11-02-2024, 04:10 PM
God no longer recognized the Jewish people as Israel. That name was taken from them, and given to His Son and His followers. The mission of Israel was carried on in another people. Sure, the recipients of this letter were formerly Judean, but now they were Christians, the true Israel. And in a just few years after they received this letter, the City of Jerusalem was destroyed and the Temple torn down. The Roman recognition of the Judean government would end.
Oddly, the first few verses here offer the same moral boundaries that had always belonged to Israel, all the way back to Abraham. It was now the moral code of Christians, particularly those in a tight spot like the Hebrew believers in Rome. Persecution had just begun and it would get worse. The way to fight it was to be even more obedient to Christ's Law of loving one another.
He has promised to never abandon us. He will carry us through all our sorrows, so that nothing mankind can do to us or take from us will ever destroy what really matters. We have plenty of models to work from, people who now rest in Eternity. Christ does not change, so don't be easily swayed by false doctrine and philosophical fashions of the day.
The author tells them not to worry about being excluded from traditional Jewish feasts. We have a feast of grace that those who serve in the Temple cannot touch. Their sin offerings have to be burned outside the camp, so our Lord also was sacrificed for His people's sins outside the city (which will soon be destroyed). Let us all join Him as outcasts; our city is in Heaven. No earthly city can compare. Let us praise His name, for He loves the fruit of our lips, a sweet offering to Him.
Our righteous lives are also a sacrifice He enjoys. The author encourages his readers to ditch the old Jewish habit of carping and challenging leaders on every little thing. God has chosen those elders and pastors; do not cause them grief as they serve the Lord. Their grief is God's grief; who's wrath do you fear?
The rest of the chapter is personal in nature.
Oddly, the first few verses here offer the same moral boundaries that had always belonged to Israel, all the way back to Abraham. It was now the moral code of Christians, particularly those in a tight spot like the Hebrew believers in Rome. Persecution had just begun and it would get worse. The way to fight it was to be even more obedient to Christ's Law of loving one another.
He has promised to never abandon us. He will carry us through all our sorrows, so that nothing mankind can do to us or take from us will ever destroy what really matters. We have plenty of models to work from, people who now rest in Eternity. Christ does not change, so don't be easily swayed by false doctrine and philosophical fashions of the day.
The author tells them not to worry about being excluded from traditional Jewish feasts. We have a feast of grace that those who serve in the Temple cannot touch. Their sin offerings have to be burned outside the camp, so our Lord also was sacrificed for His people's sins outside the city (which will soon be destroyed). Let us all join Him as outcasts; our city is in Heaven. No earthly city can compare. Let us praise His name, for He loves the fruit of our lips, a sweet offering to Him.
Our righteous lives are also a sacrifice He enjoys. The author encourages his readers to ditch the old Jewish habit of carping and challenging leaders on every little thing. God has chosen those elders and pastors; do not cause them grief as they serve the Lord. Their grief is God's grief; who's wrath do you fear?
The rest of the chapter is personal in nature.