My recap of Hebrews

I'm in a weekly Precepts Bible Study and since last September, we've been studying Hebrews.  It's a book I've never studied in depth before, so I've been so enjoying this.

My personal theme for Hebrews is "Jesus is Better".  He's better than the angels, He's better than Moses, He's better than Abraham, He's better than any earthly high priest.  He's the mediator of the New Covenant, which is better than the Old Covenant.  

And Jesus, God Himself, the Son of God, sinless,  - gave Himself willingly to be our sacrificial lamb.    Jesus' sacrifice was once and for all.  Through His death and His resurrection, He conquered death.  If anyone accepts Him as our Savior, we will live eternally with Him.

Hebrews chapter 11, often called the Hall of Faith, gives us many, many examples of great heroes of faith, whom we should emulate. In fact, the author recaps this in Hebrews 13:7:  "Remember those who led you, who spoke the Word of God to you; and considering the result of their way of life, imitate their faith".

Hebrews chapter 12 is all about God's discipline.  We should look to the heroes of faith in Chapter 11 and how they overcame and were steadfast in their faith, even when there was suffering and hard times in their lives.  God allows difficulties, as a father disciplines a child.  These hard times mature us in our faith.

Let me explain how that's working in my life:

*When I was 39, I had breast cancer.  At the time, my children were ages 12, 6 and 4.  It was hard, chemo was awful.  But that experience changed me.  My faith grew during that time. An analogy would be of a tree - I was 25 years in the Lord, a 25 year old tree,  and my roots started to grow even deeper.  

*About 10 years later, we had to deal with a very difficult issue with one of our children, which lasted about 3 years.  Thinking back to the analogy of the tree - when your roots are deeper, you can withstand stronger and stronger storms.  Because I went through cancer, it made me stronger.  We not only got through this very difficult time in our lives, but our roots keep growing deeper and deeper.

* Fast forward another 8 years to 2023.  Another difficult chapter in our life was upon us.  I called 911 for my husband and it turns out he had a double subdural hematoma.  2 surgeries and almost a month in the hospital and skilled nursing facility.   Again, it was a hard, difficult, agonizing......  And in the midst of it, I heard the Lord through my lovely child's mouth say "We're not doing a good job of keeping Dad safe".  And it's like God said "GO!".  You've been praying for years about where to live and how to live safely, now go and buy the house I have for you.  So I did.  My roots were much deeper.  They allowed me to stay deep in the Lord during this time.  I was able to hear Him clearly and follow His direction, even while emotionally distraught.

Chapter 13 is the closing and final chapter of the book of Hebrews.  The author gives these Jewish Christians final words of wisdom, warnings, and lots of encouragement about how to live the life that Christ promised them and us.