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 Reformation concerned the issue of assurance: how can I be sure that I'm in the right with God? The wonderful truth of Romans 3:21-26 is that we're justified not by our own works, but through the imputed righteousness of Christ. Paul explains in this passage that in Christ righteousness is provided, redemption purchased and justice served.

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.

God's rest is the place where believers place all their hope. It is the place where we will finally be freed from sin, live continually in God's presence and enjoy worshipping Him with all His redeemed people. This rest we have a small foretaste of each Lord's Day as we meet for worship. The preacher of Hebrews urges us to continue to fix our eyes on Jesus and strive to enter that promised rest in the recognition that this world is not our home; our citizenship is in heaven.

Jesus became a man in order to destroy the devil and deliver us from death through His own death on the cross. At the cross, Jesus propitiated, extinguished God's wrath that stood against us. He is thus a merciful and faithful high priest who has rescued us from our sin and who can help us in our temptation.

James and John approach Jesus with the request to be given the place of honour in His kingdom. The disciples display the old mark we're born with - the mark of self first; a desire to be served. Jesus, however, teaches His disciples that what identifies a person as His follower is the new mark of a desire to serve. This new mark is given to us because Christ Himself came not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many. As Christ supremely served us, it is our great joy to identify with Him through putting others before ourselves.

Jesus became a man in order to destroy the devil and deliver us from death through His own death on the cross. At the cross, Jesus propitiated, extinguished God's wrath that stood against us. He is thus a merciful and faithful high priest who has rescued us from our sin and who can help us in our temptation.

The preacher in Hebrews tells us that Jesus identifies with us. He knows what it's like to be human, even the process and suffering of death. He knows what it's like to suffer and thus can identify with us in our suffering. He also knows what it's like to be an older brother. He is the trailblazer of our salvation, setting us a path to follow. Most wonderful of all, Christ is not ashamed to call us brothers, His family.

After reminding us of the glory of Christ as the final Word, the Son of God and superior to the angels, the preacher of Hebrews calls us to pay attention to what we have learned. If Jesus is the final word, have we listened to Him? Are we growing more like Him or are we drifting? Hebrews 2:1-4 calls us pay attention to what we have heard, warns us against drifting and assures us that salvation belongs to God.

Due to a possible lean toward angel worship in the congregation and to further demonstrate the superiority of the Son of God over all things, the preacher of Hebrews opens up 7 Old Testament passages. It's here we see who the angels are (ministering spirits created to serve the Son), who the Son is (Creator and King) and who we are (inheritors of salvation in Christ).

The opening of Hebrews gives us a big picture of glorified Lord Jesus Christ. He is the full and final word from God. He is King who rules over us, the Prophet who reveals God to us and the Priest who redeems us through His sacrifice on the cross.

We are often confronted with error in the church. False teachers and their teaching is not something unique to the modern church. Jude wrote to a church to not only warn them about false teaching, but help them to rescue those who are trapped in error. He tells us in Jude 17-25 to not be surprised, passive or afraid when we encounter false teaching in the church.

The most important question to ask is the question of Psalm 15: who can dwell with God? The most difficult answer to accept is that nobody, according to their own goodness and merit, can dwell with God. We have rebelled against God and fallen short of His righteous standard. Jesus, however, is the man who ascended God's holy hill for us. In Jesus' blood and righteousness, we can dwell with God.

In Psalm 14, David identifies a fool as a person who denies the existence of God in the way that they live. As this psalm is directed at Israel, we discovered that this psalm can also describe our lives. We can profess to believe in God, but actually be functional atheists. This foolish fantasy leads to God's judgement. Yet, in Christ, fools are taken from dread to deliverance. It's because of Jesus that we can run to God as our refuge and fortress.