The preacher finishes the book of Hebrews by reminding them of His central message: Jesus' priesthood means we have a complete salvation and a compassionate Saviour. We are called to respond to this message by showing the love of Christ in our relationships, submitting to the leaders the Good Shepherd has placed over His church and bearing the reproach that comes with being a follower of Jesus.

When we come to worship God, we come to a greater reality than our physical location. We come to Mount Zion. We worship in the presence of God through our Saviour Jesus Christ. Thus, knowing that we are in God's presence, we respond by listening to His Word, by being grateful for being part of an unshakeable kingdom and by offering offering acceptable worship.

Discipline is not a concept that we are always comfortable with, nor do we readily associate it as an activity that God does in our lives. Yet, God disciplines those whom He loves; those who belong to Him. Though it is painful, God disciplines us for the purpose of sharing in His holiness. It means that we can look at any affliction in our lives as coming from the hands of the loving Father who uses it to make us more like our older brother in the faith, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The preacher shows us that faith is courageous by pointing to the sacrifices and suffering of God's people in the Old Testament. All of them rested in God's promises regarding the future. This enabled them to persevere and endure in the present. This courageous faith is ultimately displayed in Jesus, the One who endured the cross for the joy set before Him. We are called to fix our eyes on Him, throwing off every sin and weight that would distract us from believing, receiving and resting in God's good promises.

Faith is often understood as a vibe that everything will turn out okay. However, the Bible defines faith as objective. It believes, receives and rests in Jesus. This faith has always been present in God's people - even in the Old Testament! Through their example, faith calls us to recognise that we are sojourners in this world and our home is God's city in heaven.

If the Christian life is marathon (not a sprint), how do we endure? The preacher of Hebrews warns us that to give up on Jesus puts us on the path of apostasy. Instead, we're urged to recall God's faithfulness in the past and draw confidence from the fact that the same God who enabled us to endure previously, can get us through presently. After looking back, we also look forward to Jesus' coming. Living in anticipation of our future eternal inheritance is how we hold fast to Jesus and preserve our souls.

In light of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and His priestly ministry on our behalf, we have been given new life. We draw near to God because we have been cleansed. We hold fast to our hope in Jesus because He is faithful. We consider how to stir one another up to love and good works in anticipation of Jesus' return.

An animal sacrifice cannot take away sin; it cannot make you clean. Thus, an OT believer was barred from coming into God’s holy presence. Yet, these sacrifices pointed forward to how God would ultimately cleanse sinners. The Son of God has a body prepared for Him and He comes to do God’s will. He obediently submits to being the ultimate sacrifice for our sin. It’s through His sacrifice that we are sanctified, cleansed and enabled to draw near to God. The Holy Spirit witnesses to this access by reminding us of the new covenant blessings that are ours in Jesus.

The death of Jesus has opened to us all of the blessings of the new covenant in the same way that a death brings a last will and testament into effect. Through Jesus' sacrifice our sin-debt has been cancelled and we receive His perfect representation in heaven on our behalf. Thus, we are enabled to look forward to His return eagerly, being beneficiaries of His will by faith.

The old covenant provided limited and restricted access into God's presence. The tabernacle, priesthood and sacrifices couldn't atone for our sin and prevented sinners from drawing near to God. Yet, the old covenant pictured what we have received in Jesus. He has provided stability by anchoring our hope not in an earthly tent, but in heaven. He has given us security through securing an eternal redemption in His blood. We now can now draw near to God with a clear conscience and live assured of the blessing of His presence.

When a relationship breaks down, mediation is required. Jesus Christ is the perfect Mediator between us and God. He is the God-Man who represents us to God and God to us. Hebrews 8:6-13 explains that Jesus is also Mediator of the new covenant. This new covenant is enacted on the better promises of a desire to obey God, belonging to God, knowing God and the forgiveness of God.

In Hebrews 8, the preacher shows us that in Jesus the new is better. This chapter builds a bridge between the better nature of Christ's priesthood (Hebrews 1-7) and His better ministry on our behalf (Hebrews 9-13). We learn in Hebrews 8:1-6 that Jesus is a better priest because He is seated and ministers on our behalf in heaven. In Christ we have an advocate in the highest court of heaven. We are also given the grace to persevere through His intercession.

Jesus is the perfect priest because He is holy, innocent, unstained and exalted. This also qualifies Him to be the perfect sacrifice for our sin; a sacrifice offered once for all. As the glorified, exalted Son of God, Jesus is able to help His people and intercede for them perfectly and continuously.

Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. This means that Jesus' priesthood is an effective priesthood having won forgiveness for our sins and drawing us near to God. His priesthood is also an established priesthood because God takes an oath in Psalm 110 that Jesus is a priest forever. His priesthood is also an eternal priesthood because Jesus ever lives to intercede for His people.

The preacher of Hebrews unpacks in Hebrews 7:1-10 the significant, but mysterious figure of Melchizedek. Drawing on Genesis 14, the preacher shows how Melchizedek resembles the Son of God. The fact that Jesus is a priest according to the order of Melchizedek means we have a King of righteousness and peace who has secured our salvation. The fact that Melchizedek is a type of Christ also provides the ground of our assurance that Christ ever lives to intercede for His people.

We live in a time of uncertainty about the present and the future. Yet, the Bible's definition of hope is not uncertain but certain, fixed and confident. We're urged to pursue hope, hold fast to that hope and to see where that hope is anchored - in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ.

These verses are among the most confronting in all of the Bible. Hebrews 6:4-8 describes the apostate and the inability of the apostate to repent. What alarms the reader is that the apostate so easily fits into the Christian community and hears the same Gospel, yet, they turn away from Christ and bear no fruit. This passage serves as a warning for followers of Christ to stick close to the Good Shepherd and go on to maturity.

The Christian life is one of growing in Christ and going on in Christ. The congregation addressed in Hebrews, however, had become stagnant. Instead of chewing over, meditating on and savouring the priestly office of Christ, the congregation were immature, still on a liquid diet. They were unable to understand the preacher's teaching because of their lazy hearing. Thus, we're called in Hebrews 5:11-6:3 to grow up and to go on. We're to go on from the elementary teachings of the gospel, building on the foundation and savour the meat of God's Word.

The author, the preacher of Hebrews explains in Hebrews 5:1-10 how Jesus is a priest. First, he is a high priest by the Father's appointment. Jesus' priesthood didn't begin when he came to earth. Neither, is he priest by default. The Father appointed the Son as our high priest in eternity past. Thus, like every high priest was appointed by God, Jesus too was appointed by the Father. Second, Jesus is high priest because He became man. It is in the Son's humanity that He is able to deal gently with us in our sins and is our example to follow in suffering.

If Hebrews 4:13 left us in the position of being exposed before our holy God, how can we enter into His presence confidently? The preacher of Hebrews answers by pointing us to our great High Priest, Jesus, the Son of God. It's in confessing Christ who has clothed us in His perfect obedience and covered our sins through His sacrifice on the cross that we can draw near to God. This ought to inspire our prayers, for we have a mediator and intercessor that uniquely knows our trials, troubles and temptations.