Introduction
You face constant pressure to drift away from your spiritual commitments when trials multiply and doubt sets in. Weariness and discouragement tempt you to abandon your confidence and retreat into familiar habits or superficial religion.
Warren W. Wiersbe uses the biblical book of Hebrews to show you how to find absolute spiritual stability. You can overcome spiritual drift and live with absolute confidence by anchoring your life in the superior priesthood, covenant, and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
The book guides you through a profound journey of evaluation, exhortation, examination, expectation, and exaltation.
As you read, you will find answers to several vital questions:
- How does the supremacy of Christ protect you from spiritual fatigue?
- What makes the new covenant superior to the old system?
- How do you move from spiritual immaturity to enduring maturity?
- What does genuine faith look like in your daily routine?
1. The Supremacy and Humanity of Christ
Jesus Christ is superior to angels and Moses, having entered human flesh to defeat death, conquer Satan, and provide a lasting spiritual rest for believers.
Greater Than Angels
Warren W. Wiersbe explains that Jesus Christ is explicitly superior to angels in person, rank, and ministry. Christ has been enthroned as Creator while angels remain mere ministering spirits.
Using seven Old Testament quotations, the author proves that Jesus uniquely holds the title of Son. Angels worship Him and remain seated at the right hand of the Father. Meanwhile, angels serve as ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation.
Why Humanity Matters
You might wonder if Christ's human suffering makes Him inferior. The author explains that the incarnation and human suffering of Jesus were essential to regain lost human dominion. Christ had to take on human flesh and blood to taste death for every person.
Angels cannot die, but Jesus tasted death to render Satan inoperative regarding the fear of death. He experienced human infirmities to serve as a sympathetic High Priest. He acts as the captain of salvation who can provide prompt succour when you face temptation.
Greater Than Moses and the Rest
Jesus Christ is superior to Moses because Moses was a faithful servant within God's house. Jesus is the Son and Creator of the house. Moses administered the law as a prophet and voluntary servant. Jesus Christ brought the full realization of grace and leads His New Testament church.
Scripture outlines three distinct rests that illustrate your spiritual journey:
- salvation rest;
- submission rest;
- eternal heavenly rest.
The author uses Israel's wilderness journey and the geography of Canaan as an allegory. Egypt represents the world. The wilderness represents restless unbelief. Canaan represents your present spiritual inheritance claimed by faith and obedience.
Forty years marked the duration of Israel's wilderness wanderings resulting from unbelief at Kadesh Barnea. You must avoid the danger of spiritual drifting and unbelief. God uses the living Word as a sharp instrument to expose the hidden unbelief of the human heart and enable obedience.
Unlike the Israelites who criticized God's Word and failed to enter their rest, you must let the Word act as a critic of the inner heart. Align your will with God by heeding His voice.
Apply oneself diligently to hear and heed God's Word to expose personal sin and claim spiritual promises.
2. A Superior Priesthood and Covenant
Christ ministers from an eternal, enthroned position under the order of Melchizedek, guaranteeing a better covenant and open access to God.
The Order of Melchizedek
Jesus Christ holds the title of Great High Priest. He unites deity and humanity, ministering from an enthroned position in heaven rather than an earthly tent.
Unlike Aaron who was simply a high priest and entered the earthly Holy of Holies only once a year, Jesus passed through the heavens to the third heaven as mentioned in 2 Corinthians 12:2. He is enthroned at the throne of grace, allowing you to approach Him boldly for mercy and grace.
No priest could appoint himself or he would face judgment. King Saul, Korah, and King Uzziah intruded into the priesthood and faced severe consequences. Jesus was appointed directly by God the Father, belonging to the royal and priestly order of Melchizedek, meaning He is a priest forever who gives eternal salvation.
Warren W. Wiersbe recounts receiving a frantic phone call from a church member whose friend was being married by a relative from Michigan, only to discover the visiting pastor lacked legal authorization and bonding to perform the ceremony.
Melchizedek was both king and priest without a recorded genealogy in the Old Testament. Abraham meeting and paying tithes to Melchizedek as recorded in Genesis 14:17-24 proves the superiority of his order.
Because the old law made nothing perfect and priests were interrupted by death, God instituted a new order through a divine oath. The letter to the Hebrews uses the word testament or covenant 21 times to emphasize this shift. Christ lives by the power of an endless life, acting as the surety of a better covenant and saving to the uttermost those who draw near to God.
A Better Covenant and Sanctuary
Jesus Christ ministers on the basis of a better covenant because He is a morally perfect, enthroned High Priest with a finished work. Unlike Old Testament priests whose work was never finished and who never sat down, Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. A superior High Priest logically requires a superior covenant that can actually change human hearts rather than just offering external ceremonies.
The old covenant tabernacle was made by human hands, inaccessible to regular people, and temporary. In contrast, the heavenly sanctuary is eternal, not made with hands, and provides permanent access to God for all believers.
The new covenant is founded on better promises that provide internal transformation and the eternal removal of guilt rather than external rules. Promised by Jeremiah, the new covenant focuses on God's grace through three main provisions:
- internal change where God's law is written on the mind and heart;
- the complete removal of sin's guilt rather than a mere yearly reminder;
- eternal blessing.
The Superior Sacrifice
Jesus Christ's sacrifice needed no repetition because a single offering permanently took away sin and accomplished eternal redemption. Old Testament animal sacrifices had to be repeated daily and annually because they could only cover sin temporarily.
J. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, was converted after reading about the finished work of Christ. That single phrase struck him with the realization that the entire debt was paid and nothing was left for him to do.
The tearing of the veil opened a new and living way, granting believers constant, bold access into the presence of God. While the Old Testament high priest could enter the Holy of Holies only once a year with blood, you are invited to draw near to God every moment with a clean conscience based on the shed blood of Christ.
- Let us draw near with a pure heart and clean conscience.
- Let us hold fast the profession of our hope without wavering.
- Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works by meeting together.
3. Spiritual Progress and Eternal Security
You must move beyond elementary spiritual milk to maturity by anchoring your soul in God's unchangeable promises and enduring divine discipline.
Avoiding Spiritual Immaturity
Believers who regress drift from the Bible and find spiritual things dull. You experience a second childhood if you rely only on elementary milk teachings rather than the meat of Christ's heavenly ministry.
Spiritual immaturity shows specific warning signs:
- dull of hearing toward the Word of God;
- an inability to share truth with others;
- a baby-food diet of basic instruction;
- unskillfulness in exercising spiritual senses to distinguish good from evil.
Christianity builds upon foundational truths that serve as the elementary ABCs from which you must progress toward maturity. The writer lists six foundational doctrines:
- repentance from dead works and faith toward God;
- the doctrine of baptisms and laying on of hands;
- the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.
Anchored in Security
You possess absolute security in your salvation guaranteed by God's unchangeable promise, God's personal oath, and the heavenly ministry of God's Son. God confirmed His covenant with an oath swearing by Himself. These two immutable things give strong consolation and serve as an anchor for the soul, ensuring that Jesus acts as a forerunner within the veil. Roman catacombs contain 66 pictures of anchors depicting this steadfast hope.
The Purpose of Chastening
Just as runners in an arena strip away training weights, you must remove hindering weights and the sin of unbelief. You look to Jesus as the author and finisher of faith who endured the cross. You view trials as the Father's loving child training or chastening rather than rejection.
God chastens every true believer as a loving father to produce spiritual maturity, holiness, and the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Chastening translates the Greek term for child training and instruction. Suffering and discipline are proofs of sonship, distinguishing true children from illegitimate ones who escape discipline. When you rebel, God uses chastening to bring you back to submission and reverence. Persistent rebellion without repentance can even result in physical death.
You depend on God's grace by looking back at bad examples like Esau, looking up to the heavenly city, and looking ahead to the unshakable kingdom.
You must take direct action to maintain your spiritual race:
- Lift up your hands.
- Strengthen those knees.
- Get those lazy feet on the track.
4. Walking by Faith
True Bible faith is confident obedience to God's Word demonstrated through the practical lives of everyday believers who endure all trials.
The Nature of True Faith
True Bible faith is confident obedience to God's Word regardless of difficult circumstances and unknown consequences. It is not superstition, blind optimism, a manufactured feeling, or intellectual assent. Faith operates when God speaks, and you trust and act on that Word no matter how impossible the situation may seem.
The author summarizes true faith through three primary concepts:
- Substance as a foundation
- Evidence as an inward conviction
- Witness as divine approval
Heroes of Faith
Hebrews 11 demonstrates true faith through the practical lives of Old Testament figures who worshipped, walked, worked, waited, and warred by faith. The phrase by faith or through faith is used 21 times in this chapter. Abel showed faith by worshipping correctly, Enoch by walking closely with God, Noah by working and building in fear of a coming flood, the patriarchs by waiting decades for God's promises, and Moses by refusing the treasures of Egypt.
Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years for the fulfillment of the promise of a son. Lot chose to live in Sodom and eventually lost everything when the city was destroyed.
Faced with societal shaking and persecution, you must live by faith rather than sight, building your life on eternal realities rather than temporary, visible things. Walking by faith means obeying God's Word and looking forward to Christ's return rather than wasting your life.
You encounter numerous figures throughout Hebrews like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and David who trusted God despite adverse circumstances. These individuals were normal people rather than possessors of a supernatural gift of faith, and their level of trust is available to every follower of Christ.
Confusion naturally accompanies difficult seasons, but viewing situations through the vantage point of Scripture clears the mind and reveals God's purpose. Believers are like NASA rockets that must maintain constant contact and receive continuous instructions from ground control to reach their destination.
You must apply these principles in daily life:
- Trust God from the bottom of your heart instead of trying to figure everything out on your own.
- Listen for God's voice in everything you do and everywhere you go to stay on track.
5. Evidences of Living by Faith
Living by faith manifests in tangible daily duties, including brotherly love, contentment, spiritual fellowship, and submission to God's lordship.
The final chapter of Hebrews connects doctrine to daily duty by outlining four tangible evidences of living by faith rather than sight. True faith is not merely intellectual or doctrinal. It manifests in everyday life through enjoying spiritual fellowship, submitting to spiritual leadership, sharing in spiritual worship, and experiencing spiritual lordship.
Evidences in Daily Life
You must put your doctrine into practice. The author explains specific ways to live out these commitments:
- Enjoy spiritual fellowship through brotherly love, hospitality, and concern for the persecuted.
- Submit to spiritual leaders by remembering their legacy, obeying their biblical guidance, and greeting them warmly.
- Share in spiritual sacrifices by offering continual praise to God and performing good works of sharing.
Contentment and Leadership
True contentment comes solely from God rather than material possessions. Greed and the love of money destroy spiritual peace.
Covetousness is the love of money or the desire for more of anything regardless of need. Material things can decay or be stolen. God promises never to leave or forsake His people, freeing believers from the fear of man.
Millionaire Bernard Baruch answered the question of how much money it takes for a rich man to be satisfied by stating it takes just a million more than he has.
Jesus Christ in heaven works to spiritually mature and equip believers for life on earth using specific tools like the Word and prayer. The author examines the Greek word katartidzo used in the benediction, noting its varied technical applications in ancient professions to illustrate how Christ equips you.
- Turn the benediction of Hebrews 13:20-21 into a personal daily prayer for spiritual perfection and obedience.
10 Key Ideas
- Jesus Christ is explicitly superior to angels, Moses, and the old sacrificial system, having entered human flesh to defeat death and conquer Satan.
- Christ ministers from an enthroned, eternal position under the order of Melchizedek, guaranteeing open access to God and a better covenant.
- Believers must actively avoid spiritual drift and the danger of unbelief by allowing the living Word to expose hidden sin in the heart.
- Christ's single, unrepeated sacrifice permanently took away sin and accomplished eternal redemption, unlike Old Testament sacrifices that required daily repetition.
- Christians must move beyond elementary milk teachings to maturity by anchoring their souls in God's unchangeable promises and enduring divine discipline.
- Trials and suffering serve as the Father's loving child training to produce holiness, spiritual maturity, and the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
- True Bible faith is confident obedience to God's Word demonstrated through the practical, enduring lives of everyday believers across history.
- Walking by faith means building your life on eternal realities and looking forward to Christ's return rather than wasting your life on temporary things.
- Living by faith manifests tangibly in daily duties such as brotherly love, hospitality, contentment, and submission to spiritual leaders.
- Jesus Christ actively works in heaven to equip believers with everything good so they can accomplish His will and live in obedience.