Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
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The Questions
1) Who is the High Priest referenced and how did he “pass through the heavens”?
2) What “confession” are we to “hold fast to”?
3) Why is it significant that the High Priest has been tempted “in every way we are”?
Hebrews 4:14-16
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.
Original Intent
1) Who is the High Priest referenced and how did he “pass through the heavens”?
Verse 14 continues by answering exactly who this High Priest is: Jesus Christ. The name “Jesus” meaning our Savior, and the title of “Son of God” signifying complete authority as God and Himself having the full nature of the Divinity. This is the Son of God who had been promised to come to earth centuries earlier through the prophets, and even hinted at as far back as the Garden of Eden. There is no question in the original hearer’s minds, Jesus Is God. The only God, the Great I Am, co-equal with God the Father and pre-existing with God the Father before Time itself began. The bold statement leaves zero room for any other conclusion or theory. Jesus wasn’t a “good man”, a “popular prophet”, or a “figment of imagination”. No, Jesus is the Son of God. The Messiah, the Savior of the world, who “passed through the heavens” by setting aside His rightful Glory, in order to come to us for one purpose: to reconcile us to Himself by becoming our High Priest.
2) What “confession” are we to “hold fast to”?
The “therefore” at the beginning of verse 14 links the full words in the first question to this phrase, “let us hold fast to our confession.” Because Jesus, the Son of God, has passed through the heavens and become our High Priest, we can confidently hold fast to our confession. The “confession” is clarified by a cross reference to Hebrews 10:23 which states, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” The confession is the same one Paul speaks of when he instructs non-believers to “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:9-10) The author of Hebrews is encouraging his listeners to not turn away from the gospel they both confessed with their lips and believed in their hearts. Jesus alone can save us and keep our souls for all eternity; we are to guard that and keep it at our forefront.
3) Why is it significant that the High Priest has been tempted “in every way we are”?
Later in Hebrews 5:2, the author writes, “He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.” In my arrogance as a parent, sometimes (er, often…), I get greatly annoyed with the little owies and complaints and fringe injustices that my children want me to listen to. They want real compassion, they want someone on their side, they will even ask me things like, “Have you ever had a splinter go into you hand?” What they want to know is am I really “there with them”, or am I just so far superior that I could care less about their childhood aches and pains. What would be arrogance on my part, is something the Lord will never do to one of us as His children. Abuse? He’s experienced it. Disrespect? Yes. Injustice? Ridicule? Harsh words? Rejection? Abandonment? Loneliness? Fear? Stress? This High Priest who passed through the heavens came that He might be our High Priest, a very “with us” God, One who has experienced the highs and lows and everything in between that we have, yet was without sin, that He might fulfill His purpose, sacrificing His blameless self that we might have direct, unabated access to His Glorious Throneroom!
Everyday Application
1) Who is the High Priest referenced and how did he “pass through the heavens”?
I love finding the “gospel in a nutshell” in just a few short words scattered all throughout Scripture, and this verse doesn’t disappoint! Sometimes, we need to intentionally slow way down when we think about Jesus and God, and ask obvious questions, then allowing ourselves to wrestle with the answer. Not a “church-y” answer, but one that’s well though through, one we know exactly what every word in our response means. For example, consider if someone asked you the following questions. Take some time to slowly and thoughtfully write down your answers that involve more than a few words. Put some meat on the bone of what you believe! Consider if someone were to ask you: Who is Jesus? Why did He die? How can one man take away “all the sin” of the world? Why do Christians say that Jesus is God? Enjoy your time of discovery then share it with a friend, challenging them to do the same!
2) What “confession” are we to “hold fast to”?
It’s one thing to mentally understand what the author is saying in these verses and be able to follow his reasoning, but it’s quite another to put it into everyday, practical practice. When the cereal explodes from the minivan….we need the gospel at the forefront to remember that we are sinners just like our children, and we make plenty of bigger messes in our relationships and other areas, yet the High Priest intercedes on our behalf! When a spouse blows up over something you know you didn’t do and your first reaction is to jump to anger….we need to keep the gospel at the forefront. The gospel that says man’s anger never accomplishes the righteousness of God and that, if Jesus can stand in our place, though we woefully are undeserving, we can offer the same grace in a loving way.
The gospel, we need it every single day. We must immerse ourselves in it by daily reading His Word and connecting with the Lord through continual prayer. This is what the author means when he urges, “let us hold fast to our confession!”
3) Why is it significant that the High Priest has been tempted “in every way we are”?
How often do we easily fall into thinking, “I’m the only one like this. Only I struggle in this area. I’m alone.”? These are lies straight from the Enemy of our Souls and we must fight against them with Solid Truth. Truth that says we are never alone, we have been bought with a price, Jesus is “for us”, there is no condemnation or shame for those in Christ Jesus. These are truths to win a battle with! Take time to slowly think through the soundtrack that plays in your mind as you go through your day today. Where are you critical, performance based, without grace, and freely distributing negative words to yourself and others? Challenge yourself to fight back with truth. Arm yourself well with Scripture, and hold tightly to the glorious gospel, knowing you were bought with the precious blood of the High Priest who knows exactly what it’s like to be you!
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Digging Deeper is for Everyone!
1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!
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Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
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