Hebrews Chapter 13

Eternal Faith

We are entering into a new and powerful understanding of God’s Eternal Grace in our lives. A quick review: Justification is the gift from God of Everlasting Life received by Faith alone in Christ Jesus ~ separating us from the Penalty of sin. Sanctification is the ongoing work that involves the obedient Faith and Works of the True Believer ~ separating us from the Power of sin. Glorification is future to us and is the result of our obedience to the Will of God through the Holy Spirit ~ forever separating us from the Presence of sin. We become Overcomers as we obey. All Believers will be Glorified; yet how much Glory we will experience is directly related to our application of Faith in Obedience to God’s Word. This entire book of Hebrews can be reread and studied to help us in becoming successful Overcomers! You and I are determined to become a True Child of God and fulfill all that God has planned for our lives. That is why we are committed to the study of His Word and walk in obedient Faith. We know that all believers will enter into Eternal Life; but only the Faithful obedient Believers will inherit the rewards God has planned for His Faithful followers. We keep in mind that Jesus will Judge us at the Bema seat of Judgement based on our obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit. See 2 corth. 5:10; 1 Corth 3:11-15; Matt. 25:31-46; Rev. 2:11-15, etc.
As Believers we need to know what areas Jesus will judge us for:
1. How we treat other Believers. (Heb. 6:10; Mt. 10:41-42)
2. How we use our authority over others. (Heb 13:17; James 3:13)
3. How we utilize our God-given abilities. (1 Cor. 12:4, 11; 2 Tim. 1:6; 1 Peter 4:10)
4. How we use our wealth. (1 Cor. 16:2; 2 Cor. 9:6-7; 1 Tim. 6:17-19)
5. How we spend our time. (Ps. 90:12; Eph 5:16; Col. 4:5; 1 Peter 1:17)
6. How much we suffer for Jesus. (Matt. 5:11-12; Mark 10:29-30; Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor 4:17; 1 Peter 4:12-13)
7. How we run the race God has chosen for us. (1 Corth. 9:24; Phil. 2:16; 3:13-14; Heb. 12:1)
8. How we control our old nature. (1 Cor. 9:25-27)
9. How many souls we witness to and assist in accepting Jesus as Savior & Lord. (Prov. 11:30; Dan. 12:3; 1 Thess. 2:19-20)
10. How we respond to temptations. (James 1:2-3; Rev. 2:10)
11. How much the Truth of the Rapture really means to us. (2 Tim. 4:8-9)
12. How faithful we are to the Word of God and the People of God. (Acts 20:26-28; 2 Tim. 4:1-2; 1 Peter 5:2-4)
Remember: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16.

13:1

Continually love other Believers. Notice the emphasis of continuous, or always loving. This means we must make an effort to love other Believers. Sometimes we differ so much in the way we approach a situation we irritate one another. We are admonished to utilize the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to love others when we simply “don’t feel like loving” someone.

13:2

Now we are encouraged to extend hospitality to those we don’t know very well, perhaps even total strangers. We are given an unusual glimpse into the Spiritual world by being told that by being hospitable, some Believers have even entertained angels and not even been aware of it! So this tells us that not only are angels very real, but they are among us! Some of us have even experienced the provision of God’s angels on our behalf, or on the behalf of a loved one. Is there still a possibility of entertaining angels in our day and age?

13:3

We are told to remember those who are in prison with an attitude of being locked up with them! This means we are to seek ways to help those people who are suffering by being locked up. There are a number of prison ministries that need our help and prayers. Some of those that are in prison are Christians, so we have even more of an obligation to help them in some way. Remember, many people are suffering in prison because of their misfortunes, or mistakes in life, or for foolish decisions. We must have compassion on those who now have very little control over their lives. If the author is indeed Paul, he was probably writing this epistle from prison. Pray about what God would have you do to help these unfortunate people.

13:4

Marriage is to be honored and kept pure. Both husband and wife must keep themselves pure and holy, honoring God in all their activities. This means we honor our spouse by avoiding any kinds of entanglements with those of the opposite sex. We also honor our spouse by our words and actions on their behalf. To belittle, or embarrass a spouse, dishonors God. We are warned that the judgement of God will fall on those who are adulterers or fornicators who engage in any type or kind of sexual activity outside of marriage. This is one of the reasons that pornography is such a serious sin. It warps the mind and thought processes, leading a person into wicked thought patterns and often actions. Pornography is very addictive, so avoid it, always! Just because advertisers use it doesn’t mean it is not a sin!

13:5

We are to make every effort to keep our lives completely free from the love of money. We are to be satisfied with what God has provided for us. Daily thanking God for all He has given us, and verbally naming His many blessings on and in our lives will help us avoid greed, covetousness and dissatisfaction with our situation in life. Avoid borrowing to satisfy your wants and needs. Borrowing is actually a form of STEALING from YOURSELF! How? Because you do not deny yourself and save for something you need or want, you rob yourself of the actuality of experiencing HOPE. If you have payments, it destroys Hope, makes you anxious and fearful, and you often can’t really enjoy what you got before you saved for it. We are designed by God to experience HOPE. Our brains have an excitement, an anticipation, of what we Hope for. Yet, Hope is only experienced when we Trust in God, deny ourselves, and WAIT for the need to be provided. Usually, we save and save until we have enough saved to purchase the item for cash. This fulfillment of our Hope brings great satisfaction and confirms to God that we are capable of “denying self” to experience Hope. You have the deep satisfaction of knowing you waited and EARNED the item! Think how wonderful it feels to know you saved for that vehicle, or vacation; then paid for it UP-FRONT! Anytime you think you don’t have enough, take a good, hard look at the starving people of most of the rest of the world! They lack food, water, clothes, even a place to sleep. Those in third would countries live on less than $2 a day! Begin by donating to your local Food Bank; then Samaritans Purse, or some other quality organization. We must understand the horrible sufferings of most of the people in the rest of our world, in order to put our own lives in proper perspective. We are wealthy beyond the wildest dreams of most of these poor people. Even here in our own city, people, especially children, are suffering from malnutrition. Our Food Bank does as much as possible, but in these hard economic times, they lack enough money and food to help all the needy here in our own hometown. We strongly encourage you to donate the maximum of $400 per person, to your food bank. Ask for a TAX CREDIT letter and get a full tax credit for your donation. Why not give your state tax dollars to help feed the poor, right here in Lake Havasu! God has promised us, as Believers, that He will never fail or abandon us. Remember, He promises to provide for our needs not our greedy wants. Pray about how God would direct you to help the poor and hungry.

13:6

Now, knowing that God loves us and has promised to care for us, we must be strong and bold in declaring that God is the One Who provides for us, and that we do not fear what man can do to us. We must make an effort to be free of materialism. After all, advertising encourages us to ‘want more’ than we really need. Advertising promotes selfishness and greed; encouraging one to go into debt. Remember, Jesus told us NOT to go into debt; so is debt a sin? Unnecessary debt IS A SIN! Learning to get by on less is a good way to allow us to provide for the desperate needs of those who have not been blessed with our wealth and prosperity. Saving is necessary for a good steward; especially for those unforseen Emergencies we will all have. This is also a very good test of our ability, actually our self discipline, to ‘deny ourselves’ pick up our cross and follow Jesus. Remember, Jesus told us that IF we really wanted to be His followers, that is what we are to do.

13:7

Again they are told to remember those who ruled over them. We are told to remember those who have the spiritual rule over us. Some of these teachers may have died, yet we remember their faithful teachings. These men who have the spiritual rule are those who teach us the Biblical Truth of the Word of God. In today’s world we see many who ‘claim’ they are ‘men of God’, yet they do not teach the whole Truth of God’s Word. They teach half truths, or watered down versions, or outright lies. Those who we have allowed to be our teachers must be men of strong and courageous Faith. These men should be men of True Faith who live a spiritual lifestyle worthy of imitation. In other words, their lives reflect accurately what they teach. As the saying goes ‘they walk the talk’.

13:8

Suddenly we are reminded that Jesus is always Faithful! He remains the same forever; yesterday, today and for all our tomorrows. This means we can trust and rely on Jesus to always keep His promises to us; we trust Him forever with our very souls. Even though we may face painful and difficult trials and tribulations, we know that Jesus will always be with us through all adversities and sorrows.

13:9

Now the author again reminds us not to be deceived with lying doctrines. We are reminded that all teaching must be based on God’s Word. Any other teaching, even though it may ‘sound good’, is a lie! There are three characteristics of false teachers: 1. They promote false, unbiblical teachings. 2. They emphasize the external, material, world rather than internal heart change. 3. Their teachings do not produce eternal spiritual fruit. Remember, be a ‘spiritual fruit inspector’!

13:10

This is a somewhat difficult passage for us to understand. The ‘altar’ was the altar upon which the blood sacrifices were made. The meat left from these ‘sacrifices’ was used as the food of the priests and their families. Yet they were never allowed to eat one meat sacrifice, and that was the Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement sacrifice. Food that is eaten becomes part of the body. Yet we now know that the Atonement sacrifice was Jesus Himself, on the cross. Jesus said we were to eat his body and drink His blood; we honor that in Communion and acknowledge that Jesus is the Word of God. Thus we ‘consume’ His Word and it becomes a part of us as we obey Him. Therefore, in a true sense, we are ‘consuming’ Jesus by studying His Word and applying it into our lives. So the author is telling them that the Believer is more privileged than even the old testament High Priest, because Jesus is far superior to the old testament Day of Atonement Sacrifice. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of that Sacrifice; His very life was given in Atonement for our sins. Jesus, then is far better than anything and everything that Judaism had to offer.

13:11

The author reminds them that the bodies of the beasts, whose blood was drained and offered for the Yom Kippur, Atonement, sacrifice; were burned outside the camp, and the bodies were also burned completely; there was nothing left to eat. The burning of the bodies outside the camp portrayed the removal of sin from among the people. No one could ever eat anything of the Atonement Sacrifice, because it had to be completely removed from the camp, and burned and destroyed outside the camp, or city.

13:12

To fulfill prophecy Jesus was sacrificed ‘outside’ the gate of the city of Jerusalem. This reference meant He was outside the ‘camp’ of the people. Yet His blood was shed for the sins of all peoples for all time. Since Jesus is really ‘outside the camp of Judaism’, then all those who would receive Him as Savior and Lord must also go ‘outside the camp’, or leave the old form of Judaism, and accept Jesus as the perfect Atonement Sacrifice for sins. True, Biblical Judaism accepts Jesus, Yeshua, as Messiah!

13:13

Now the author clearly tells them ‘Let us go outside the camp’ bearing His reproach. This means we must identify ourselves with Jesus on the cross; after all, it was our sins that put Him there. We must also identify with the rejection and shame that Jesus endured on our behalf. The Hebrews needed to take this advice to heart and remove themselves from the fellowship of Judaism and even move outside the city gates and be identified as followers of Jesus. They needed to abandon completely the old Jewish religion that had rejected their Messiah. Keep in mind that not long after this was written, Jerusalem was utterly destroyed and historians estimate more than a million Jews were slaughtered.

13:14

This was a prophecy for them during their lifetimes: The City would not continue to exist. Yet it is also a future prophecy for us, for we are also looking for the City that is to come in the future. We must spiritually, emotionally and mentally be preparing ourselves for the Eternal City of Jerusalem that Jesus is preparing for us. This may be more of a reality to us then we can imagine. As we study this book of Hebrews we can see our beloved America disintegrating into an immoral wicked land that God will judge. As we realize all this, we will focus on Eternity, not on the material lands of earth. However, this does not mean we abandon efforts to pray for revival in our Country; and do whatever God leads us to do to bring about godly rulership.

13:15

So what should we do? Again, the answer is always Jesus! Let us offer sacrifice of Praises by continually and thankfully, honoring, glorifying and praising Jesus as Lord, God and Savior. We worship and honor God as Creator, Savior and Lord. We worship and honor God with our lives and with all that He has so graciously given us. We seek to worship and honor God by all that we do, say and even think. May we pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us ways that we may worship God in new and more honoring areas of our lives. Do we realize that giving generously to a good Christian Ministry IS an act of Worship? Remember, True Worship is shown in how we live our lives, day by day, minute by minute.

13:16

Again we are reminded to remember to continually do good. To be generous and sacrifice our worldly goods for the needs of others. We generously, and graciously, give financially to ministries that truly promote the Truth of God’s Word, JESUS, as Lord, God and Savior! As we are obedient in being generous to the point of sacrificing for others, God is well pleased with us. We want God to be pleased with us, yet sometimes it is a shock to realize that He expects us to be sacrificially generous in providing for others. Again, this is an area we must pray about and seek to obey God in His direction for our giving.

13:17

We are to obey those who have the spiritual rule over us. True, we have chosen to submit ourselves to our spiritual leaders, yet we still are obligated to hear what they are teaching us and obey their spiritual guidance and leadership. Those who are our spiritual leaders are to be concerned for our eternal souls, who we are becoming in Christ Jesus. We are also reminded that God will hold them accountable for teaching us the Truth, even if it is not what we want to hear. Spiritual leaders are responsible to watch over the moral and doctrinal health of their congregation. However, if we are submitting to their godly leadership, they will be able to be our spiritual leaders with joy, not with sorrow. If we rebel against those God has set over us, it will be unprofitable for us ~ that means we will be judged for being disobedient to our spiritual leaders. Keep in mind that we all have an obligation to be discerning of what is being taught. If we believe something is unbiblical, we must prayerfully ask God how we should ask the teacher and/or Pastor for an explanation. In the event these spiritual leaders do NOT teach the Truth, we must prayerfully consider removing ourselves from their leadership. Remember Acts 17:11.

13:18

Now they receive a specific call to pray for the author and those with him. Note that the only author of the New Testament epistles that asked for prayer was Paul; another strong clue that the author was in all probability Paul. He assures them that all they are doing is with a clear and honest conscience, seeking to obey God’s leading in all areas of their lives.

13:19

Again the author beseeches them for prayer; essentially begging them to pray for him so that he would be restored to them as soon as possible. Again, we know that Paul was in prison, perhaps even writing this magnificent letter from a painful life in a dreary prison cell. Paul knew firsthand how terribly painful and depressing prison life was. Remember, he suffered in prison because of only one thing: He dared to preach the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

13:20

The author begins an incredible prayer for all of them, and us: He begins by identifying the Eternal God as the God of Shalom. This is the peace that is beyond our earthly understanding of ‘peace’. This Magnificent God of Peace brought Jesus back from the dead. He wants them to clearly understand that the God Who brought Jesus back from the dead can easily provide for all their needs. He identifies Jesus as the Great Eternal Shepherd, who rescued His sheep, (that’s the Hebrews and us) by sacrificing His Own Life’s Blood. The job of the shepherd is to protect and care for the sheep, risking his life for his sheep; meeting all their needs. Thus their Shepherd, Jesus, who laid down His Life for His sheep, will care for them and meet every need. His Blood is the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant, This tells them, and us, that this New Covenant will last into all Eternity.

13:21

He continues his prayer: This Everlasting Covenant is designed to make us perfect in all good works, doing His Will. Notice that we are made perfect, given the characteristics and attributes for good works, as we obey His Will. Who gives us the ability to obey His Will? The Holy Spirit through the Grace of God; all through Jesus Christ! The God of Peace is working in us through the Holy Spirit, He is perfecting us, so that we would be strengthened in holiness so He can accomplish everything that will be pleasing in His sight. God is working out His good pleasure in obedient Believers. All of this is accomplished in and through Jesus Christ, our Messiah; to Whom shall be Glory for all Eternity. As we yield ourselves to the perfect Will of the Holy Spirit, we become God’s Glory! Jesus tells us that we are His Glory. We are to Glorify God by obeying the Holy Spirit and bringing forth Eternal Fruit. Amen. This means, So be it; or It is certain! So what kind of “Glory” are YOU bringing to Jesus?

13:22

Again the author refers to his readers as ‘brothers’ meaning they are fellow Believers. He tells them that he is strongly urging them, actually beseeching them, or fervently begging them, to hear and act upon his words of exhortation and encouragement. He states that he has written only a brief summary of the message, indicating that he could have gone on at great length with many more convincing arguments.

13:23

Now the author mentions ‘our’ brother Timothy being set free, meaning that Timothy had been released from prison. He hoped Timothy would come back again before winter and bring the much needed cloak, since the dungeon was probably miserably damp and cold. (See 2 Timothy 4:13,21) Paul hoped to be able to bring Timothy with him when he came to visit the Hebrews. (All this was with the hope of being released from prison). Note that Timothy’s name appears in Paul’s writings in 2 Cor. 1:1; Phil 1:1; Col. 1:1; Philemon 1:1; 1 Thess. 1:1 and 2 Thess. 1:1.

13:24

Then he gives a salutation, or greeting, for them to give to all the spiritual rulers over the Hebrews; as well as all True Believers, calling them saints. Those who were with him in Italy all send their salutations, meaning their prayers and greetings. These Believers in Italy were probably ministering to his needs in prison.

13:25

The author ends with the trademark ending prayer of Paul: “Grace be with you all. Amen”. Only Paul used this special reference of praying for Grace to be with all the Believers in his other epistles. This would again seem to indicate that the author of Hebrews is indeed, Paul. Notice that Paul emphasized the source of all power to obey God came directly from God’s Grace. Let us take to heart all we have learned in this remarkable book of Hebrews; using God’s Grace to empower us to be obedient to our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus; as we eagerly await His coming!

We, as Believers, need to focus on Obedience and Prayer; AND seeking God with our entire heart, mind and soul. Then searching our lives for areas we need to confess and repent of, seeking His Mercy and Grace, appropriating His Word in our lives. All the while thanking Him daily for all His Blessings of Mercy, Grace, Peace, Healing, Love, Provisions, Wisdom, Insights, Guidance, Comfort, Rest, Joy, … add others as God reveals them in your own life. As we develop an “attitude of gratitude” Praises and thanksgiving will flow from our souls, our words, our lives, until everyone will begin to see Jesus in us! Isn’t that what you REALLY want? Remember, it all begins with Faithful Obedience to God’s Word and Will. Your very best life is coming now, so go for it with the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within in you to guide and direct your every thought, action and desire. All ETERNITY is at Stake! Shalom!