrews. And no, I’m not talking about the green leafy vegetable. In fact, that might be a fun way to introduce this section of the lesson. Bring out a big salad, or a bowl of lettuce and ask, “What does a salad and the Book of Hebrews have in common?” Answer: It’s full of “Let Us”
Let me show you all of those first, the Let Us ideas in the Book of Hebrews, there are others here without that particular phrase but let’s start with the ones that actually do use it.
And we’ve already done a lot of searching for specific phrases in this lesson, so I’m not going to approach it like that this time. I’m just going to give them to you, but I would ask you to do two things as we go through them. One, I want you to mark them in a unique color, and two, I want you to be sensitive to the Spirit prompting you to change. What Let Us message is most important for you right now?
4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
Remember that the theme of chapter 4 was rest, a better rest in God’s kingdom. Fear is a strong word, probably better translated as Let us act carefully so that we don’t miss out on HIS rest.
4:11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
So let us work hard to do what we need to do to inherit that rest. The time for rest will come, but right now is the time to work.
4:14
14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
We need to hold fast to the faith we profess or declare to believe in. Those are the words Lehi used to describe the people that eventually obtained the fruit of the tree of life. They continually held fast to the iron rod. Are you holding on tight to God’s word?
4:16
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
How should and can we come to our Father in heaven asking for forgiveness. With self-loathing, trepidation, and timidity? No boldly. With great trust and gratitude in Christ’s mercy. I think that’s something that’s missing from the church sometimes, that rejoicing and confidence in the grace of Christ. Maybe the evangelicals have it right in that aspect. They clap, and shout Amen, and Hallelujah, Thank you Jesus, your grace is good. I’m not saying we need to do the same thing in our meetings, but maybe it would be good if we had a little more of that Spirit in our hearts. Come boldly to the throne of grace. It’s there for you in time of need. Don’t hesitate to ask for it or believe that you aren’t worthy to receive it. He loves to forgive, he loves to offer second chances, and third chances, and fourth chances. His grace truly is amazing.
6:1
Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
What he means here is let’s move on to higher things. He asks, Do I need to keep laying the foundation for you? Teaching the fundamentals over and over because you won’t master them. God can’t move us higher if we don’t value and apply what he has already given us. Paul doesn’t want to have to give them the same milk over and over, he wants give them meat, but they just aren’t ready for it yet. They refuse to grow up in the gospel. Maybe you remember what we talked about back in the Book of Philippians. Paul was seeking to lift them higher. He gave them meat, because they had already digested the milk.
10:22
And I would like to add a few of the preceding verses also to round out the thought:
19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
21 And having an high priest over the house of God;
22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
A similar message to approaching the throne of grace with boldness, just a different way of saying it. Draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Again, the message being, don’t be ashamed or timid about coming to God to be purified and washed clean. He will forgive and purify you!
10:23
23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
A repeat of an earlier one. Hold fast to your faith and God will be faithful to his promises too. I like the winky face at the end of that one. It’s totally coincidental but I think it fits the message. It reminds me of Doctrine and Covenants 82:10 “I the Lord am bound when ye do it what I say. But when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.”
So God is always faithful to his promises.
10:24
Then one more in this chapter. The next verse. And I would like to throw in vs. 25 with it.
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
So if you’re going to provoke somebody, provoke them unto love and good works. Prod them into doing good things, not provoking to anger. And then that great caution in vs. 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. In other words, don’t go inactive. There is great value in assembling ourselves together in our church meetings. The Lord requires this of us. Church attendance is not just for our benefit, but so that you can bless other people with your spiritual gifts as well. So get to church and start provoking each other! Unto love and good works though.
12:1
My favorite one. There’s two in this verse. And I’ll include verse 2
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, LET US lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and LET US run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
I love this one particularly because I can relate to it easily. I’m a runner and a backpacker, and Paul is going to give us some really good advice on how to run more effectively. There is a direct correlation between the weight you are carrying and how fast you can travel. When I was younger and first went backpacking, my pack must have weighed between 30-40 pounds. It was so heavy and hard to carry. But I didn’t consider the weight of each individual piece of gear. I would throw things into my pack that I never really used, I brought extra clothes I didn’t need, heavy items that could have been replaced with lighter options, and I just kept thinking that one more thing wasn’t really going to make that big of a difference. Then I discovered the world of ultralight backpacking and everything changed! I started paring down my gear, buying lighter equipment, and discarding items that I didn’t really need. And wow did that ever make a difference. I discovered I could travel much farther and much more comfortably than I ever thought possible. Well, don’t make that same mistake spiritually! Paul encourages us to leave the weight behind. The more weight you carry running, the slower and more painful it will be. What is the weight he’s telling us to drop? Sin. Don’t let your sins hold you back! Drop that weight! No wonder Paul tells us to come boldly to the throne of grace, so we can drop our sins at the foot of it. And then run your race with patience. The race of life is a marathon, not a sprint. We’re going to have to endure to the end. And the person you probably need to be most patient with is yourself. Every step is progress. And you will for sure have setbacks. You’ll get spiritual side cramps; you may slow down sometimes and speed up others. You may even get a little lost sometimes and end up bushwhacking through the trees for a while. But be patient, keep running towards the finish line. Look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. I love that title. He’s the one that has made it to the finish line, and he will get you there if you keep following him. Confucius once said something very profound about learning that I’m going to paraphrase and apply in this instance. He said, "Learn as though you would never be able to master it; Hold it as though you would be in fear of losing it.” I would apply that idea here like this “Follow the Savior as you would follow someone you have no hopes of catching, but were afraid of losing sight of.” So keep your eye on the Savior, the author and finisher of your faith. Truthfully, we will never catch up with Him, at least not in this life, but let us not lose sight of him.
12:28
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
In this sense, grace means gratitude. Let us be grateful people, because our God is so good and so gracious and has given us so much, despite our hardships. To me, gratitude is one of the most important principles of happy living. Ungrateful people will never be happy no matter what they have. They are always focused on what they lack. Switch that equation, and happiness will be ours.
Two “Let us” phrases IN CHAPTER 13
To understand the first one we have to start in verse 11.
11For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
It’s some really nice parallel imagery here. He’s saying that the priests in the ancient days of the tabernacle, would burn the sacrifices outside the camp. In a similar way, when Christ was crucified, he was let outside of the city gates to Golgotha, beyond the walls of Jerusalem.
So the implication is, let us go with him, let’s get out of the camp and the city and follow Christ. The camp and the city representing the world. If we want to follow Christ, we need to separate ourselves from the world. Get away from their influence, and values, and behaviors. We too, need to go forth and get out. And bear his reproach with Him.
And the other one in chapter 13, verse 15
15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
Fairly self-explanatory. One of the greatest sacrifices we can give is our praise and thanks to God. Do we show him our gratitude in private in our sincere daily prayers? Have we offered our thanks to Him publicly in testimony or example. Let us be thankful receivers.
Now those are all the suggestions he gives in the Book of Hebrews with the exact phrase "Let us” in them. But there are plenty of other suggestions on how we should act that don’t use that phrase. The whole book is full of them, and I’m not going to cover them all. I’ll let you do that in your personal study, but let me point out just a few more that I think are fairly significant.
Let’s go all the way back to chapter 2.
Vs. 1-3 Remember the major message of the whole book. Christ is Better, therefore (starting in vs. 1)
1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. (So, since he has given us more, we need to give more earnest heed) And not let his words slip. I’d have us ask ourselves, have we ever let his words slip. When we study the scriptures, do we just race through to get it done, or do we feast, and ponder, and study. At church do we listen attentively, or are we sleeping, or allowing ourselves to get distracted. When General Conference comes around, do we listen to the talks that one time and then never consider them again? Or do we go back, and study them, and apply their counsels.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
I find the word neglect interesting here. I don’t think that there are a lot of people out there that are willfully wicked. Or throngs of members of the church that don’t care or don’t believe. I just think a lot of us simply begin to neglect our salvation. We get too caught up in other things. We don’t invest the time and effort needed to keep our faith strong. Little by little, over time, our spiritual garden gets overgrown with weeds, not on purpose, but through neglect.
Chapter 3 has a “let us not” message in it. And remember the theme of chapter 3 was rest. A better rest.
Starting in vs. 8
Let us . . .
8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
What’s he talking about here? When the children of Israel were freed from Egypt, and saw all the power and miracles of God, and then finally came to the point where they were going to inherit the promised land, do you remember what happened? They sent in twelve spies, and ten of them said, oh, we can never take it, the people are giants, and they have big walls around the cities, we can’t do it, we can’t overcome it. Two of the spies, though, Caleb and Joshua, said, no, we can do it, because we have God on our side. And the people listened to the ten and not the two. So what was the consequence? Moses said, OK, if after all the miracles you’ve seen, including walking through the Red Sea on dry ground, you still don’t have trust in God’s power to inherit the promised land? Ok, I guess you won’t. So that is why they wandered around in the wilderness for 40 years. It didn’t take them 40 years to go from Egypt to Israel. They got there fairly quickly. But they wandered for 40 years because, well, jump down to vs. 17
17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
They wandered around in the wilderness, waiting for all the unfaithful people to die. That’s why he very unceremoniously says, their carcases fell in the wilderness. It wasn’t until they had died that the rest of the children of Israel could inherit the promised land. And only two of those original spies got to go into the promised land. I bet you can guess which ones. Yep, Caleb and Joshua. And do you recall what happened to the very first city they came to with a giant wall the others were so concerned about. That first city was Jericho. And what happened to that wall. It came a tumbling down.
So, Paul’s message: Don’t let YOUR carcass fall in the wilderness of life. God has a better rest for you, a promised land. But if you don’t believe you can make it, or that God is able to get you there through your faith in him, then you won’t enter it, because of your unbelief. So have trust and faith in your Father in Heaven and Christ. Let us NOT have our carcases fall in the wilderness because of unbelief.
Now all the way to chapter 12:12-14
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
This one is all about the way we treat others. Let us serve others. Look for the hanging hands and the feeble knees and give them strength and reassurance. Follow peace with all men. Like President Nelson taught us last April. Let us be peacemakers. Remember that the gospel is so much more than what we BELIEVE, but what we do, and how we treat others.
There are plenty more “LET US’s” in Hebrews for you to find. And so I challenge you to read through all 13 chapters and find the others on your own.
TRUTH
But the big, overarching truth that I feel is most significant in Hebrews.
The restored gospel of Jesus Christ we have been given is BETTER than anything else. Therefore, LET US be BETTER because of it.
LIKEN THE SCRIPTURES
Another simple handout I might give my students just lists all the LET US’s we just talked about. I would give them some quiet pondering time to look over that list and ask themselves which of the “LET US’s” is the Spirit most drawing their attention to? Which Let Us phrase do they feel inspires them most or has had the most impact on them today? Maybe mark those phrases with a little star next to them and then encourage them to put this list somewhere where they will see it over the next couple of weeks. Perhaps it can help them to remember the message of Hebrews and inspire them to follow Christ more closely.
CONCLUSION
And so I pray that we will all remember the great lesson of the Book of Hebrews. We have been given much. There has never been a time in the history of the world where God’s people have been given so much. What we have received is BETTER than anything that has been given to previous dispensations. THEREFORE, let us be BETTER. Let us give more earnest heed always keeping in mind that where much is given, much is REQUIRED.
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