Bible Commentary & Daily Devotional

  Hebrews 6:4 - Turning Away From God No material thing can withstand the righteous anger of God (as we see in Jeremiah 52 when God has Nebuzaradan destroy Jerusalem’s walls and the Temple - a foreshadowing of what the Roman General Titus, under orders from his Emperor Father Vespasian, would do to the Second Temple in AD 70 - and just as Jesus said it would happen (Matthew 24)). Well, I’m certainly not perfect.  Don’t claim to be.  I screw up.  I make mistakes.  There's a big difference between mistakes and intentional evil.           We all sin.  But I’m well aware of my responsibility to be holy because of the mercy and grace God has given me.  In my Christian freedom, I can sin, but I have no obligation to sin.  I would add that I believe I have no “right” to sin.  My obligation is to honor Christ by obeying the Holy Spirit.  I think that is why the Apostles called themselves slaves of God.  They knew that God was their Master and that they were free to follow Him, but not

 Hebrews 6 - Faith and Endurance These next two chapters of Hebrews are incredibly encouraging for the Christian.  God gives us confidence and courage to do what we must.  When the whistle blows, be ready to go.  God in Heaven is developing your character; He’s preparing you to fight His battles.           We are responsible to grow.  We know that God repays people for the wrong they have done (Jeremiah 50:24).  And that God uses whomsoever He chooses as His instruments of justice (Jeremiah 50:20).  “For the LORD is a God who gives just punishment; he always repays in full” (Jeremiah 50:56). Thinking of God’s character is sobering, and good.  We know Jesus is the King, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.  In the next few chapters, we hear the truth about who Jesus is and our responsibilities to Him. Nearly 2,000 years after the death, burial, and resurrection of our King we are reminded that there are false teachers today - those leading people astray for power and greed - just as there

 Hebrews 6 - Our Strong Anchor - Jesus Christ Storms will come.  Raging winds.  Rough seas.  High, battering waves.  Without a strong anchor, we will drift away - out to sea.  Don’t take my word for it - take God’s. The strong anchor for our souls is Jesus Christ.  God’s promise and the certainty of His oath is trustworthy.  We can trust God who holds our souls, loves us, and seeks the best for us, now and in eternity.  No matter what or who comes at us we must increase our faith in God and yearn for more spiritual understanding and effectiveness.  We grow so that we are more useful to God.           Be wary of those who say all you need is a cheap ticket to get into heaven, you can have an easy street now.  Those same tickling pastors say there is no need to bear good fruit for God’s blessing.  But what does Hebrews 6 say?  People can and do drift away after they have experienced the good things of God and “shared in the Holy Spirit” (6:4).  God can't lie.  He gives us this wa

 Hebrews 5 - Spiritual Growth and Accountability God does judge people and nations of this world based on their morality.  But God also speaks grace (Jeremiah 49:39).  Our God of Grace is also God of Justice.  God does not bear the sword in vain (Romans 13:1-14). Jesus is gentle and full of patience and mercy with us.  As children of God we are not to take God’s grace for granted - we are to take accountability, pray earnestly, and walk above reproach because of our deep reverence for our Holy God. Oh, what a shame to hear church leaders who make excuses for immoral behavior who ignore injustice, and who put up false fronts of religiosity when it is plain to see that their motives are greed and power.  I’m burdened when I see that in the church.  God doesn’t miss any of it - the pitiful and unfruitful plight of hypocrisy. We don’t have high priests today, at least we shouldn’t!  Instead, we have Jesus Christ.  “Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, bu

 Hebrews 5 - Solid Food - A Call to Spiritual Growth Let’s be honest for a minute.  Stop the spin.  We are an ignorant and wayward people - in many ways like Moab (Jeremiah 48).  We can clean up well on Sundays, but often only for half a day.  The other half is for worldly pursuits.          S hopping, restaurants, and doctoral degrees in professional football.  Oh yes, we complain about the lack of biblical literacy in America.  But just ask us.  We know everything about the fullback, safety, and tight end  - where they went to high school how fast they are, etc.  We know the offensive strategy of each team in the league and don’t even get us started on the salary cap issues.           But sadly in the things of God, we are clueless.  I was told recently that the modern church's level of biblical literacy is lower than non-church people just fifty years ago.  I suspect that is true.  We are uninterested.  Thank God Jesus can deal with ignorant and wayward people (5:2).          

 Hebrews 4 - Get Some Rest We need a good rest.  We need to recharge on the weekend from the toil, stress, and work of the week.  That is how God designed it.  We have a system where the seventh day is for our recuperation.  Rest. It is a gift of God to be able to enter His rest.  We follow God’s example and command when we rest on the seventh day (4:3-7).  As you know from a great night’s sleep and good food, rest is physical.  It impacts our ability to recover from sickness and recharge our mind and body.  But rest is also spiritual.  We need spiritual recharging, refocusing, and rest.  Spiritual battles are exhausting. This passage tells us that spiritual rest is not available if a person does not know Jesus (4:3).  It also tells us that the time to trust Jesus and enter His rest is today (4:7).  There’s no time like the present.  Jesus gives us a day of rest, but He also walks alongside us and lifts our spiritual yoke, our burdens, every day.  God gives us an overwhelming ben

 Hebrews 3 - Courageously Growing and Thriving Ben and his buddies, Sebatian and Lucas - about fifteen years ago at Camp Evergreen. I'm more and more convinced that North America (maybe elsewhere as well, I don't know) is poised for revival.  The Good News of God - that God has promised a new earth and new heaven - eternity with God - for His people who listen to him still stands today.  Millions more will hear God's voice and listen to Him.  They will not hear and rebel in disobedience.  Rather they will respond and trade the old for the new, the bad for the good.          An old praise song keeps coming to mind this week.  It is about making trades.  It talks about trading sorrows, shame, sickness, and pain for new life in Christ - "joy in the Lord."  We used to sing "Trading My Sorrows" with the kids when they were little.  I distinctly remember singing it at Greenbay Church Camp in Kelowna, BC.  I pray many sing that song today and really make the