Hebrews

Purpose & theme

Hebrews is a majestic, sustained argument for the supremacy and finality of Jesus Christ. Written to Jewish Christians who were tempted, under pressure and persecution, to drift back from Christ into the familiar shelter of Old Testament Judaism, its message is essentially one word: better. Jesus is better than the angels, better than Moses, better than Aaron and the whole priesthood, better than the old covenant with its sacrifices, tabernacle, and law. He is the fulfillment toward which the entire Old Testament pointed, and to turn back from Him to the shadows is to abandon the substance. The letter opens with a breathtaking declaration of who Jesus is — the Son through whom God has spoken His final word, “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature,” who “upholds the universe by the word of his power” and, “after making purification for sins... sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (1:3).

The theological heart of Hebrews is Jesus as the great High Priest. Unlike the many priests of the old order who offered repeated sacrifices that could never take away sins, Jesus is a priest forever “after the order of Melchizedek,” who, “when he had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins... sat down at the right hand of God” (10:12). By His own blood He entered the true, heavenly sanctuary once for all, securing an eternal redemption and mediating a new and better covenant. Because His sacrifice is finished and His priesthood permanent, believers can “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace” (4:16) and hold fast their hope. Interwoven with this soaring theology are urgent, repeated warnings not to drift, harden the heart, or fall away, and stirring exhortations to endure — climaxing in the great “hall of faith” (chapter 11) and the call to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (12:1-2). Hebrews is thus both a profound exposition of Christ’s person and work and a passionate plea to hold fast to Him to the end.