Good morning.
I’d like to ask you to turn with me to the book of Hebrews. We’ll read some selected passages, and shortly you’ll get a sense of where we’re headed.
Brothers and sisters, these are the most important verses in all of the book of Hebrews: verses 1 through 4.
God, having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly to the fathers in the prophets,
at the end of these days has spoken to us in the Person of the Son,
Whom He established heir of all things, by Whom also He made the worlds;
Who, being the effulgence of His glory and the expression of His substance,
and upholding all things by the word of His power,
having made by Himself the purification of sins,
sat Himself down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,
taking a place by so much better than the angels,
as He inherits a name more excellent than they.
Now, there’s a phrase there I want you to pick up on: “Taking a place by so much better than the angels, and He inherits a name more excellent than they.”
Now turn with me to Hebrews 2. I’ll read the first four verses.
For this reason, we should give heed more abundantly to the things we have heard, lest in any way we should slip away.
For if the word which was spoken by angels was firm, and every transgression and disobedience received just retribution,
how shall we escape if we have been negligent of so great salvation, which, having had its commencement in being spoken of by the Lord, has been confirmed to us by those who have heard?
God bearing besides witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and various acts of power, and distributions of the Holy Spirit, according to His will.
And then verse 11 of the same chapter.
For both He that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one; of which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying,
“I will declare Thy name to My brethren;
In the midst of the assembly will I sing Thy praises.”
And again, “I will trust in Him.”
And again, “Behold, I and the children which God has given Me.”
Since, therefore, the children partake of blood and flesh, He also, in like manner, took part in the same, that through death He might annul him who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
and might set free all those who, through fear of death, through the whole of their life were subject to bondage.
For He does not indeed take hold of angels by the hand, but He takes hold of the seed of Abraham.
Wherefore it behooved Him in all things to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things related to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to help those that are being tempted.
There are a few things in there: “I will declare Thy name to My brethren.” It also says, “It behooved Him in all things to be made like His brethren.” I want you to notice those things, because we’re coming back to them.
And then in Hebrews 3:
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus, Who is faithful to Him that constituted Him.
And then verse 12 of the same chapter.
See, brethren, lest there be in any one of you a wicked heart of unbelief in turning away from the living God;
but encourage yourselves each day, as long as it is called today, that none of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
For we are become companions of the Christ, if indeed we hold the beginning of the assurance firm to the end.
Here’s the verse I want you to remember: “For we are become companions of the Christ, if indeed we hold the beginning of the assurance firm to the end.”
And finally, just a few more verses in Hebrews 6:9-12.
But we are persuaded concerning you, beloved, better things, and things connected with salvation, even if we speak thus.
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work, and the love which you have shown to His name, having ministered to the saints and still ministering.
But we desire earnestly that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end,
that you be not sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience have been inheritors of the promises.
I want you to notice that little phrase: “But we are persuaded concerning you, beloved, better things.”
Lord, we just commit Your word back to You. We know that You alone have the words of eternal life.
We look to You this morning that You would quicken us—body, soul, and spirit—that You would not allow Your words just to dissipate and be mere words and sounding things, things that can’t be communicated, just ideas and thoughts.
But somehow this morning, may the Holy Spirit come into this place in such fullness and capture us, that we would hear Your speaking. Oh, Lord, that’s all we’re after. In the end, that’s all we want.
Speak, Lord, as we bow the knee to You, in Jesus’ name.
I’ll tell you, just a number of weeks ago, I believe the Lord began to speak to me concerning this book of Hebrews. The way He did it was in one of those times when I was in a bit of a funk. I don’t know if you ever get there, but I do—just feeling a little undone.
The Holy Spirit seemed to whisper to me, and it seemed almost audible: “A better hope.”
That caught my heart: a better hope. And I thought, “That’s good. We have a better hope.”
Then, a few weeks later—maybe I still hadn’t gotten out of my funk—we were worshiping the Lord, and it was unconnected to what we were talking about, but the Holy Spirit seemed to say to me, “A better covenant.”
We have a better covenant.
So finally—I’m a little slow at times—I began to get the impression that this was the Holy Spirit trying to say something to me. I thought about it, and I thought, “That’s in Hebrews.”
I began to go to the book of Hebrews, and I don’t know if you’ve done this, but I went through the whole book and discovered the word better over and over again.
Now, for some of you, that’s just elementary Hebrews. Now, who’s speaking? All right, Jerry, go take care of business.
But brothers and sisters, there’s a message in that single word: better. That’s the word that’s on my heart—a single word: better.
God has a message for His people. What He wants to communicate to us through this book of Hebrews is that what He has in view is better than anything we could ever imagine. It exceeds every expectation.
You can make a wish, develop a thought, or come up with an idea, and it will not exceed what God has prepared for those who love Him.
So it seemed to me—and maybe this is for you too, I believe it is for you—maybe sometimes you get a little bit in a funk. But it seemed the Holy Spirit was saying, “You’re not seeing the better. What you need to see is how much better.”
I began to look through Hebrews and noticed that it wasn’t just something off the wall. It was very clear. There are thirteen places in the book of Hebrews where this word better occurs—thirteen places, more than in any other letter in the New Testament.
Now, we have a problem. We are a consumer nation. You know that; I don’t have to tell you that. We are a consumer nation.
We have this standard that causes this word better to be less than the best. I don’t know if you’ve ever gone to purchase something and had this standard: good, better, best. Best was always better than better. You understand? I hope that doesn’t confuse you.
But that’s what we are: a consumer nation. We always think of good, better, best. That’s a problem when it comes to the Scriptures, because there’s nothing better than better. It’s the best.
I even got into this trap. It’s not a happy story. I’m at home right now with a new computer because my old computer died. I killed it, I hate to tell you. I was trying to save it, and I killed it. Horrible computer woes this past week.
I bought this new computer, and it was the best thing they had. They tell me it’s one gigahertz. Hey, I might have to strap myself into my seat when I use this computer. It has so much power.
I went through this guy, and I said, “I want the best you have. This other old thing just died.” He began to show me what his best was, and then he kept selling me up. I tell you, I’m a sucker.
He said, “Now wait a minute. Let me show you the best graphics card.” It didn’t mean too much to me. He said, “This G-Force 2 is the best—the best on the market.” I said, “Well, it’s the best. I’ll take it.”
Yeah, the price went up at the end. Then he said, “The speakers you have, they’re not the best.” I had these two little measly speakers on the side. He said, “Let me get you the satellite woofer surround-sound speakers.”
I said, “How much are those?” He said, “It’s only eighty more dollars.” I said, “I’ll take it. It’s got to be the best.”
We have this problem. We think of everything as good, better, best. But when it comes to the Word of God, when it comes to Hebrews, this word better is it.
There’s nothing better God has. There’s nothing more improved God can have than what He has to say to us in this book of Hebrews. When you read it, you begin to discover that this is the superior thought of God.
Campbell Morgan said something about this book. I hope my voice holds up, brothers and sisters. He said, “This is God’s last word to man.”
I think that’s significant. I think, from a brother of that stature, we should pay attention. In this book, there’s the better.
I’m not going to take the time to tell you where all these things are. But when you go home, get out some markers. Those of you who won’t mark your Bible disobey the unwritten rule. Get out a marker and go through Hebrews and underline better everywhere it occurs.
I believe if you do that, and if you meditate on it, God will begin to encourage you as to all that He has in view.
You’ll find a better hope, a better covenant, a better resurrection, and better promises. You’ll find that God has something better in mind for us. You’ll find there’s a better country and better sacrifices.
Just go through it. Brothers and sisters, I don’t know about you, but it seemed to be the thing that encouraged me and lifted me: to see something better than I ever had.
So the title of this message is “Hebrews: Better.” People won’t understand it, but that’s really the title.
I believe, dear saints, that this is a word of encouragement for us. I think we just need to meditate.
Now today, this is my thought: if the Lord gives me time, we’ll look at the first two betters. We won’t go any further than that, because I think if we apprehend the first two, there will be something that encourages us. It sets the tone for the whole book.
Especially in the first one, we see the purpose of the book. I’d also like, if we can, to give somewhat of a general overview of the book of Hebrews—consider why it was written and what its purpose was.
For us, I think we’re in a very similar place to where those Hebrew Christians were. I think this book can help us. So we’ll start with a general overview, and from there we’ll look at just these two betters. That’s the whole burden for this morning.
There are a lot of controversies about the book of Hebrews. There has been argument for many centuries about who wrote it.
There has been all kinds of speculation. People who understand the Word of God far better than I do have speculated that Paul may have written it. Some have said it could never have been Paul because of the style. Others say Apollos, because of his eloquence; it had to be Apollos. Some very learned men take that position.
There are those who say Silas may have been the writer. There are those who say Barnabas may have been the writer. There are many thoughts about who wrote the book of Hebrews.
Now, I think this is significant, and I hope you don’t think I’m just padding the time. This is absolutely significant in the New Testament.
If you know your New Testament, you know that we know every writer of every book in all of the New Testament. Every book and every author is known. Then why is Hebrews different?
You may not have these same questions I have, but when I look at something, it seems to me that this is an intentional omission in the Scripture. Brothers and sisters, I believe the intentional omission is for a very real spiritual purpose.
Now let’s look at it. Turn again to Hebrews 1. Remember, every book in the New Testament, we know the author. But we don’t know the author of Hebrews.
God, having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days has spoken to us in the Person of the Son.
Now here’s the key: God intentionally veiled the author of Hebrews so that we might know God has spoken. That’s very significant.
There is only one place in this whole book where a human author is mentioned, and that is David—only one time. Because what God is after for us is to see that He has spoken, not that man has spoken.
It doesn’t mean that in the rest of Scripture it was merely man speaking. We know better than that. But this seems to me to be an intentional omission by the Holy Spirit.
When you read the letters of Paul, every one begins, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ.” You read Peter’s letters. But here, brothers and sisters, there’s an intentional omission, and I believe it is for a single purpose.
God wants us to see Who is speaking. No author. No human agency. No man. No person. Holy God. He speaks.
This verse also says another extraordinary thing: it says all of His former speaking has ended.
Now, brothers and sisters, you need to take notes. If you miss these first four verses of Hebrews, you miss the whole of the letter.
He tells us that all of His former speaking, in diverse ways and means and methods, through the prophets to the fathers, has absolutely concluded.
And now, He is speaking to us in the Person of the Son. That’s God’s message in Hebrews.
There’s a little problem here in English. “In the Person of the Son” has been inserted for your benefit and mine, as those who read English. But there’s really no article there in the original. It simply says that God has spoken in Son.
That’s a powerful statement, because it means that in His Son is the final answer forever. It’s everything in His Son.
Popular culture is a wonderful thing and a headache in many ways. How many of you this year were snagged into watching Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
If I hear one more time, “Is that your final answer?” Everybody was doing it. Senators were doing it. Dignitaries were doing it. At work, we were doing it. Everybody would come in on projects: “Is that your final answer?”
You think, “Well, this is getting a bit old.” But brothers and sisters, this is God’s final answer.
He has no other word to bring. He has spoken to us in the Person of the Son. Do you see that?
It means the Son is both the means and the method of speaking. Notice, it doesn’t even say, “The Son speaks.” It doesn’t even mention it. It says that He has spoken to us in the Person of His Son.
Brothers and sisters, this is God’s final answer. This is what He really wants us to see. This is the purpose of Hebrews.
If we fail to see this in Hebrews, we fail to understand that this is the subject of the entire book. It is the answer of God. It is the fulfillment of all His speaking.
All religion was closed out—even religion that God instituted—so that He might lift up His Son to that first place, that exalted place.
So I think this is the first thing: we don’t know who the writer of Hebrews is, and there’s a reason. God has spoken.
There cannot be any other message of any more importance than this.
The second thing that seems to come out of this book is that He calls the readers of Hebrews into a special relationship. There has been speculation about who the readers were, but He calls those who read this book into a special relationship.
There are two words we want to look at today. They’re really the same word: partakers. That’s a special relationship. That’s not a distant relationship.
There’s another word, actually the same word translated differently: companions.
It seems to me that the second message of this book is not only that Jesus alone is God’s answer, but that He has called you and me—those who believe in the Lord Jesus, as these were Hebrew believers—into a special relationship where we are partakers and companions of Christ.
The third thing this book seems to deal with is that it is a book of warning. Some people don’t like Hebrews for this reason. They feel the warnings are too stern.
Brothers and sisters, in some ways I may agree with you. Those warnings have been so misapplied as to make believers despair in hopelessness.
But it seems to me that the warnings in Hebrews are God’s loving discipline to bring His people back to Himself. All discipline is in love when God does it.
We have a culture—maybe you’ll agree with me and maybe you won’t; I think you will—we have a culture that is anti-discipline.
For some reason, maybe it’s the idea that we’re so special, or that me is the center of my universe, there’s this idea that all discipline is wrong.
Brothers and sisters, if that is true, God is wrong. Do you know He disciplines those He loves? Do you know in His mercy He corrects us? Have you ever been corrected by God?
If you tell me you haven’t, well, Hebrews says you’re illegitimate; you’re not a son.
Thank God for His loving discipline. There are six warnings in the book of Hebrews. That’s the third point.
There are six warnings, and some seem so severe that we almost try to turn the page and apply them to unbelievers, saying, “Surely that didn’t apply to a believer.” But if you read carefully, all these warnings apply to us, not only to the Hebrews.
Let me read an example. This is one that has been a huge sticking point for people.
For it is impossible to renew again to repentance those once enlightened,
and who have tasted the heavenly gift,
and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come,
and have fallen away,
crucifying for themselves as they do the Son of God and making a show of Him.
Now think of that. Those are hard words. No longer a possibility of repentance? That’s severe correction.
How can you say that doesn’t apply to believers? They’ve tasted the good Word of God. They’ve tasted of the Holy Spirit. They’ve tasted the good things of the age to come.
But here’s the answer: don’t make it more complicated or darker than it is.
If you turn away from this single message that Christ is everything, there is no hope for you.
If you willfully go into apostasy to such a degree—this is not something that just happens one day when you wake up with an evil thought—if you so turn from Christ completely and absolutely, and refuse to ever have anything to do with Him again, then that is the darkness this is talking about.
I don’t think you’ve ever experienced that. But the point in this book is that there are very severe warnings, and the reason they are very severe is because the Hebrew believers were tending to turn away from the Lord Jesus as everything.
They were tending to go back to the old things, the types and the shadows. They were tending to no longer make Christ the preeminent One, no longer the center and substance of everything.
They were beginning to take on a spirit of unbelief, get discouraged, and begin to fall away. You may say, “That can’t happen to us,” but I think it can.
Brothers and sisters, we need God to discipline us. We need Him to warn us. We need Him to capture our hearts and not let us go. If there’s anything in me, we need Him to show it to us.
Oh, I’d rather fall into the hands of the Almighty God than into the hands of man.
Maybe they had walked a generation. Maybe the light began to dim. Maybe there was a new generation who hadn’t seen what the former generation had seen.
Whatever the cause, they began to drift and to fall away. God, in His mercy, takes this opportunity, without even mentioning a human author, to warn them and bring them back. That’s Hebrews.
Fourthly, I hope these things help give you an overall picture of the book. The fourth thing is that the book of Hebrews is, above everything else, a word of encouragement.
Even here, in what we just read in Hebrews 6, He immediately says to these Hebrew believers, “But we are persuaded concerning you, beloved, better things.”
Even with these Hebrews, these ones who were shrinking back, these ones who had maybe lost some of their first love, these ones who maybe were beginning to drift—He had a word of encouragement for them.
I think when you read the book of Hebrews, it is above everything else a word of encouragement. He has better things for us, brothers and sisters.
He shows us the incomparable Christ, and He shows us the incomparable calling to which we are called as believers. That is the word of encouragement that is here.
One thing about these Hebrew believers—and you may not know this—is that they were about to receive the greatest shaking they had ever had.
Different times have been suggested, but there is speculation that this book was written from AD 64 to AD 67. In AD 70, just three short years later, all of Jerusalem was destroyed.
Every outward thing these people knew from their culture, religion, and heritage was taken away by Rome in AD 70, when Jerusalem was burned.
They were about to go into a tremendous shaking. God, in His mercy, in this book forewarned them, prepared them, and encouraged them, so that they could go into the shaking and come out the other side.
Now, brothers and sisters, let’s apply this. Do you think we’re headed for days of shaking as the church? Some think we’re already in days of shaking, and maybe we are.
If the Lord’s word is true—and I believe it is true—God, in His mercy, wants to encourage us and prepare us.
Listen to me carefully: God was the author of that shaking. He was the author.
It says in Hebrews 12:
Yet once again will I shake not only the earth, but also the heavens,
so that He can remove everything that can be shaken,
so that that which cannot be shaken will remain.
He’s the author of the shaking. In His mercy, He shook away from those Hebrew believers everything natural that they believed in as Jews and trusted in.
There’s a purpose behind this: so that we will cling to no one else but the Lord Jesus.
Don’t think shaking is always so bad. We accumulate some baggage, you know. Our pockets get full. We get overwhelmed with stuff, even spiritual stuff, even religious stuff, even things of God—good stuff.
I don’t know if you guys grew up watching Captain Kangaroo. I did, showing my age. You remember Captain Kangaroo? Weird haircut. But Captain Kangaroo always had his pockets full of stuff. Do you remember that?
He would pull out stuff, and we thought that was the neatest program. We gather baggage along the way.
God, in His mercy, shakes away the stuff so that Christ might remain. I hope you know that. That’s the only purpose of shaking. Otherwise, God would be cruel.
It’s not, “Just to see if you can handle this. Put your finger on the burner. Can you handle that?” I think that’s some people’s impression of God: He just wants to see how far He can test me.
Oh, it’s only for one purpose. That’s the purpose of Hebrews.
He says, “The shaking that is about to come on you in just three short years, you haven’t even imagined. But it is so that all that stuff will be divorced forever, and Christ will be alone, the center.”
That’s the purpose of shaking.
Now, what we want to look at are these first two betters. We’ve already started. Turn back to Hebrews 1.
The whole message of this book is in the first four verses. You’ll notice in Hebrews 1:4 a phrase that you may have overlooked, but it tells us that the Lord Jesus has taken a place so much better than the angels.
There is nothing, brothers and sisters, that can compare with the Lord Jesus.
Let me tell you what happens to me. It may happen to you; I don’t know. Sometimes my problems get bigger than the Lord Jesus. I have a small Christ.
I’ll stand here before you and admit that today. I think that many of us in the church, our problem is that we have a small Christ. We don’t see the Lord Jesus as God sees the Lord Jesus.
He describes the Lord Jesus here in a way that we don’t really know Him in our hearts. There is a sevenfold description. Let’s read those verses that tell us how great the Lord Jesus is.
First of all, in Hebrews 1:2, it says that God established Him “heir of all things.” That’s the first thing: He’s the heir.
You remember the parable of the Lord Jesus in Mark 12:1-12, when He said that a man, leaving the country, made a vineyard, put a fence around it, made a tower and a wine vat, and left it to the husbandmen to tend.
After some time, the lord of the vineyard sent one of his messengers to receive the fruit of the vineyard. When he came, they beat him and sent him away.
Then he sent another servant, another messenger, and they beat him again. Then he sent a third messenger, and they brutally killed him. Then he sent even others.
Then it says what the man was thinking. He said, “I’ll send my only begotten son. Surely they will listen to him.”
So he sent his only son. They killed him and threw him out of the city.
Does that story sound familiar? Has it ever gone through your mind what the Lord must have thought when He told that parable, knowing that was His destiny? Has that ever dawned on you—His certain destiny?
But what they said of this only begotten son who was sent was, “He’s the heir. Let us kill him, and we will take the inheritance.”
God has made the Lord Jesus heir—not of some things, but of all things. We need to see that.
Not only that, it says, “Through Him He made the worlds.” Do we really believe our Lord Jesus made everything, is in control of everything, and has dominion over everything?
Brothers and sisters, if you’re like me, when things get tough, you begin to doubt that the Lord Jesus made and controls everything. You tend to despair easily.
But this is the encouragement here. It says that He is the effulgence of His glory and the expression of His substance.
Now, I don’t know if you know what the word effulgence means. It’s one of these biblical words that is difficult to pronounce and may not mean much.
But what it says to us is that He is the exact substance of God. He is God. This Lord Jesus Who has called you is God. Do we know that?
Sometimes, I think, we betray ourselves.
I took a course on the internet on art history, and there was a word they were using to describe this art and the beauty of it—how magnificent it was. It was on an exam, so I had to remember it. The word was refulgent.
Have you ever heard that word? Maybe some of you artists have heard it. It describes something of splendid beauty, incomparable radiance, and light: refulgence.
Is that the Lord Jesus you know? Is He full of beauty and splendor? Or do we have a small Christ?
Oh, this is what the Lord is after. He wants us to see.
And He upholds all things by the word of His power. Do you believe it? Are you convinced of it?
If He would let go for just a moment, the world would fall apart. The universe would fall apart. Chaos would reign. But He holds all things by the word of His power.
Brothers and sisters, this is the Christ we serve.
Not only that, it says, “Having made by Himself the purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, taking a place by so much better.”
Not only is He in this glorious, manifest radiance; He made purification for all our sins.
He’s not just this God Who is distant in glory. Another part of His sevenfold glory is that He came into our scene. He came into our world. He came into our trouble.
He Himself became the purification for all our sins.
Saints, this is the Christ we need to see.
This is a simple burden, and I want to leave you with this thought. This is the prayer I’ve been praying since the beginning of the year: “Lord, would You show me a bigger Christ this year?”
I want to admit to You, I’ve made You small.
Would You show me a refulgent Christ? Would You show me a Christ Who sits at the right hand of God in power? Would You show me a Christ Who holds everything in His hands?
Would You show me a Christ Who is the expression of Your substance and Your glory?
That’s been my prayer: that I wouldn’t be so subject to earthly things.
That’s God’s heart. Brothers and sisters, I believe that’s a request that, if we come to Him and humble ourselves, He will not deny.
May the Lord help us.
That’s the first thing: Christ is better than anything else, in all, everywhere. There is no comparison. He is of incomparable beauty and glory.
What God is after, first of all, is for us to see the Christ Who is better. That will make a difference.
There are two phrases in Hebrews that use the words “consider Him.” Consider Him. That’s what the purpose of the book of Hebrews is all about.
In Hebrews 12, we often come into our Sunday morning meetings and a brother stands up and reads from Hebrews 12:1-2:
Looking steadfastly unto Jesus,
Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith.
Then we can run the race with endurance. Are we looking steadfastly at Jesus? Are our eyes on the Lord Jesus? Or are your eyes on me, or my eyes on you?
Another thing I learned in this class: one of the earliest discoveries of statues involved these statues with huge eyes. They didn’t know what it meant. They were found in a temple in Iraq.
They found these huge statues. The only things similar about them were two things: they had these great big eyes, big bug-eyed things—ugly statues. This is ugly art, believe me. An engineer cannot appreciate this kind of art.
But they had these huge, grand eyes. The other thing was that they were all like this. They were clearly different men, women, and children, but they were big-eyed and they were posed like this.
They never understood: what is the meaning of these statues in this temple? Then one day they uncovered a cuneiform tablet in Iraq that said these were fixing their eyes on God.
If these pagans understood that—if you get the point; I’m starting to sweat up here from the cold—pagans understood that they stood at attention and fixed their gaze on their god, who was a pagan god and of no help.
How much more should we understand Hebrews 12: fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
Brothers and sisters, that’s the secret to endurance. You won’t get through otherwise.
If you look at me, if you look at the church, if you look at your best friend, they may not be your best friend tomorrow. If you look at anything else, you won’t endure and run the race.
Even Moses knew this. Hebrews 11 says that Moses endured “as seeing Him Who is invisible.”
That’s how we endure. Moses persevered as seeing Him Who is invisible.
Oh, saints, may God open our eyes this year to a bigger Christ. I don’t want to be like the Hebrew believers. I don’t want to slip away. I don’t want to make Christ small. I don’t want to drift. I don’t want to be overcome with a spirit of unbelief.
Would to God that He would open our eyes more fully to see Christ as He is: the Better.
That’s the message of Hebrews.
And then the last better: turn with me again to Hebrews 6. We’ve already read it—verse 9.
But we are persuaded concerning you, beloved, better things,
and things connected with salvation, even if we speak thus.
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work.
It seems to me these are the opposite poles. First, there is Christ in all His glory. But then it seems to me the second better in this book says, “God has some better things for you.”
Now think of that. I don’t know if that encourages you the way it encouraged me, but the Holy Spirit could have said anything in this book.
The first chapters are all talking about the glory that is in the Lord Jesus, but the Holy Spirit intentionally gives us this second better: God has some better things for you.
Isn’t that mercy? Isn’t that love? I can’t tell you how that lifted my spirit when I saw it there.
I could have bought it if they said there was some better principle in the church, some better principle of the Lord Jesus, or some better principle of this or that. But He has some better things for us. That’s His heart.
It’s not just the Lord Jesus in all His glory, but the Lord Jesus has chosen, dear saints, to connect Himself to us—to never be separated.
Let’s go back to Hebrews 3 and look at those verses again that we talked about earlier.
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling…
That word partakers occurs in Hebrews at least five times. Those who have studied this book carefully say that word partakers is another one of the key words in the book of Hebrews.
We are to be something more than observers. I don’t know if you know that. Many Christians don’t seem like they know that. We are to be more than observers.
We are to be more than hearers. We are to be more than just people who occupy space when it comes to God. We are to be partakers.
Now, this may not mean so much to you, but brothers and sisters, this is a word full of meaning in the book of Hebrews.
It means we’re actually to eat and drink and taste and draw so deeply from the living God that He becomes one with us and we become one with Him. Do you understand that? That’s far deeper.
Hebrews 3:14 says:
For we are become companions of the Christ,
if indeed we hold the beginning of the assurance firm to the end.
We have become companions of Christ.
Have you ever thought about that word companions? That’s not some loose relationship. That’s not a distant relationship.
A companion is someone you’re fairly intimate with. A companion is one who might know your deepest secrets. A companion is one you are joined to.
One of the best illustrations I can think of from the Old Testament is David and Jonathan. They were companions. They loved each other.
Brothers and sisters, this is the encouragement in the book of Hebrews: we have not only been called to see an incomparable Christ, but we have, by His mercy, been made to be His very companions.
That is the better thing He has for us.
You may have a companion here on earth who is your best friend. I hope you do. It’s always good to have one. But you may find that person is not a faithful companion.
But this Companion, this Lord Jesus Who has joined us to Himself, He is faithful. You’ve never had a companion like that.
Saints, I don’t know if this means to you what it means to me, but it seems to me to mean something profound: that God, in His mercy, in revealing Christ in all His excellency, also calls you as His companion.
We are to be joined together, not just as individuals, but as companions of Christ—plural, together. That’s what the church is to be.
We are to be an expression of that ultimate relationship, where all the beauty of the Lord Jesus and all the glory of the Lord Jesus are manifested.
This, to me, seems to be the message of Hebrews.
Brothers and sisters, do you know your heavenly calling? Partakers of the heavenly calling? Have you seen what God has called you to be—His very companion?
Has that thought dawned on you? If it does, that’s a powerful thing: God is my Companion. We are companions.
Not for this day, not for this week, not for this month, but for eternity.
In that is the encouragement of the book of Hebrews.
Lord, we just come and bow the knee, and acknowledge that, in one sense, we have seen so little of our full Christ.
Lord, our prayer is that You will open our eyes to see You in a way we never have.
Lord, that’s my prayer for myself this year. It’s my prayer for my brothers and sisters: that You would not allow us, as individuals or together, to drift.
That You would not allow us to be like those warnings in Hebrews, but that in Your mercy You would open Christ to us in a fuller way.
Lord, show us this precious mercy of Yours: that You have called us to be Your very companions, and that we will walk in union and fellowship with You and with one another.
Lord, do what we can’t do. We leave this word before You and pray that Your Holy Spirit would open it up to us, that we can see it in a way that we never have.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.