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The Better Book – Hebrews
The Better Book – Hebrews
One major danger to God's people is becoming discouraged and weary as they wait for the promise of Jesus. So it was with the Hebrew believers that this letter is addressed to. They had already undergone severe persecution and trial and now more loomed on the horizon. They needed to be strengthened and assured in their trust in Jesus and this new covenant. The writer of Hebrews addresses this by contrasting the old and the new. He has great respect and admiration for the old, but the new is BETTER.
The word 'better' appears time and again in this book. A quick search shows the word appearing 12 times in the book (ESV). It first appears in chapter 6: "Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation." (Hebrews 6:9). A simple outline of major comparisons in the book can thus be made:
1 - Jesus – the better messenger
2 - Jesus – better than Angels
3 - Jesus – better than Moses
4 – Jesus better than Joshua and provides a better rest.
5 – Jesus better than Aaron (a better priesthood).
7 – Jesus – a better high priest
8 – Jesus – Mediator of a better covenant
9 – Jesus – provider of a better tabernacle
10 – Jesus – the better sacrifice
11 – Faith – the better way
Come persecution, hardship, and trials of all sort, we can never give up. What we have chosen to believe and follow is not just better, it is the best, the only, the one way to God. "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6). Hugh DeLong
