When thinking of “What we do,” there’s that intriguing verse in Hebrews 4:11 which says, “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest,” and it’s compared to the Israelites too, who didn’t enter his rest because they “disobeyed” (3:18).

So what “effort” or “obedience” on our part is required of us to enter God’s rest? Or put simply: what are WE supposed to do? 

In reply, the author of Hebrews hits us out of the blue, and seemingly totally out of context too, with verses 12 and 13. Which start with a point well documented in history, that “God’s word has an enormous effect on people. That’s because it slices right down to our innermost desires, motives, intentions and attitudes, revealing all to God who sees every bit of us in vivid detail, and we cannot hide from him either. And one day we get to meet this God who knows everything about us, out in the open, face to face.”  

Scary stuff. So we’d better put the effort in, right? But think how much effort it would take to be perfect in such a God’s eyes. Not a desire, motive, intention or attitude must be left unchecked. Every bit of his word must be followed in exact detail. Not even one thought, wish, or daydream allowed to stray into territory God wouldn’t approve of.  

Impossible? Yes, but absolutely necessary, verse 11, so that “we don’t fall into the same disobedience trap the Israelites fell into.” Is there an answer to all this, then? According to verse 14, yes there is, because it starts off with “Therefore,” the answer then being, “since we have a great high priest….let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.” 

Verse 15 then explains what that faith we profess is: it’s faith that we have a high priest in God’s presence right now, who knows every weakness we’ve got, and from his own experience as a human knows exactly what we’re up against, and he’s there on our behalf, ready to help us in any way we need. 

Our response to that is in verse 16: “Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with fullest confidence, that we may receive mercy for our failures and grace to help in the hour of need.” The “obedience” and “making every effort” on our part, then, is totally trusting Jesus to do that for us now and always, because “HE is our salvation, not us”….(next blog) 

Hebrews 10:19 tells us that “we have confidence to enter into the Most Holy Place (and into God’s very presence).” And what gives us that total confidence? The last sentence in verse 19: “the blood of Jesus.” 

Verse 20 then goes on to say, that we have “a new and living way opened up for us through the curtain (into God’s very presence).” And how was this new and living way opened up for us? The last two words in verse 20: “his body.”

So, verse 22, because of Jesus’ blood (verse 19), and because of his body (verse 20), “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.”

Any mention of “works” needed on our part? A hint in verse 22, perhaps? – that we “draw near to God.…having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” Does that mean we can only confidently enter God’s presence if our hearts are sprinkled and our bodies washed”? Well, yes, but is it up to us to get those two things done? 

Not according to verse 21, which hints instead that all this confidence we have, and hope we have, and full assurance of faith we have, are the result of “having a great priest over the house of God.” 

In other words, it’s all his doing. He’s the one who, through his blood and his body, got us into God’s presence in the first place. Because that’s what high priests do. In Israel of old it was the high priest who did “the sprinkling (of animal blood, Leviticus 16:15-16), and the washing (of his own body, 16:4)” that God required of him to enter his presence. No sprinkling or washing by the people at all. All they did was watch the high priest in action, in hopeful trust that God would honour the high priest’s actions on their behalf. It was a total act of faith in their high priest, therefore, no works on their part required. 

Well, “we have such a high priest in the presence of God” doing the same for us (8:1-2). He “went before us, entering God’s presence on our behalf” (6:19-20). We “come to God through him and his intercession for us” (7:25), just like the Israelites of old went through their high priest and his intercession for them. But “If it’s all faith, what do we do?”….next blog)

In Jesus “offering himself unblemished to God,” Hebrews 9:14, his sacrifice also “cleanses our conscience from dead works.” 

Surprisingly, verse 9, what the author of Hebrews meant by “dead works” were “the gifts and sacrifices being offered (by the Old Testament Israelites).” Perhaps even more surprising is that, despite all those sacrifices and rituals being perfectly designed by God and strictly obeyed by the Israelites, they “were not able to clear the Israelites’ conscience.”

The sacrifices were able to make the Israelites “outwardly clean,” verse 13, so their bodies didn’t die the death they deserved, but that entire religious system was useless when it came to clearing up the consciences of the Israelites enough for them to enter freely into God’s presence (8). 

In short, therefore, that old religious system amounted to nothing but “dead works.” If it crossed the minds of the Israelites, therefore, that by putting even more effort into their religious duties it would then turn those dead works into good works that would please God enough to let them into his presence, they’d soon find out that it would not, because they were still stuck with “God finding fault with them” for their “hearts always going astray” (3:10). 

So the problem was their weak heart, which could not be cured by all those “dead works” sacrifices that only kept the Israelites alive physically. But God had made provision for that by “making a new covenant” (8:8), in which he promised to “put my laws in their minds and write them in their hearts” (10) – as well as clean the slate totally of all their past wrongdoings (12).

Not only in this new covenant, then, were the Israelites’ consciences scoured clean from the memory of all their past sins, they were also scoured clean from the pressure of doing all those “dead works” sacrifices to be good enough to enter God’s presence. And now, thanks to God giving them the heart they’d always lacked, they could, from now on, willingly and happily “serve the living God” (9:14). 

This too, then, is included in the “new and living way opened up for us into God’s presence by the blood of Jesus” (10:19-20). And it was Israel of old that played an essential part in that – in teaching us that this new living way is entirely “By faith, not works”….(next blog)

According to Hebrews 10:19-20, “We’ve been given complete freedom to go into the Most Holy Place, because the death of Jesus opened a new way, a living way” for us, so that now, verse 22, “we can come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith.” So, what is this “living way” that only becomes available to us through Jesus’ death? 

There’s a clue in Hebrews 2:14-15, that Jesus “by his death destroyed him who holds the power of death – the devil – to free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” 

Before Jesus’ death, then, no such means of destroying the devil’s power of death existed. The devil had free rein to tempt and deceive Adam and Eve into rejecting and resisting God, the result of which – for them and anyone else the devil influenced into sin – was slavery to the fear of death, exactly as God had promised in Genesis 2:17. 

For the Israelites in the Old Testament, however, God relieved that fear of death by cleansing them of their sins through the death of animals on the Day of Atonement once a year (Leviticus 16:29-30). So the death of animals dealt with the consequences of the Israelites’ sins, but never did it stop the Israelites from sinning in the first place. The gory parade of death, therefore, just kept on going year after year. But what a way to go, when the only way of dealing with death from sin was more death, in the killing of millions of innocent animals. 

It was totally “a death way” of dealing with sin, but a solution came along in the person of Jesus, who “Unlike the other high priests (in Israel) does not need to offer sacrifices day after day for the sins of the people,” because he “sacrificed for their sins once and for all when he offered himself,” Hebrews 7:27. And that included all the sins that all the Israelites had committed; he “set them free” from the whole lot (9:15). 

Because when “Jesus entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, he obtained eternal redemption” (9:12). Never again, therefore, would sin – past, present or future – need to be dealt with by death. Jesus’ own death took care of that. This, then, is the new “living way” Jesus introduced, so that the devil no longer holds the power of death, and we’re no longer in fear of it either. 

And just as important, Jesus’ death was also the new “living way” of “Cleansing our conscience from dead works” too….(next blog)

When Hebrews 10:20 speaks of “a new and living way being opened up for us,” there must be something ‘old and dead’ it was replacing. Which it was: Hebrews pictures it as “old” and “new” covenants – the old one being “obsolete, aging and soon to disappear” (8:13), and the new one replacing it being “superior” and “founded on better promises” (6). 

Which seems odd, though, that God would set up a system with built-in obsolescence, in which “Day after day the priests did their religious duties, offering the same sacrifices over and over again, but nothing in what they did took away sins,” Hebrews 10:11.

Jesus was also recorded as saying to his Father, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” – yet “the law required them to be made” (8). So here we have God requiring a system he didn’t like, that also made it “impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (4).

But Jesus clearly knew what was going on, because in verse 9 he said, “Here I am (Father), I have come to do your will.” And that was enough to “cancel that old system and put in place a new one,” because Jesus understood God’s will, that the only way in which we humans are “made holy is through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (10).  

Jesus, therefore, perfectly fulfilled what God created the office of high priest for, to “do away with sin” (9:26) – not “by (the old) means of the blood of goats and calves, but by entering the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood and securing our redemption forever” (9:12). 

And having “offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, Jesus sat down at the right hand of God” (10:12), where he now “lives to intercede for those who come to God through him” (7:25), meaning that we can now “enter the Most Holy Place (where he is) with confidence” (10:19), and “draw near to God with full assurance of faith” (22). 

The Israelites under the “old” system never experienced this, because “the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed” (9:8), but for us “a new and living way (into the Most Holy Place) has been opened up” (10:20). 

A “new way” replacing an old way is easy to understand, but “What does ‘a living way’ mean?”….(next blog) 

In Hebrews 7:25, “Jesus is able to save completely those who come to God through him.” But why the word “completely”? 

Because there’s a comparison being made in Hebrews between two ways of dealing with guilt; one way that saves from guilt completely and perfectly, and the other that does not. And it’s a crucial difference that affects the very heart of our relationship with God. 

On the one hand, there was the Old Covenant system of “repeating the same sacrifices endlessly year after year,” which God set up to enable the Israelites to stay in contact with him despite their sins – but – it still left them “feeling guilty” (10:1-2). Their conscience still bothered them, so in their relationship with God they were never at rest. Which is why that “former (Old Covenant) regulation was set aside” as being “weak and useless,” because it “made nothing perfect (or complete)” (7:18-19). It didn’t save completely and perfectly. 

That old system did have a purpose, though, as both an annual reminder (10:3) and as “an illustration,” Hebrews 9:9, to show that all those “gifts and sacrifices being offered (and all the “various ceremonial washings” too, verse 10), were not able to clear the conscience.” 

And that was the issue, that pesky conscience that made you feel you were never really “in” with God. And that too was pictured by the high priest being the only one allowed into God’s presence on the Day of Atonement (9:7), while you and all the other Israelite tribes could only watch from a distance.

But that changed when God made Jesus our high priest, because unlike the high priests of old whose “sacrifices could never take away sins” (10:11), Jesus “entered the Most Holy Place once and for all by his own blood” (9:12) and “did away with all sin (for all time, 10:12) by the sacrifice of himself” (9:26). And topping that off – “how much morethe blood of Christ cleanses our consciences” too (9:14). 

Meaning that, unlike the Israelites, we can “enter the Most Holy Place” (10:19) and “draw near to God with total confidence” – because in Jesus’ blood we’ve been saved completely from our pesky “guilty conscience” (22). That’s because, Hebrews 10:20, what’s been opened up for us is “A new and living way”….(next blog)

In Exodus 28:29, “Whenever Aaron the high priest enters the Holy Place he bears the names of the sons of Israel over his heart.” The names were on a square breastplate with twelve precious stones mounted in gold settings, “each engraved with the name of one of the twelve tribes” (16-21). Also in “the breastplate over Aaron’s heart,” verse 30, were “the Urim and Thummim, the means by which decisions for the Israelites were made.”

On each of his shoulders the high priest had an onyx stone engraved with the names of the Israelite tribes, also set in gold, six names on each shoulder (9-12). Imagine, therefore, being an Israelite, and watching this man, with your clan name represented by its very own precious jewel, enter the one place on earth where God was present – and the crucial reason for it happening being you. 

And God made sure the high priest understood that, not only by having him carry the names of all your Israelite clans over his heart, but also in the onyx stones on his shoulders carrying all your burdens into God’s presence too. He carried the Urim and Thummim over his heart as well, which God had provided to reveal his will and wisdom to the high priest in critical matters affecting the nation (Numbers 27:21, 1 Samuel 14:41, 28:6). 

In the high priest, therefore, the Israelites could see that God knew them and loved them – in his wish to guide them through difficult times, carry their burdens, meet their needs, and view them like precious jewels. Which is exactly what God wants us to see as well, because as Hebrews 8:1 points out, “We have such a high priest” too, “Jesus the Son of God” (4:14), who right now is “at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven” (8:1) to “meet our need” (7:26). 

And what a high priest he is too, because God in his love for us has given Jesus the ability “to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (7:25). We have a high priest, then, who has us over his heart too when he enters God’s presence because, having “shared in our humanity” (2:14) and “been tempted in every way, just as we are” (4:15), he not only “sympathizes with our weaknesses” (4:15), he can also “help” us when we’re weak and being tempted (2:18). But what does “Jesus saves completely”mean?….(next blog)

“But we see Jesus”is the answer given in Hebrews 2:9 for two things: first of all, to give us total confidence in God’s amazing plan for us humans, as described in the previous two verses, that we’ll be “crowned with glory and honour with everything in God’s creation given over to us” – and secondly, to give us reason for why “at present,” verse 8, “we don’t yet see” that future happening.

In other words, we’ve got a future that’s so amazing it’s hard to grasp, but also hard to grasp is why God left us stuck in a world for now that’s nothing like what he has in mind for us. What, then, gives us hope and confidence in our future when there’s little evidence of that future to give us confidence in it, and what gives us a reason for living in this world now, when it doesn’t seem to tie in with our future either? 

And on top of that, imagine being a Christian like those in Hebrews 10:32-34, who were being well and truly battered for being Christian. They were insulted and abused, their property confiscated, and some even ending up in prison. It was a real struggle, therefore, to “stand their ground in the face of suffering” (32) and “not throw away their confidence” (35).

So how did saying, “But we see Jesus,” help them? Well, according to Hebrews 2:14, Jesus “shared in our humanity,” and he’s “now crowned with glory and honour” (9). In which case it needn’t be hard to believe our amazing future is possible, when a human like us is already living it. “Seeing Jesus,” then, we see in him the evidence of our future too.

But how does “seeing Jesus” help with being stuck in this world, not only facing suffering and death from being physical, but also as a Christian having to face misunderstanding and abuse, as well as being drawn away from God by “sin’s deceitfulness” (3:13)? But according to Hebrews 2:17, Jesus was “made like us, his brothers, in every way,” so he faced all these things too. But what they did for him was enable him to “become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God,” not only to “make atonement for our sins,” but also “in being tempted himself, he’s now fully able to help us when we’re being tempted too” (18). 

And we get to “see Jesus” doing that for us again and again, because that’s what he’s our high priest for – and because he’s “A high priest who knows and loves us” too….(next blog)

The reason we have a High Priest is to enable us to “enter God’s rest.” Entering God’s rest was what the Israelites in the Old Testament could have done too, but “they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief,” Hebrews 3:19. 

Fortunately, “the promise of entering his rest still stands,” Hebrews 4:1, because God provided the solution – “a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God” (14). But what is this “rest,” and how does Jesus being our high priest enable us to enter it? 

Hebrews describes the “rest” as the rest God himself entered on the seventh day of creation (4, 10). His job of creating was done; he rested. In human terms he could sit back in total confidence that everything would work out exactly as he’d planned. For us to enter his rest, then, we share the same total confidence in his plan that he has – not only in what the plan is, but also in its successful completion.

So, what is God’s plan, and how do we have complete confidence in it too? The book of Hebrews answers both questions. It asks God in Hebrews 2:6, “What is man that you are mindful of him?” – or – “Why on earth – in the vastness of this staggering universe – did you come up with the idea of us tiny little creatures, and care for us so much too?” 

The answer in verse 7, given many years previously in Psalm 8, is that “God made us just a tad less than himself,” modelled in his very own image (Genesis 1:27). And the reason God made us into such a near copy of himself was to “crown us with glory and honour, putting everything under our feet,” Hebrews 2:7-8. So when God sat back on the seventh day of creation, this was the plan he had total confidence in, that humans would be handed the reins of the entire universe and successfully run it.

But how is that even remotely possible? We’re stuck in physical bodies that wear out and die, and with minds that are never at rest, because we still have no idea – on just this tiny planet – how to successfully take care of everyone’s needs. How, then, can we ever “enter God’s rest” by having total confidence in what seems like an impossible plan? 

Fortunately, Hebrews answers this question too, in verse 9, starting with four simple words: “But we see Jesus”….(next blog)

God gave two things to the Israelites to enable them to draw near to him: his law given at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20 to Leviticus 27), and priests.

Obey God’s law and God would personally bless them (Exodus 19:5-6) and be “near them whenever they prayed to him” (Deuteronomy 4:5, 7). The flip side to that was God being “angry with them and hiding his face from them….because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods (31:17-18). 

There was a solution, though. When the Israelites broke God’s law, a system of sacrifices and offerings administered by priests from the tribe of Levi enabled forgiveness and the removal of guilt. And once a year the head priest, or high priest, was allowed by God into his presence for the cleansing of all sins committed by all Israelites (Leviticus 16:21, 30). 

This combination of law and priests, then, seemed like a good system for the Israelites to experience God near to them – in both blessings for obedience and the peace of mind that came with his mercy (Numbers 6:24-26). But there was an endless problem the law and the priests could not solve, and that was the Israelites’ “hearts always going astray,” that so often caused them to “turn away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:10, 12). They could never fully obey God or trust him, so they never truly drew near to him, or “entered his rest” (18-19).

But then we find out in Hebrews 10:1 that “The law was only meant to be a shadow” that couldn’t make the Israelites perfect anyway (7:18-19). Nor could “repeating all those sacrifices year after year” either (10:1). Instead, they served as constant reminders that nothing the Israelites did could totally absolve their guilt or their inability to obey God fully (3-4).

But that only applied “until the time of the new order when Christ came as high priest” and “offered himself unblemished to God” (9:10-11, 14) – and “by that one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (10:14). That’s an amazing statement, because it means the perfection needed to draw near to God – that the Israelites were never capable of – is now ours forever. 

In asking, then, “How do we draw near to God today?” Hebrews cries out with a simple answer: we’re already near to God, because “We have a High Priest too”….(next blog)