In Week 6 we look at how the Old Testament figure of Melchizedek foreshadows Christ’s fulfillment as our King of Righteousness and Peace. We see that both Melchizedek and Christ are from a different priestly order than the Levitical order and that they are both Kings. With this new order, the author of Hebrews makes the argument that a new covenant was then needed through the fulfillment of Christ which nullifies the old law.

In Week 5, we pick up in the middle of the warning to grow in maturity. The author urges the Hebrews to be carried forward by God to maturity, to bear fruit, and to live out their better salvation because it is Jesus who guarantees the new better oath and covenant rendering the old one obsolete. He ends the passage by reminding them that the way through trouble is not by backtracking but through anchoring more fully in the promise of salvation through Christ.

In Week 4, we continue our rhythm of “Jesus is better” followed by a warning. This week, we examine Jesus as our better High Priest, seated at the right hand of God on high and able to sympathize with our human weakness. We set the stage for our next warning at the end of Chapter 5 - a warning against falling away from the faith - with a contrast between the mature and immature Christian.

In this episode, we consider Jesus as better than Moses. Moses was Israel’s deliverer, but he still struggled with disbelief and disobedience in his humanity, to the point that he wasn’t able to enter into the rest of the promised land. We can enter that rest with our obedience to Christ through our belief and our submission to scripture which reveals our sin and weakness so that we can draw near to the throne of grace to receive help for those areas.

In this episode, we see that Jesus has been appointed by God and that makes him superior to the angels. We are warned that we should not drift from the gospel even when times get rough. We must stay close to our Savior because he made the way of defeating death, being our perfect sacrifice, and experiencing humanity so that he can empathize as our high priest.

In this episode, we set the stage for the book of Hebrews by looking at the background and context in which it was written. Some of the central themes found in Hebrews include the superiority of Christ and how this builds the foundation for confidence and steadfastness in our faith journey.

In our final study session week, we talk about how the Sabbat helps us to see God more clearly and how refocusing our attention on God keeps us from marginalizing God. In Genesis, we see that Sabbath is a statement about God’s sovereignty that has been set since the first 7 days of creation. As we seek to practice a grace-filled Sabbath it will foster worship, intimacy with our Savior & wholeness.

In Ex. 16 we see the Israelites experience the abundance of God in the double-portion miracle which allowed them to truly rest in his provision each week. This week we unpack how seeing God’s abundance in our lives and trusting in it moves us from a place of scarcity to a place of generosity.

Today we look at the Sabbath principle: resist the urge to continue. To experience Sabbath margin we have to stop something, to rest from something. Sabbath is about surrender, prioritizing God’s command to rest over our own agenda. And as we rest, we reap the benefits of increased intimacy with God and the resulting joy.

In this episode, we covered Week 1 in Priscilla Shirer’s Breathe study. We start with a look at the introduction of rest at creation and how the Sabbath principle can move us from a slavery mindset to a freedom mindset.

Big Idea: The Sabbath principle is the key to freedom.

Scripture: Genesis 1:24-2:3

missionhills.org/s2ep2-the-freedom-of-the-sabbath/