The Old Testament closes with the Israelites at a crossroads: they continue to fall into apathy and sin while looking forward to a new age when God's new covenant will transform the entire world.

Christians in the first century asked the same question we ask today: "If a loving god exists, why is there suffering in the world?" In a magnificent final passage that closes-out the book of Hebrews, the authors remind the young Christian community that we live in a fallen world of our own choosing, a corrupted universe that is the direct result of our rebellion against God. But the suffering we endure is also the helpful work of God perfecting our faith like the sharpest swords forged in the hottest fires, and God's discipline strengthens us to develop a deep maturity that is the hallmark of a true disciple of Christ. 

Christianity is often cast as a system of blind faith where followers must entirely suspend logic and reason in order to believe in the existence of God without any proof or empirical evidence. On the contrary, those who are familiar with the Word of God...including the authors of Hebrews...demonstrate time and again that Christian faith is backed-up by overwhelming proof (in the form of physical evidence and personal experience) that demands we reject the "null hypothesis" (life is due to random chance) and accept the truth that God is real and desires to intimately know his creation. 

The authors of Hebrews challenge their readers to look beyond the "letter" of the law, which is only useful for imperfectly describing sin and atonement, and focus on the "spirit" of the law to understand how Jesus gave his life as a perfect sacrifice to wipe the slate clean and destroy death once for all. 

God established several covenants (contracts, testaments) with the human race over thousands of years that functioned as promises between God and his creation. The final covenant -- established by Jesus' earthly ministry and continuing to present age --guarantees a deeply personal relationship between God and humanity based on grace and mercy rather than ritual and sacrifice. 

In the Old Testament, Jewish priests functioned as intermediaries between humanity and God in a flawed system that required mortal priests to make atonement for their own sins. The authors of Hebrews contend that God appointed Jesus as a final, sinless, eternal priest who enables humanity to be lovingly reconciled to our perfect, holy creator. 

Olympic athletes train every day to strengthen their bodies and prepare for athletic competition. In the absence of daily activity, the body becomes weak and lethargic, eventually succumbing to sickness and death. In the same way, the author of Hebrews encourages Christians to constantly train their faith to grow stronger in the Word of God to resist falling-away into apathy and spiritual death. 

The author of Hebrews emphasizes faith as a continually active exercise, prompting Christians to encourage each other daily - and thereby achieve eternal rest - to avoid slipping into the habit of sin and rebellion which leads to hardened hearts and eventual rejection of the Gospel message. 

The parallels between the first century and today are striking: tyrannical governments consolidating their firm grip on power through propaganda and persecution of believers in the name of "public safety", apathetic followers drifting away as the novelty of Christianity lost its luster, knowledge of the Word of God sidelined in-favor of entertainment and short-term prosperity, and religious leaders focused on useless ritual rather than changing hearts and minds. To counter these problems, the author of Hebrews demonstrated how Jesus transformed the old covenants by bringing a message of hope to a hopeless world, offering eternal life to those terrified of dying, and transforming lives by replacing despair with overwhelming joy.

Download a list of Bible-Study Resources: https://files.captivate.fm/library/48ddd658-44bf-4f6f-8888-293b98264418/biblical-resources.pdf

Christianity began with a spectacular "bang" in the first century as a flood of new converts came directly from the Jewish community responding to the electrifying gospel message. As the excitement and novelty of those early days began to fade, the Christian community became a melting pot of believers still clinging to the "old covenant" Jewish ritual system plus apathetic new converts attracted by the gospel message who lacked any interest in solid Biblical instruction or discipline. In response, the author of Hebrews composed a magnificent sermon proving conclusively that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Messiah predicted by the Jewish scriptures yet fully divine, a high priest, a king from the House of David, and the Son of God superior to all who came before him.