Chapter 13

Hebrews 13:15

Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Last Wednesday, the most dreadful news reached my family in different parts of the world when lung cancer took the life of our beloved Auntie Jing. Her wake is currently in Italy but my cousin and other aunts will escort her body to the Philippines on Tuesday. I can not even begin to describe our relationship with her. She was this strong and loving aunt who never lets distance be a barrier between us and her. I love her so much and I am finding it so hard to accept this reality in front of me. She is gone. Forever gone.

I had the audacity to ask God the question "WHY?" and I am waiting for His answer to be revealed yet. Tomorrow is a Sunday and I need to prepare my heart and mind for worship. Help me to give back all the glory to You Lord. I am hurting so much but in everything, I promise You God, I will give thanks.

Chapter 11

Hebrews 11:3

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Go on read the whole chapter of Hebrews 11. If you believe in Jesus Christ and have established a personal relationship with Him, you are one of them. You are a hero of faith! (v 40)

Chapter 8

Hebrews 8:13 

In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He abolished the Law of Moses by nailing it to the cross. For in the old law, every individual is condemned to death because of man's failure to adhere to it. But because of the blood of Christ, a New Covenant was made between God and man through Jesus that is, our sins were forgiven once and for all though we fall short of His glory every now and again. 

The bread and wine represent the body and blood of Christ. 

Chapter 7

Hebrews 7:28

For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.

Jesus Christ is a Bull's Eye, The Meaning of Perfection

In this chapter, the writer cited Melchizedek as a type of Christ for the following reasons:

• receiving tithes (vv. 2-10)
• giving of blessing (vv. 1,6,7)
• replacement of Levitical priesthood (vv. 11-19)
• no known record of  his death (vv. 3,8)

"Absolute perfection!", we say this often when we have done or produced something brilliantly out of the work of our hands. Or from the opinion of many, perfection can manifest in celebrities or clever minds or wealthy people. But we all know for a fact that what I have just mentioned are all Ecclesiastically described by King Solomon as "meaningless, a chasing after the wind!"  

Only the Son can be perfect but we strive to be just like Him. There was a battle in Paul's mind when he wrote Romans 7:14 onwards, he struggled to wrestle with his sinful nature but he knew that Jesus Christ was his only way out of sin. Christ became our Intercessor, The Mediator between us and the Father so we could be made right with Him. 

The perfect Son was The Perfect Sacrifice for His imperfect people. 

Chapter 6

Hebrews 6:10

For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 

It is encouraging to know that God is not a neglectful God. He knows what you have laboured for Him, whether it be discipleship or preaching or giving to the needy or worship leading or playing musical instruments or Bible reading or putting up songs on Powerpoint slides or cooking lunch for the brethren or visiting the sick or supporting a grieving friend... the list goes on. As Isaiah 65:23 and 1 Corinthians 15:58 say, whatever work we do for the Lord is never going to be worthless. A promise has been given and I am certain that we are fully aware of this. The gift of eternal life. 

Chapter 5

Hebrews 5:13-14

For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

The illustration says it all I believe. Once we become Christians, our spiritual growth must not get stunted hence we leave that stage in our lives where we need milk to get fed to move to the stage where solid food is the only thing that can give us nourishment. We must all find opportunities and strive for spiritual maturity. And I think we can start by reading the Bible :) 

Chapter 4

Hebrews 4:16

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Going through a trying time in my life right now- full of doubts and uncertainties -but it comforts me to know that I have a Jesus who can sympathize with me and fully grasp the gravity of my weaknesses (verse 15). Do not be afraid to confess your mishaps, He understands you :)

Chapter 3

Good morning! I am reading the book of Hebrews but I think I am going to need a  bible upgrade soon heh =p

I was doing some background reading on Hebrews and only then found out that an unknown author specifically wrote this book for the Jews. It was a pleasant surprise as I have always thought it was penned by apostle Paul. 

Verses 3-6 talk about faithfulness. Jesus was regarded as faithful even more so than Moses when he led the Israelites out of Egypt and on the way to the Promised Land (although he was not able to set foot on Canaan himself). An analogy was given emphasising the greatness of Jesus compared to Moses. 

Hebrews 3:3-4

For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.

Verses 7-15 instruct the Jews to be faithful until the end, also warning them that if they rebel, they will never be able to enter His Kingdom. The author quoted Psalms 95:7-11 and the consequence of being stubborn and disobedient was this: 

Hebrews 3:11 

So I swore in My wrath,‘They shall not enter My rest.'

The author flashbacked during the time of Moses when they travelled in the wilderness for forty years before they reached the Promised Land (verses 16-19).

I will never forget one Friday evening fellowship with the Leeds Chinese Church almost 5 years ago. Wee Leon was our speaker for the night and his message spoke to me in volumes. (This man is blessed with the gift of speech, not to mention, really smart. He's a Singaporean plastic surgeon by the way!). He spoke about the three stages of Christian living and he categorised each as Egypt, Wilderness and Promised Land. We closed our eyes to assess our faith and consider what stage we were at, then he called out each stage and asked us to raise our hands to whichever applies to us (still with eyes closed). I responded to Wilderness. How true was that for me? I could never be more honest to myself and to God during the time.

Just fyi, Egypt represents the time before we accepted Jesus Christ as our Personal Lord and Saviour, Wilderness symbolises the trying period of our Christian lives and Promised Land signifies victorious living in Christ.

As mentioned in Hebrews 3:16 onwards, God freed them from slavery in Egypt through Moses as their leader but the people angered the Lord which caused them to suffer for forty years. Verse 17b says,"... Was it not those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?" So yes, it is not enough to just acquire the name CHRISTIAN, but to fully understand the meaning of it and live it.

Simple message. We must remain faithful as we wait for His Second Coming. This life is never going to be easy as we are considered a fallen nation and the enemy is strong but we have the Holy Spirit to help us fight the sins of this world and be victorious. So then all of us who are called must leave the wilderness and AIM TO REACH THE PROMISED LAND.