Hebrews 4:11

Hebrews 4:11 says, Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.  This does not mean that we are to earn our salvation through our own efforts or labor.  I believe it means that after we accept Christ as Savior that we are to work to ensure that He remains our Lord.  Even in the everlasting rest that we have through Christ, we still have work to do today.  We are not to just sit back and wait for Christ's return.  Verse twelve adds, For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  I am not sure that we always acknowledge the power of the word of God.  God does not need an arsenal or an army to accomplish His purpose.  What He spoke into existence, He can speak out of existence.  God's word is quick and powerful.  He doesn't have to state over and over what He wants to happen.  When God speaks, things happen immediately.  God's word also brings to light not only the actions of people, but their thoughts as well.  If we are doing good works for the wrong reason, which would be reason other than to bring glory to God, then God knows this already.  Verse thirteen continues, Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.  God is aware of what is happening in the world today.  We cannot hide any thought, much less any action, from God.  If we are obedient followers of Christ, then this should be of no concern to us.  It is only when we attempt to allow sin back into our lives that we should be concerned.  Verse fourteen states, Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.  Jesus the Son of God is our high Priest in heaven.  Since the priest was the one who stood between man and God, we no longer have need of a earthly priest to serve in that capacity.  We can speak directly to God and He can speak directly to us through our faith in Christ.  Verse fifteen adds, For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.  Christ, our high Priest, understands our weaknesses, because He was in all points tempted as we are, but without giving in to those temperatures.  I do not believe that it could be stated more clearly that Jesus had the ability to sin, but He always chose to remain faithful to His heavenly Father.  The temptations of Christ were not role playing with the script and outcome already determined but were just as real as the temptations we face.  The only way that Christ could be totally human is if He had the free will to sin if He chose to.  Verse sixteen continues, Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.  We can come boldly to the throne of grace through our heavenly high Priest, Jesus Christ.  This does not mean that we can make selfish demands, but that we can come to God for strength and guidance.  If we are under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, then we will always ask for the right things.

Hebrews 4:1

Hebrews 4:1 says, Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.  This does not mean that those who truly believe in Christ as their Savior and Lord will be left out of God's kingdom.  It is a warning to those who do not truly accept Christ as their Savior and Lord, but only claim to do so.  Verse two adds, For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.  This verse simply states that hearing the gospel of Christ is not enough.  We must have complete faith in our salvation.  If we have really accepted Christ as Savior and Lord, then the Holy Spirit will be with us to guide and strengthen us through any trial or temptation.  Verse three continues, For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.  This is a promise of salvation, and it should leave those who believe at rest.  We cannot gain salvation by our works, but our salvation should lead us to work for God's glory.  Yet, even as we work, we should be at rest, secure in our salvation.  There is no reason to allow worry to control our lives.  The work of salvation was finished from the foundation of the world.  Though Jesus Christ was born at a particular place in time, His salvation applies for all time.  Verse four states, For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.  God created everything in six days, then He rested on the seventh day.  When it comes to salvation, we can rest from our works.  We cannot earn salvation, but we can rest assured in the gift of salvation through Christ.  Verse five adds, And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.  God rested after creating the heavens and the earth.  We cannot join God in His creating, but we can join Him at His rest.  This doesn't mean that there is nothing for us to do, but even if we have dominion over God's creation, it still occurs after He rested.  We are called to join God in His rest.  Verse six continues, Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:  There are still people to be reached for Christ, and this is our purpose as followers of Christ.  Though many have refused and still refuse to believe in the salvation of Christ, this does not mean that we are to give up on witnessing.  Verse seven says, Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.  Just as God told David, there is a day when each person will hear God calling him or her.  Though many will continue to harden their hearts against God, some will not.  Today is the only time we can be certain that we have, and that is why it is so important to say yes when God calls someone.  Verse eight adds, For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.  When we enter the rest of God, we do not need to speak of it happening someday.  After creating, God rested.  After redeeming mankind, Christ rested.  We as followers of Christ are to rest assured in our salvation.  Verse nine continues, There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.  We can only find true rest through our relationship with Christ.  Verse ten concludes, For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.  When we accept salvation through Christ, we cease from our works to justify ourselves.  We acknowledge that we cannot do anything to earn our salvation.  Though God is still at work in the world today calling the lost to salvation, creation and redemption are already completed.  As followers of Christ, we are to work to spread the gospel to others, but we are at rest in our salvation.

Hebrews 3:12

Hebrews 3:12 states, Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.  We are warned to not be as Israel was in the desert.  They hardened their hearts against God.  Again, this was a deliberate choice on their part.  We cannot follow God simply because He blesses us materially, but we must follow Him because He has delivered us from the power of sin.  Salvation is not about earthly riches, but is simply a matter of faith in God, no matter what.  We indeed do have an evil heart of unbelief if we depart from the living God.  This does not mean that we have lost our salvation, but if we are attempting to come to God by any method other than faith in Christ we are lost.  Also, if we are attempting to follow God for any reason than for the salvation of our souls, we are guilty of hardening our hearts.  We must be content and committed to following God, no matter what.  The people of Israel, in the desert after being delivered, looked at what they didn't have instead of praising God, and we can fall into the same attitude. Verse thirteen adds, But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.  We are called on to exhort, or uplift, one another daily.  I believe that one way we can do this is through prayer.  When we begin to ignore our fellow believers, we begin to fall under the power of sin once more.  We are not saved simply so God will pour out material blessings on us.  Verse fourteen continues, For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;  We are told why we should uplift each other.   All who are saved are saved by faith in Christ and should hold fast until the end.  When we know that others are praying for and are concerned about us, it should help us to hold fast to our faith in times of trials.  Verse fifteen states, While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. I believe this means that as soon as we hear Christ call us, we should respond.  The only way to not accept His call is by hardening our hearts to His call.  Every day that we delay puts us in greater jeopardy of losing that salvation that Christ offers.  Verse sixteen adds, For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.  Though the majority did, not all of those who came out of Egypt provoked Moses.  A remnant believed.  Even if this remnant did not make it into the earthly Promised Land, they certainly will make it into the spiritual one, which is what really matters.  Verse seventeen continues, But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?  God was not grieved by all of those who were called His people, but only with those who had sinned due to a lack of real faith.  I believe that is one problem with a prosperity gospel.  People make professions of faith and expect God to give them anything that they claim as theirs.  When they don't get what they want, they turn away from God.  I also think that even when God blesses them that it will never be enough.  Verse eighteen says, And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?  Those who truly did not believe in God were denied admission into the Promised Land.  Verse nineteen adds, So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.  God did not fail them, but they failed Him.  We will never get into the coming Promised Land without a real faith in salvation through Christ.  Going through the motions is not enough.

HEB3:7 says, Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,  There is the call of the Holy Spirit to all people to listen to the word of God.  Though we have the responsibility of witnessing, it is the Holy Spirit Who prepares a person to hear and calls them to believe.  Today, or any day, if we will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit calling and will accept the salvation of Christ, we shall be saved.  Verse eight states, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:  We are told to not harden our hearts, which once more says that the choice is not predestined, but is ours.  In the wilderness, those who were called God's people often hardened their hearts against Moses and God.  We are called on to not be the same way.  Verse nine says, When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.  When their fathers, or ancestors, had hardened their hearts, they tempted and proved God when He showed them His works.  Still, it cost them forty years of wandering and a generation lost, never to enter the promised land.  When we tempt or demand proof from God that He is Who He says He is, instead of simply following Him by faith, it will cost us.  When we as followers of Christ doubt Him in any given situation, we are in effect in a spiritual wilderness.  Verse ten says, Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.  Even after God miraculously delivered them from captivity in Egypt, a generation was lost due to a lack of faith.  We might say that this was unfair to those who did believe, but at times those who do have faith in God suffer because of the actions of those who don't.  Still, when we remain faithful to God our salvation is assured.  Even when wandering in the wilderness, God had already delivered His people from slavery in Egypt and was providing for their needs.  When God delivers us from the bondage of sin through our faith in Christ we are forever free from the power of sin.  Yet, too often we complain and allow sin to enter into our lives.  Though we are still saved if we have put our faith in Christ, we will lose some of the joy of our salvation.  The people of Israel should have been rejoicing in their deliverance, but instead thought they would have been better off enslaved than uncertain of the future.  What they should have realized, as should we, is that God already knows the future, and He has assured us everlasting life through faith in Christ.  Verse eleven declares, So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)  Though the people of Israel had already been delivered physically, they still did not put their faith in God, so they lost their rest, or spiritual deliverance, through faith in Him.  Christ died for every person who ever lived or ever will live, but too many never accept so great a salvation.

Hebrews 3:1

Hebrews 3:1 says, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;  If we are holy brethren, that does not mean that we are holy of our own merit.  We are holy only by the fact that we are set aside from the world for God because of our relationship with Christ.  Christ is the Apostle and high Priest of our calling.  Verse two adds, Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.  There is a comparison made between Moses and Christ, based simply on faithfulness to God.  Though Moses had great faith in God, his was an imperfect faith, whereas Christ lived in perfect obedience to the heavenly Father.  Verse three continues, For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.  Jesus Christ is indeed counted more worthy than Moses.  The house here refers to the followers of Christ.  Moses built his house, or family, on the promise of the coming of Christ.  Christ built His house with Himself as the foundation.  Though Moses was a great man of faith, he could not provide everlasting salvation for his house.  Verse four states, For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.  Whether we view these houses as literal structures or families, they are built by people and cannot last forever.  God is the builder of all things that last forever.  We often spend more of our time and resources on the things of this world than we do on the things of God.  As followers of Christ, we must put our emphasis on the things of God over the things of this world.  Verse five adds, And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;  This says that Moses was faithful in all his house.  We know that Moses did not have a perfect faith, but he did attempt to lead his family to faith in God.  It is our responsibility to do the same.  Verse six continues, But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.  Christ as the only begotten Son of God is indeed over His house, the church.  Our responsibility is to simply follow Him through faith.  Verse seven says, Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,  The people were called on to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.  I believe that the only way to do that is to first hear His call to salvation by accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, and when we do, we are immediately indwelled by the Holy Spirit and can hear His voice guiding us in life.   Verse eight adds, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:  People were also called on to not harden their hearts against the call of the Holy Spirit as the people of Israel did in the wilderness.  God is always going to call people to Him, but too many harden their heart against His call.  It kept those people of Israel who did so out of the Promised Land, and if we harden our hearts against God today, it will keep us out of heaven.  Verse nine continues. When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.  The people of Israel were reminded that their fathers tempted God, but they still saw His works for forty years.  We should never tempt God, but I believe it is impossible to honestly deny His works.  Verse ten states. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.  God said He was grieved by that generation because they refused to acknowledge His ways.  God will always be grieved by those who refuse to acknowledge Him and accept His gift of salvation, but He will also give them the choice of whether to accept the gift of salvation.  If they don't. like the people in that day who refused to put their faith in God, they will never enter the Promised Land.  Verse eleven adds, So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)  as God said then, those who do not believe in Him and put their faith in Jesus Christ will never enter into His rest, or their heavenly home.

Hebrews 2:9

Hebrews 2:9 says, But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.  Jesus was made a little lower than the angels by the fact that he took on human form and could die.  Though He created the angels, Jesus was willing to suffer death as a human being in order to redeem mankind, that He also created.   We can finf salvation only through His sacrifice on the cross.   Verse ten adds, For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.  We are again told that Jesus made salvation available for all who would put their faith in Him by His suffering death on the cross.  We again need to acknowledge that He created everything in perfection, and then He sacrificed Himself, the only acceptable sacrifice, to redeem mankind after they fell away in sin.  He could have just started over, but He valued us enough to suffer and die for us.  Verse eleven continues, For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,  By His death on the cross, the Creator, Jesus Christ, made it possible for sinful mankind to be forgiven and become His brothers and sisters spiritually.  The choice is always up to each individual though.  Verse twelve declares, Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.  This scripture is from Psalms 22:22.  Jesus said that He was not ashamed to call those who put their faith in Him as their personal Savior and Lord his brothers and sisters.  The question then becomes if we are ashamed to publicly call Him our Savior and therefore our Brother.  Verse thirteen adds, And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.  This scripture, I will put my trust in Him, is from Psalms 18:2 where David said in spite of all his troubles that he would continue to put his faith in God.  In His humanity, Jesus felt the same way as David, and so must we as Christians.  The second scripture, Behold the Children which God has given Me, is from Isaiah 8:18.  We as believers in Christ are the children that God has given to Jesus.  We are both the children of the Heavenly Father and the brothers and sisters of Christ, since the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are One God.  Someday, we may fully understand this, but really all we ever have to do is accept the fact by faith.  Verse fourteen continues, Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;   We are old that since we are partakers of the flesh, or human, that Jesus Himself became human so that He might defeat the power of death, and the Devil himself, who had the power of death over mankind.  Verse fifteen concludes, And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.  By His death on the cross, Jesus Christ made it possible for everyone to be freed from the power of sin and penalty of death if they will only accept Him as their personal Savior and Lord.  Verse sixteen says, For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.  Jesus did not take on the form of angels, who are mighty beings in order to bring salvation, but the form of the much weaker seed of Abraham, or man.  He subjected Himself to all the temptations and weaknesses that we have, but did o without sinning.  Verse seventeen adds, Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.  By becoming a Man Himself, Jesus made it possible to redeem mankind.  If He had not been able to sin if He so chose, then we would be held to a standard that is above us.  Verse eighteen continues, For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.  As we are told, since Jesus was tempted and overcame the temptation, He is now able to restore us to God when we give in to temptation.  Faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation.

Hebrews 2:1

Hebrews 2:1 says, Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.  The writer, and there is some debate whether it was Paul or another disciple, warns us to be diligent in our study of God's word.  It doesn't really matter who penned Hebrews, because as with all the Bible, God is the Author.  All scripture is given to help us better understand God.  Verse two adds, For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;  This would imply that the message of the angels is that every transgression and disobedience to God will be punished.  This would be a just recompense.  Verse three continues, How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;  How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?  The answer is that we will not.  If the angel's word is steadfast, then all sin will earn punishment, but through faith in Christ we can escape this punishment.  This is the great salvation, that Christ died for our sins.  Verse four states, God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?  God Himself bears witness to salvation through Christ.  The early disciples were witnesses to the truth of the gospel, as are we as followers of Christ today.  Verse five adds, For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.  The angels will not be in charge of the world to come, but Christ will.  There is coming that day when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  For some, those who do not accept Christ as Savior and Lord in this lifetime, it will be too late.  Verse six continues, But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?  Verse seven says, Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:  Then verse eight adds, Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.  This is a reference to Psalms 8:4-6.  Again, this points us to the need to know God's word if we are to be effective witnesses for Him.  When Christ came to earth, He was human in all aspects, a little lower than the angels.  Still, though it hasn't happened yet, everything is placed under subjection to Him.   We, as followers of Christ, should already and in all ways be under the subjection of His authority.