The Bible of Relevance

It strikes me that everything is so beautifully connected throughout the Bible and Hebrews is a beautiful example. I am embarrassed to say that I wasn't aware of this until my early teens, and then suddenly the Old Testament came completely alive and relevant.

Throughout the text, the presence of Jesus is described in relation to what has taken place before God sent His Son to earth. For example, He is the new High Priest which harkens back to the days of Abraham who gave Melchizedek (the first High Priest) a tenth of everything he owned. This is a calling of God such as Aaron was called by God (Heb:5:4). I had this thought that God orchestrated history to explain the arrival of Christ, much like Jesus used parables to explain our life in Him. Please note that I am not a theologian and this is my observation!

Essentially the history leading up to the perfect High Priest of the New Covenant, is rather comprehensively explained in Hebrews, such as Jesus being greater than the angels and all those before Him. I sensed that the awe of the ancient biblical characters were overshadowed by a perfect gift from God who shed His blood as a human, in comparison to the man-made customs. This gently softened my own spirit, because I could relate to the humanness of this sacrifice compared with the symbolic ceremony.

There appeared to be a lot of cautionary instruction such as don't "harden your hearts" (Heb:3:15) as in the "time of testing in the desert" (Heb:3:8) and keep a Sabbath rest as God did when he created the world (Heb:4:4). As I was reading this I felt convicted, because so many times I rush here and there and never take a break just to rest and breathe in God's goodness. This can only be of benefit to us, especially in this season, so as we honor Him our hearts will become more tender towards His love.

I love the way this chapter winds down, because it is as if the disciplinary part allows us to turn our hearts toward the encouragement, such as keep persevering (Heb:10:19-39). We can hold on to the fact that Christ's blood cleanses us and our conscience so that we can move forward in our lives. Some of us may feel that we have fallen short and we cannot possibly be equipped to move on. The great news is that we can.

It also tells us to keep our faith alive in Christ and count hardship as discipline or a refining fire from God (Heb:12). This one is difficult for me to grasp, because sometimes I feel that I keep learning the same thing over and over again! Ultimately this tests my faith and when things are going really well, I am more apt to be thankful for blessings from God, because He has been with me through tough times.

Hebrews has taught me the relevance of biblical history to a modern life. The ancient examples give me a new perspective on the gift of Jesus.