Summary of Hebrews

The Message of Hebrews

1. The message of Hebrews is that Jesus Christ is the final and fullest revelation of God to man (1:1-3). He is the exact representation of God (1:3); superior to angels (1:4); crowned with glory and honour, and the founder of salvation because of His death for sinners (2:9-11); greater than Moses (3:3), as the great high priest who has passed through the heavens (4:14, 7:26); separated from sinners and therefore exalted (7:26) and seated at the right hand of God as a Minister in the true tent of God (8:1-2, 10:12-13). He entered once and for all into the holy places by His own blood (9:12); is a priest in the order of Melchizedek (7:17); the guarantor of a better covenant (7:22), and mediates a better covenant enacted on better promises (8:6, 9:15, 12:24) through his blood. He sanctifies His people through the offering of Himself (10:10), suffering outside the gate (13:12). He is the founder and perfecter of our faith (12:2); is the same yesterday and today and forever (13:8). He is the great shepherd of the sheep (13:20) who equips them to do His will (13:20); and all glory belongs to Him (13:21).

2. In view of who Jesus is, the writer of the Hebrews exhorts the Hebrew Christians to pay close attention to the message (2:1) and not neglect this great salvation (2:3); draw near with confidence to the throne of grace (4:16), with full assurance of faith (10:22); leave the elementary doctrines of Christ and go on the maturity (6:1); look to Jesus (12:2); struggle against sin (12:4); love one another with brotherly love (13:1-2); and bear with the writer’s word of exhortation (13:22).



Possible Application

3. The tendency in Christian circles today seems to be either experience or religiosity, in our bid to know God and to live as He would have us. Hebrews teaches us that while there is a place for both experience, and religious observance, what must precede is the supremacy of Jesus Christ over both. Jesus is the final revelation of God to man, and when we look at Christ we see God. To really experience God, we are not to look into ourselves, or even to some external ill defined “warm fuzzy”, we are to gaze at the person of Jesus all that He is and all that He has done if. There we find the experience of Jesus. When it comes to religious observances, we must be careful not to fall into the trap of the Pharisees, who knew not the Scriptures or the power of God. All the Old Testament laws, prophets, sacrifices etc. point to the person of Jesus. Thus, we are to look to Him as the once and for all sacrifice who has fulfilled all the religious observances required of God. That is the basis for our own “religious observances”. That is the basis for our not neglecting this great salvation, and for not falling away from grace.