Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. (15) For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. (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.

The author of Hebrews is unknown. In our verses today the great theme of the priesthood of Christ Jesus is introduced. The first readers of this epistle were Jewish Christians who were tempted to abandon the Christian faith and return to Judaism because of persecution. But Jesus is not just another high priest. He has passed through the heavens (ascension) into the very presence of God and sits at God’s right hand (rather than stands) because His work is finished. Once and for all He made atonement for our sins. If He had not been fully human He could not have atoned for our sin. But He is also fully God. Jesus was tempted in all things but was never tempted by indwelling sin – He was like Adam and Eve before the fall; for Jesus temptation had to come from without, not from within.

Since sin involves the whole person, in this sense Jesus could not have sinned or He would have ceased to be God. Jesus met every temptation to sin not by His divine power but by His human nature relying on the Father and the Spirit. His divine nature could not be tempted or sin but His human nature could..This is difficult to understand but Scripture tells us Jesus truly was tempted and He never sinned. He is our sympathetic and sinless high priest. In contrast, once a year on the Day of Atonement, the Jewish High Priest alone would enter into the Holy of Holies to make amendment for all the sins of that nation. When he came out alive it meant to the people that God had accepted the sacrifice for their sins fo another year.

The author of Hebrews is addressing every believer – we do not have to go through any human priest to draw hear to God. We could not come in on our own merit or righteousness but the faithful come with confidence because Jesus, our high priest, has gained us access. We can expect mercy and grace to help. We are engaged in spiritual warfare and mercy is the remission of deserved judgment while grace is the supply of undeserved blessing. Our great high priest, Jesus, will not leave, nor forsake, nor fail His saints.

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (13) And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews is unknown. Some Hebrew Christians were seriously thinking of renouncing their faith in Christ and turning back to Judaism but apart from Christ there is no salvation and the only thing that keeps Christians from experiencing God’s rest is unbelief. In our verses it is not the present rest found in Christ in faith being explained but the “rest of God” which is future – the rest of coming glory, an eternal rest which believers enter at Christ’s coming again. Then righteousness will reign and “groaning” creation is delivered and all the promised glory will be accomplished. The perfect complete rest of God is the new heaven and earth, when God dwells among men and sin and death are forever gone – this is God’s rest for His people

It is God’s Word that brings to light and judges the unbelief and workings of the heart. – judges everything in the heart which is not of Him. In this context the Word of God refers to all of God’s spoken revelation, including that which came through His Son, recorded in written form in Scripture. The Word is living since God is the living God. It imparts new life to dead sinners; both the Wordfrom God and the Word about God. It is our only source of knowing specific truth about God and when we see God as He is, we also see ourselves as we are. God’s Word is sharp and piercing and cuts to the very core of our being, the purpose of which is to bring healing, not to leave us wounded. God sees everything – we are naked and helpless before God, not just outwardly but on a heart level.

Man has this deficient historical perspective and the author of Hebrews has the clue to history: Jesus Christ has come and He will come again. In the meantime we wait patiently for God’s rest to come. The Lord God has to cause us to realize through the Spirit that we are lost and cannot get to heaven on the basis of what we do but that salvation is a gift. We have no claim on God whatsoever. We learn in God’s Word that we rest in what Christ Jesus has done. That is the first rest. The second rest discussed here is God’s rest – enjoying all the blessings that God has promised that faithful believers will experience in heaven.

But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. (10) For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. (11) For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.

The author of Hebrews is unknown. The primary group addressed were Hebrew Christians who suffered rejection and persecution by fellow Jews. The letter was written to give them encouragement and confidence in Christ, their Messiah and High-Priest. Judaism had a very difficult time with a suffering Messiah so we can understand how the author of Hebrews, dealing with professing Jewish believers who are in danger of rejecting Christ would underline the necessity of the sufferings of the Lord. Christ is spoken of as a captain (author) of the many and He will bring them to glory. As originator of their salvation he had to suffer and die. His person is perfect but He had to be perfected through suffering as a Savior. Jesus is the Son of God, in incarnation taking the form of a man, making purification for sin. He is constituted the heir of all things as He created all things. He makes the invisible God visible

Capital punishment serves justice and warns that those who may consider a similar crime that they might be executed: but consider how it could be fitting that a good man die. That is precisely what the author of Hebrews says about the death of Jesus Christ. Jewish Christians were struggling with the offense of the cross. They were tempted by unbelieving Jews who rejected Jesus as Messiah because He died – not as conqueror or hero but as a common criminal, the most shameful death on a Roman cross. The author of Hebrews is showing why Jesus’ death did not disqualify Him as Messiah and Savior. In fact, Jesus’ death was God’s means not only to glorify Jesus but to also bring many sons to glory. It was part of God’s eternal plan – the cross did not thwart this plan but fulfilled it. Jesus death was fitting because it displays God’s perfect attributes – justice demanded that the penalty for sin be paid. His death was fitting because it confirms His perfect humanity. Jesus is perfect in His attributes and perfect in moral obedience. To be our perfect substitute He had to be without sin Himself but had to experience life as a human in this fallen world. To be our perfect sympathetic High Priest, He had to be tempted in all things, as we are, yet without sin. His suffering and death confirmed His perfect humanity and qualified Him as author of our salvation.

Trust in the death of Jesus as the only acceptable payment for sin. It is not a stumbling block or foolishness to you but rather the power and wisdom of God. Jesus Christ is God’s final word to man.

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! (2) Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. (3) Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. (4) Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. (5) You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. (6) You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

Our verses today were written to the unbelieving rich oppressors by James, the half brother of Jesus and the head of the ancient church in Jerusalem. James turns his full attention to their foolishness in amassing wealth in the face of the coming of the Lord in judgment and addresses particular sins they have committed. The reason for writing to unbelievers is both to comfort the Christian who has suffered at their hands and also to warn the believers of the true condition of many of the wealthy. Weep and howl are the response of the rich when judgment falls on them; words such as rotten, moth-eaten and rusted reveal the real worthlessness of the wealth these people have accumulated. To be rich without God is to be short sighted. Wealth of this world is temporary – eternity is ahead. Man may pursue wealth to neglect pursuing God; or to trust wealth as a solution to our deepest need – both are folly. The things some trust for comfort now will result in final ruin.

There is nothing wrong with living comfortably but these things become a problem when they begin to control us instead of us controlling them. To be rich without God provides short term advantages but long term loss – nobody escapes God’s judgment. Be careful not to use wealth in an ungodly manner; hoarding, cheating people out of money, living in luxury while disregarding needs of others, hurting people for the sake of gain. A small sin always exposes us to worse sin. And no man can be certain that his wealth will abide – it may be swept away in a most unexpected manner. James rebukes selfish pleasure lovers who have been wanton and whose doom is certain in the coming day of the Lord.

The spirit the rich manifested in heaping treasures together, oppressing the poor and needy, robbing them and living in pleasure is the same which condemned and killed the just one, the Lord Jesus Christ, who did not resist. Wealth can be a good tool if we are careful to use it as stewards for the Lord – or a dangerous trap if we adopt a worldly perspective towards it.