As we come to the end of Hebrews, the author gives a final word to encourage the Hebrew Christians to endure in their faith as they remember the faith of their leaders and remember their saviour, even unto death, as we offer a sacrifice of praise through the only one who can make our sacrifice acceptable: Jesus!

As we come to the final chapter of Hebrews, we are shown what it practically looks like to live in a way that worships God and is pleasing to him. Three ways we express our love for God is by loving others in the church, avoiding sexual immorality, and keeping ourselves from the love of money.

The salvation we have received in Christ brings us to God, we have come to the new church of that God is creating that will remain forever. 

What does the life of faith look like with our eyes fixed on Jesus? As we walk with our saviour he calls us to faithful endurance.

Like  God’s people in the Old Testament who went before us, we are called to live by faith in a world where we will endure rejection, suffering, and difficult circumstances. Unlike them, we have seen God’s promises of salvation fulfilled in Christ and can look to him for hope and perseverance.

None of us knows the future, but we do know the promises of God and His character. Like the Old teTestamentstament examples of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph we are called to live and act by faith as we look forward to heaven trusting the faithful God who through Christ fulfils his promises.

The well-known figures in the Old-Testament were saved in the very same way we are: by faith in God. New Covenant believers receive salvation by faith in the same way, and therefore, should emulate those who came before us.

Obedience, endurance and faithful living are crucial for the Christian who places their faith in Christ. Through trials and persecution and temptation, our confidence must be in the saving work of Jesus, whose promise of return fills us with great hope so that we might strive to be obedient, endure and remain faithful to the end.

Hebrews' great statement on the priesthood of Christ concludes by focusing on how the sacrifice of Christ makes us Holy. Having received this new status as a gift, we are urged to draw near to the God who has served us and to give ourselves in service to one another.

How can we come near to God? How can we be cleansed from our sin? How can we have security for eternity? There is much that is uncertain in our world, but in Hebrews chapter 9 we are told of the certain hope that we have through the sacrifice that Jesus made for us which has obtained eternal redemption.