Hebrews: Our Superior Savior

Hebrews is less like a letter and more like a logical essay or sermon. We're not sure who wrote it, but it was most likely written to Jewish Christians—people who knew the Old Testament—because the book is saturated with references to Levitical law and sacrifices. You could cut this book into two slices, with chapters 1-10 being doctrinal instruction and chapters 11-13 being practical exhortation.

The overarching theme of the letter is that Jesus Christ is the perfect, full, final expression of God and is better than anyone or anything else—than any other system of religion. In fact, the author of Hebrews was obsessed with the superiority of Jesus Christ—and I'm glad he was, because he was right.

Under the old covenant, access to God was restricted. You had to go through rituals, sacrifices, courts, and the Levitical priests. But this covenant was only temporary.

The new covenant is eternal, just like Jesus Christ. Under this covenant, you have unfettered, unrestricted access to God because of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross once for all.

Think It Through

What kind of a High Priest do we have in Jesus, according to Hebrews 4:14-16? Why can we come boldly before God? Is this your default approach to Him? Why or why not?

Read Hebrews 8:7-13 and Jeremiah 31:31-34. Why is the new covenant better than the old covenant?

Read Hebrews 7:27, 9:12, and 10:11-12, along with John 19:30. How complete is Jesus' sacrifice for sins? Do you have to add anything to it?

What exhortation does Hebrews 12:1-2 give the believer? How are we empowered to put this into practice?

A Word of Encouragement

Because Christ is better, Christianity is better. Trusting in religion or rituals—even if they were originally given by God, as Judaism was—won't take a person to heaven. Jesus is the only hope for salvation. So leave the inferior and go to the superior, Jesus Christ.

Prayer

Lord, if I'm trusting in my religious background, my upbringing, or any rituals I've gone through other than personally and authentically trusting in Christ, I pray that You would open my eyes to that. Please help me leave the old and come into the new—leave the inferior and go to the superior, Jesus Christ Himself.

Land and Explore

If you want to dig deeper into the life-changing truths of the new covenant, we'd like to offer you this five-message series from Pastor Skip on Hebrews .