Pastor's Bible Study

God is the Person we worship. He is the only person we should worship. When we truly stop and contemplate His attributes displayed toward us, His authority which He righteously rules over us with, His actions of longsuffering and love which he lives among us with, we can’t help but bestow upon Him supreme worth and reverence. We can’t help but bow our lives before Him and serve Him above any other...

Chapter 11 is God’s illustration of the statement: the just shall live by faith. It is a hall of fame (gallery) of ordinary men and women who trusted God and obeyed Him. - These men and women are not remembered because they were perfect. They are remembered because they trusted God enough to obey Him. They are examples of what it looks like to live by faith.   Big Idea: Faith is trusting God’s Wor...

From chapter 1 to chapter 10 the author has essentially hammered away at one message: Jesus is Better. But now he in essence asks an important question: What are you going to do with that truth? Doctrine always demands a response. Because Jesus has opened the way to God, believers must draw near in faith rather than draw back in unbelief. Will we draw near to God, or will we draw back from Him? Ev...

Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant. The central truth of this passage is this: Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice secured eternal redemption and opened the way for sinners to enter God’s presence forever.

The conscience is that inward awareness of guilt before God. It is the knowledge deep inside us that something is wrong between us and Him. And here is the great truth of Hebrews 9: Religion can cover guilt temporarily, but only Jesus can cleanse the heart completely.

The big idea of chapter 8 is: "Because Jesus is better… everything He brings is better." So don’t drift. Don’t retreat. Stand firm in the better covenant. - So what does this mean for us?   1) You don’t have to live defeated 2) You can draw near to God 3) You can live with assurance 4) You can run to Him when you fail  

In the concluding verses of chapter 7, the author continues with this theme of Jesus being a better high priest, but he brings it from theology to implication. He tells us why it matters for us personally. Because Jesus is our perfect High Priest, He gives us what the Law never could—true access to God, lasting security, and complete salvation. Jesus, as our high priest, is exactly what we need. W...

The Hebrew believers were being tempted to go back—to return to the old system, the Levitical priesthood, the familiar rituals of Judaism. And the author’s message is clear: Why go back to something inferior when you have something infinitely better? Why go back to shadows when the substance has come? The big Idea of the text is: Because Jesus is a better High Priest, we have a better hope and a b...

The writer of Hebrews pauses here at a very important moment. He has just delivered one of the strongest warnings in all of Scripture—a warning about spiritual regression, dullness, and the danger of failing to grow. But now, he turns from warning to encouragement. Before he presses forward, he wants them to know: “I believe in you. I expect better from you.” Throughout this section, the message i...

Hebrews 6:1 states the purpose of the book in terms of why the author is writing to these Jewish believers, “move on to spiritual maturity.” Leave the ABCs. Get to something deeper, higher. Move from the elementary. Build on the foundation of the cross of Jesus. Get to know Jesus as Savior and High Priest. The author is not calling them to leave the gospel behind, but to build upon it—moving from...

Jesus is better than Aaron—because He is our Great High Priest. And because He is our Great High Priest, we must hold fast our faith and draw near with confidence.

These verses referencing God's Word fit in the context of the bigger issue – entering into rest. The Word of God is the instrument God uses to keep us from falling short of His rest. You cannot experience God’s rest if something inside of you is spiritually unhealthy. So God does something loving—but uncomfortable. He performs spiritual surgery to restore our spiritual health.  

God offers us a spiritual rest of inner peace, joy, and hope that is for the here and now regardless of the giants of life we may face, but we only receive it if we hear and believe. That's the formula: Hearing + Believing = Resting.

The wilderness generation missed Canaan not because God failed—but because they refused to trust Him. The warning of Hebrews 3 is not about losing salvation. It is about missing the fullness of what Christ offers through persistent unbelief. Jesus is better. His rest is better. So: Don’t drift. Don’t doubt. Don’t delay. Don’t harden your heart. Today, if you hear His voice, respond.

The writer does not diminish Moses. Instead, he affirms Moses’ faithfulness (cf. Numbers 12:7). The argument is not that Moses failed, but that Jesus surpasses him. Jesus is superior to Moses in both person and ministry. For a Jewish audience, Moses was not merely a prophet—he was the deliverer of Israel, the mediator of the covenant, and the one through whom the Law was given. To demonstrate that...

Jesus is better than the angels not only because of His deity but also because of His humanity. His humanity enabled Him to regain man's lost dominion, to redeem lost mankind, to disarm Satan and deliver us from death, and it enables Him to be a sympathetic High Priest to His people.

Hebrews 2:1–4 is a loving warning and a hopeful invitation. It calls believers to anchor themselves firmly in the great salvation offered in Christ. The passage reminds us that the gospel is both a gift to treasure and a truth to guard. By paying close attention to what we have heard, we persevere in faith and experience the fullness of God’s redemptive work.

Jesus is better than the angels. He is superior in identity: Son of God, eternal, divine. He is superior in role: worshiped, mediator of salvation, ruler over angels. He is superior in authority: eternal throne, creator of all, sustainer of life. The author's message for Jewish believers tempted to revert to old practices,  place undue emphasis on angels, or return to Judaism is: look to Christ, n...

Jesus is better than the prophets. Though the words of the prophets were worthy of obedience, not a single prophet was worthy of worship. But Jesus is. He doesn’t just give out partial revelation through snippets, messages, etc. He is the full revelation of God. The final and complete message. He brings a better message. He is a better messenger. 

The word "better" is used 13 times in Hebrews. The book is a series of contrast between the good things of Judaism and the better things of Christ. Jesus is better in every way. He is better than the prophets as a messenger. He is better than the angels in His deity and humanity. He is better than Moses as a deliverer. He is better than Joshua as a conqueror. He better than Aaron as a high priest....

The Feast of Tabernacles is a feast the looks back with joy and remembers how God graciously and miraculously provided for the Jews in the wilderness. So when they come to celebrate it in Jerusalem, the make little temporary shelters (booths) to live in for 7 days. The feast celebrated the fall harvest and the forgiveness of sin. But it also prophesies to the future millennial kingdom of Jesus.

The Day of Atonement in terms of a picture was fulfilled by Christ in His death on the cross. The Day of Atonement in terms of prophetic calendar may very well be fulfilled to the day in the time period following the tribulation and leading to the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom.

This feast is memorial of the blowing of trumpets. Trumpets were blown primarily to gather people for a journey, judgment, or battle. When we think about the fall feast pertaining the second advent the way the spring feast pertain to the first advent, then we can surmise that the tribulation could very possibly begin one year on the very day that celebrates the Feast of Trumpets - the 1st day of T...

Jesus fulfilled Passover to the in that He is our Passover Lamb that was sacrificed for us on the Passover. He fulfilled the Feast of Unleavened bread in that His holy body saw now decay or corruption. He fulfilled the Feast of Firstfruits in that he was raised from the dead on the very day of the feast. He is the firstfruits of those who will come forth from the grave. And on the day of Pentecost...

The Passover Feast had two purposes: 1) it was to remember deliverance and redemption from Egyptian bondage, and 2) it was to look forward to the coming Messiah who would bring true redemption. Jesus fulfilled the Passover in that He is our true Passover lamb. By faith we apply His shed blood to our lives and God's judgment passes over us. Jesus transformed the Passover Meal into what is known as...