In order to have a great appreciation of the New Covenant under which we reside we will look at the covenant that God made with Moses on Mt. Sinai. In the process we will see that God has always been in gracious, merciful pursuit of relationship with His people.

There are things that are true and then there is the truth about things. Jesus gives us a category for the truth that genuinely sets free and a frame of reference for walking through this broken world of half truths and illusions of grandeur.

What does it mean to draw near to God? There is a reason why the good news isn’t good to everyone. In fact, in and of ourselves we don’t know what to do with actual goodness. When confronted with Jesus we will respond fully aware of our wretchedness. The question is: How will we respond?

Hebrews continues to help us understand how Jesus is the substance behind the shadow. He has a better priesthood, an eternal one, that descended not from the sin-stained Levitical Priesthood, but from a fatherless line in the order of Melchizedek.

“The exalted Christ is like a person who stands before the sun and casts a shadow upon earth. Those who look at the shadow can discern in it the contours of the one who made it. Similarly, Hebrews considers Melchizedek to be an earthly shadow that the risen Christ casts back on the page of OT Scripture, and the author will speak about Melchizedek in order to bear witness to the Son of God whom he represents” - Koester

The writer concludes this discourse with incredible gentleness, care, and concern. There is no greater way to follow such sobering warnings than with the beauty and majesty of our God who makes and keeps His promises. We will see what it takes to have “full assurance of hope until the end.”

The writer to the Hebrews continues His wake up call by reminding them of the reality that there are those who try to fake Christianity while continuing to fall back into Judaism. We, too, must beware lest we fall prey to the counterfeit gospels of our time.

The writer to the Hebrews continues His wake up call by reminding them of the reality that there are those who try to fake Christianity while continuing to fall back into Judaism. We, too, must beware lest we fall prey to the counterfeit gospels of our time.

We all know that it is possible to hear something without really hearing it. We know that scripture teaches that it is significant that we would have “ears to hear” the message of Jesus. The writer of Hebrews gives us a sharp rebuke for our dull hearing as well as significant motivation to perk up and pay closer attention.

Jesus is better. Like the very first reader of this letter, we live in a world that simply does not believe that to be true. Although the context may be different the writer knows that in order to dwell in a world like this we must know God and our place in His story. The writer of Hebrews leaves us with a Christianity that is constantly in pursuit of Christ and what it looks like to believe that He is better and that He is enough.