Hebrews 5
I. A Superior Person: Christ (1-6)
A. \\#Heb 1:1-3\\ Christ is superior to the prophets.
B. \\#Heb 1:4-14\\ Christ is superior to the angels.
C. \\#Heb 2:1-18\\ Explanation and Emphasis
D. \\#Heb 3:1-6\\ Christ is superior to Moses.
E. \\#Heb 3:7-4:16\\ Explanation and Emphasis
F. \\#Heb 4:14-5:10\\ Christ is superior to the High Priest-The
book of Hebrews is very difficult to outline to outline. Many of
the writer’s thoughts overlap.
1. \\#Heb 4:14\\ Our High Priest has a better location.
2. \\#Heb 4:15-16\\ Our High Priest has a better understanding.
3. \\#Heb 5:1-5\\ Our High Priest has a better calling.
4. \\#Heb 5:6-9\\ Our High Priest comes from a better order.
G. \\#Heb 5:11-6:20\\ Explanation and Emphasis
1. \\#Heb 5:11-14\\ You are dull of hearing.
I. \\#Hebrews 4:14-5:9\\ Christ is superior to the High Priest
A. \\#4:14\\ Our High Priest has a better location.
B. \\#4:15-16\\ Our High Priest has a better understanding.
C. \\#5:1-5\\ Our High Priest has a better calling.
1. \\#1-4\\ "every high priest"-Some things are true of all the other
high priests.
a. \\#1\\ They were "taken from among men."
b. They were "ordained for men in things pertaining to God."
c. They were ordained to "offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins."
d. \\#2\\ They were to "have compassion on the ignorant… them that
are out of the way."
e. \\#3\\ They had to offer sacrifices "also for himself," meaning
that he himself was a sinner.
f. \\#4\\ "No man" took "this honour unto himself, but he" was
"called of God."
2. \\#5\\ "So also Christ"-Some of that is true of Christ as well.
Christ was called to offer a sacrifice and to have compassion on the
ignorant and wayward.
3. However, there are some differences.
a. \\#1\\ Christ was not "taken from among men."
(1) Although the writer doesn’t elaborate on this thought, it is
worthy of notice.
(2) Christ is the one and only High Priest who was selected for as
High Priest because He was not just a man.
(3) Christ was given the task of our eternal High Priest because
He was the sinless Son of God, a quality that no other High
Priest ever had.
b. \\#5\\ Christ’s call was unique and personal.
(1) "Thou are my Son, to day have I begotten thee."
(2) While earthly high priests were called by the virtue of their
sonship from Aaron \\#4\\, Jesus was called by virtue of
His sonship with the Father.
(3) This was not merely a calling of inheritance, but a unique,
specific, and eternal calling.
c. Another reason will be elaborated on over the next several
chapters, namely, that Jesus was called after a different order.
D. \\#5:6-10\\ Our High Priest comes from a better order.
1. \\#6\\ "Thou are a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."
a. This is a quote from \\#Psalm 110:4\\.
b. All of Psalm 110 is a Messianic psalm, which leaves no doubt that
this phrase was written to describe our Lord.
2. The Melchisedec order of Christ’s priesthood is only briefly mentioned
here and again in \\#5:10\\, before being dealt with in much greater
detail beginning in \\#7:1\\.
a. At this point, let’s just notice the definitive statement.
b. All earthly high priests were called after the order of the Aaron
\\#4:4\\\.
(1) That means that Aaron was the first in their line and that all
other high priests took Aaron’s responsibilities and duties
to themselves.
(2) The privilege and responsibility of the priesthood was passed
down by birth order to each new generation of Aaron’s
descendents.
c. This passage is stating that Jesus will be High Priest after a
different order.
(1) Since prophecy told that Messiah would be born to the tribe of
Judah \\#Ge 49:10, Is 11:1\\ instead of Levi, it would make
sense that if Messiah was to be a high priest, it would have
to be after a different priestly order.
(2) Psalm 110:4 and Hebrews 5:6 are both saying that Messiah would
be a high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
3. \\#7-9\\ At this point, the writer leaves his main thought to return
to a truth he revealed earlier in this book, dealing with the humanity
of Christ.
a. The writer spoke of this in Hebrews 2:10.
Heb 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect
through sufferings.
b. Notice, the writer again says that Jesus was "made perfect" \\#9\\
"by the things which he suffered." \\#8\\.
(1) As stated in chapter 2, to be made perfect does not mean to be
made better.
(a) Jesus was not in any way "inferior" before the
incarnation.
(b) Jesus is NOT becoming God as some would attempt to twist
this passage to day.
(2) The thought is that while Jesus was in human form, He chose to
experience that which He could have never experienced before.
Things like suffering and obedience.
(3) These opportunities "perfected" or completed the Godhead so
that God now knows experientially what mankind has endured
as a sinner.
c. These three verses center on Jesus’ agony in the Garden of
Gethsemane.
(1) \\#7\\ These were the "says of his flesh"; that is, the time
when Jesus was incarnated.
(2) Jesus "offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying
and tears" - Even from the gospel account, we do not have
this detailed a description of Jesus’ intense praying.
(3) "unto him that was able to save him from death"
(a) This agrees with Luke’s account.
Luke 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me:
nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
(b) The Bible makes the best commentary on the Bible and the
writer of Hebrews is explaining what Jesus meant when
He asked for the cup to be removed.
(c) The cup was the cup of death and Jesus was asking not to
have to face the cross if there was another way to
provide salvation to mankind.
(4) "in that he feared" - The writer even gives us the reason
that Jesus prayed this prayer. Because He was afraid.
(a) The fact that Jesus prayed this prayer does not mean
that Jesus was unwilling to die, for He was not.
(b) Neither does it mean that Jesus had changed His mind
about what He came to do.
(c) Jesus knew the death that was ahead for Him and facing it
was a fearful thing, even for the Perfect Man.
(5) Jesus, fearing the cross that lay ahead, asked the Father
if there was another way.
(a) Of course, Jesus as God, already knew the answer but
knowing the answer doesn’t mean one can’t still ask the
question, especially when talking to our Heavenly
Father.
(b) The fact that the Father had the Son go through with the
cross settles forever the question of there being another
way to be forgiven.
(c) If there was another way, surely the Father would have
allowed the Son to provide it in response to the Son’s
own prayer.
(6) \\#8\\ "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience"
(a) The Son submitted His will to the Father; that is, Jesus
obeyed the Father.
(b) The Son desired a different way, but He did not demand it
or rebel in the slightest degree.
(c) This would be the first and only time that the Father and
the Son had a DIFFERENT DESIRE.
i. Obedience is only needed when desires are different.
ii. Because of the fear of the cross, the human Son of God
momentarily DESIRED a DIFFERENT way to save mankind.
iii. The Father’s desire was that the original plan be
completed so the son OBEYED the Father.
iv. To my knowledge, this is the only time God will ever
OBEY anyone or anything.
v. This is a case of God the Son obeying God the Father.
(7) \\#9\\ "And being made perfect" - This was certainly an
opportunity to be PEFRECTED, that is to experience something
that God had never experienced before and which will never
come again.
(8) "he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that
obey him."
(a) Hebrews 2:10 calls Jesus the Captain of our Salvation.
(b) Here, He is called the Author of Eternal Salvation.
(c) Both titles indicate that by dying for us, Jesus has
become the Provider of Salvation and the First to
experience the power associated with salvation.
(d) While Jesus did not experience the redeeming power of
of salvation, He did experience the resurrecting power
of it.
(e) Hence, if we will believe and obey, we can experience
the power that He has provided for us.
4. \\#5:10\\ "Called of God an high priest after the order of
Melchisedec."
a. The writer takes us back to the main theme but only to re-state
it before moving into a another section of explanation and
emphasis.
b. \\#11\\ "Of whom we have many things to day, and hard to be
uttered" - The writer has much more to say about Melchisedec, but
acknowledges that they will be difficult to comprehend.
II. \\#Hebrews 5:11-6:20\\ Explanation and Emphasis
A. \\#5:11-14\\ "seeing ye are dull of hearing"
1. \\#11\\ The writer gets personal, describing the spiritual condition
that he finds the Hebrews to be in.
a. It is a state of DULL HEARING.
b. To be dull of hearing is to be slow to hear or slow to comprehend
and act on what is being said.
c. This is a common spiritual condition of Israel (and of us all!).
Matthew 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not;
and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye
shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not
perceive:
15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing,
and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be
converted, and I should heal them.
d. This is not intended as much as an insult to these Hebrews as a warning.
2. \\#12\\ "For when for time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that
one teach you again… the first principals… of God."
a. Christians are supposed to grow in Christ.
(1) That is the natural order of life.
(2) Infants move from "milk" to "meat."
b. The Hebrews to whom this book was addressed have not done so.
c. They were in need of being retaught the very basic principles
of God, as several phrases implies.
(1) "the first principles of the oracles of God" means the ABCs
of God’s laws.
(2) \\#13\\ "every one that useth milk is unskillful… for he is
a babe.
(3) \\#14\\ "strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age"
Those who are fully grown can eat tougher meats.
d. "even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to
discern both good and evil"
(1) "exercised" - On the other hand, one builds muscles by using them.
(2) So we build our spiritual discernment and understanding by
using the spiritual senses that God has given to us.
e. These references imply that these readers, if saved at all, had not
grown in their understanding and obedience to God; but were
immature and inexperienced.
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