Faith, Substance and Evidence
Hebrews 11:1 is one of those verses that really describe what faith is for Christians. Faith is the "substance of things hoped for". That substance is what I hope for. This is not like hope for a new job or a better car, but we are talking about a hope in God and in our redemption to Him. "The evidence of things not seen" is the other part of faith. We have not yet seen the results. We have not seen the inner workings of what is happening as we hold on to our faith. We hope for things to happen as they relate to God's will for our lives and we have faith that they will.
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Give Your Troubles to God
The Book of Psalm is full of crying out to God and venting frustrations and just letting God know you heart. In Psalm 120:1 we are told that the writer (possibly David or another- do some research) took their troubles to God, first. If you read through Psalm 119:169-176 we see that these troubles consisted of straying away from God and wanting to know God on a deeper level. But, first the troubles were taken to God. That takes wisdom to know to whom to turn. It also takes humility to not try and "fix it." The writer "cried out to Him" which is an expression of the writer's despair. If you don't talk to God, then how do you express to God what you feel and what you want? Simply, you don't. And finally God answered the prayer. But what prayer was it? If you read the through Psalm 119 again and see the problems that were spoken then you see that they were in line with what God wanted for them and for us.
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Encouragement Toward Love and Good
The writer is pointing out in Hebrews 10:24-25 what some/many are not doing. They are not meeting together and loving one another and encouraging one another to be loving in the Lord. When that is lacking from our lives, discouragement from the enemy sneaks in and pulls us away from God when we should be trying to draw near to God.
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Grace Doesn't Expire
I have had far too many conversations with people who only have so much grace for people. They really don't understand or see how much grace they have been given for things they say and do, or even more the grace that God has for them and their missteps. We give grace to people until we don't feel like it anymore. Our graces runs out, but does God's? First, we know that if it was not for God's grace there would not have ever been a Jesus for us. It was not because of the work we did or the bad behavior we didn't do. We didn't earn God's grace (Ephesians 2:8). Also, remember 1 John 14:9 that we love because God loves us first. He gave us Jesus. Think about it. We have received Jesus and still mess up. God still loves us. So, if God still loves us when we mess up (which He does) then why can't we have grace for others?
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Blood for Sins
The old covenant was solidified by blood (Hebrews 9:22). It was the blood of animals that were used as a sacrifice for sins of men. But when Jesus sacrificed himself, did that not hold more weight with sacrifice for sins than an animal? The writer makes this point once again by pointing what would be flawed logic for those that say Jesus was equal to or less than High Priests. Jesus shed his blood for your sins further solidifying his sacrifice. And that shedding of blood by Jesus was what we needed to be redeemed to God.
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Established New Covenant
The writer here does a great job through thorough explaining and evidence and logic as to why Jesus is the new covenant. The writer does not just give his opinion but also backs it up with truth and even scripture from the Old Testament. In verses 8-12 the writer uses direct quotes from the book of Jeremiah which is an Old Testament book which clearly states that God will be establishing a new covenant. When you read through the life of Christ, the authority he had over the church leaders and culture with evidence from Old Testament scripture detailing the birth of Christ and his life, it further cements Jesus as the new covenant and our Lord and Savior.
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Jesus the High Priest
Jesus was not equal to High Priests. If anyone sees Jesus as just another prophet then they are sadly mistaken. If you read the entire chapter of Hebrews (especially Hebrews 7:11-25) you will see how the writer explains in context how Abraham had a high priest to whom he would pay tithes and that priest was one of a number that would be named the High Priest (one at a time) and that also allowed for the belief that perfection could be attained this way (I hope I am understanding this correctly). Now, if that is the only way perfection can be attained then how did Jesus do it? He didn't go through the same process as the other High Priests. And it was written "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, 'You are a priest forever'" in reference to Jesus. Therefore when we comes across Hebrews 7:27 we know that Jesus did not have to pay tithes or offer any kind of sacrifice to God for his sins (because he was sinless) we know that Jesus died for our sins so that we can be reconciled to God.
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