CHAPTER ONE

Contents: The great salvation provided through Jesus Christ who is above prophets and better than angels.

Characters: God, Christ.

Conclusion: Jesus Christ as God was equal with the Father, but as God-man revealed the Father to men and became the Mediator between God and men. He is appointed heir of all things, sovereign Lord, absolute dispose? and director both of all persons and all things. He is above every other messenger ever sent into the world and has a name preeminent above all heavenly beings.

Key Word: Christ's deity, vv. 3, 8.

Strong Verses: 3, 8.

Striking Facts: v. 3. The person of the Son was the true image and character of the Person of the Father. He is not said to be the "likeness" of God (implying resemblance) but "image," which means that He reveals God. In beholding His power, wisdom and goodness, men were beholding the Father, for He was God manifest in the flesh, having all the perfections of God in Him.

CHAPTER TWO

Contents: Warning against neglecting so great a salvation. Earth to be put under Christ. Jesus temporarily lower than angels to work out salvation for man.

Characters: God, Christ, Holy Spirit, Satan, Abraham.

Conclusion: The salvation provided by Jesus Christ is so great a salvation that none can express nor conceive how great it is. It discovers a great Savior who has manifested God to be reconciled to our natures and reconcilable to our persons. He was made, for a time, lower than angels, that He might humble Himself unto death for our sakes. The fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Him, His suffering could make satisfaction for sin and make salvation possible to all. To reject so great a salvation is thereby made the worst of crimes against God.

Key Word: Great salvation, v. 3.

Strong Verses: 3, 9, 10, 14, 17, 18.

Striking Facts: vv. 17, 18. Christ became man that He might die, for as God He could not die, therefore He assumed another nature and state. To be a perfect Savior of mankind, He must in every way take man's place being proven perfect under all conditions, and then, as the perfect One, bear our sins. Because of His sufferings as a man, He is made a merciful High Priest, in every way qualified to succor His people.

CHAPTER THREE

Contents: Christ the Son better than Moses the servant. Warning against unbelief.

Characters: God, Christ, Holy Spirit, Moses.

Conclusion: We owe to Jesus Christ as the principal messenger sent of God to man, the prime minister of the Gospel church, immediate and careful consideration, lest by delay our hearts be hardened and we should be eternally rejected because of unbelief. Turning a deaf ear to His calls and councils is the spring of all other sins, and the cause of final separation from God.

Key Word: Warning, v. 12.

Strong Verses: 1,12,13.

Striking Facts: v. 1. Jesus Christ as Apostle, spoke from God to men: as High Priest of our profession, He is the Head of the Church, upon whose satisfaction and intercession we profess to depend for acceptance with God. It was necessary to remind the Jews who held Moses in such esteem and were bent on mixing law with grace, that Christ as Son of God was above Moses, therefore His Word was final and His sacrifice sufficient.

CHAPTER FOUR

Contents: The better rest for the believer. The perfect work of redemption.

Characters: God, Christ, David.

Conclusion: The privileges by Christ under the Gospel are far greater than those enjoyed under the Mosaic law. The seventh day rest commemorating a finished creation, was but a type of heart-rest which is to be had by covenant relation with Jesus Christ, and which is offered to those who will renounce their own works as a means of salvation and put their entire trust in the finished work of the Great High Priest who has passed into the heavens.

Key Word: Rest, v. 1.

Strong Verses: 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15.

Striking Facts: vv. 14-16. The believer should encourage himself, by the excellency and finished work of his Great High Priest, to come boldly to the throne of grace which has taken the place of the throne of inexorable justice. Through Christ's sacrifice, a way is instituted by which God may with honor meet poor sinners and treat with them, no earthly priest being necessary.

CHAPTER FIVE

Contents: Christ, our Great High Priest after the order of Melchisedec.

Characters: God, Christ, Aaron, Melchisedec.

Conclusion: God was pleased to take One from among men, His only begotten Son, who above all others, was qualified to be a High Priest dealing between God and sinful men. By Him, we have approach to God in hope and God may receive us with honor. Let us therefore not attempt to go to God but through Christ, nor expect any favor from God except upon His merits.

Key Word: High Priest, vv. 1, 10.

Strong Verses: 8, 9.

Striking Facts: v. 10. Melchisedec was a type of Christ as High Priest, being both a King and a Priest (Gen. 14:18, Zech. 6:12, 13). Melchisedec has no recorded beginning nor end of life, and the very absence of these facts makes him a type of Him who was from eternity. Christ is the Only One in whom universal Kingship and Priesthood may center.

CHAPTER SIX

Contents: Warning against mixture of law and grace. Danger of tasting the Spirit's work in grace and then going back to ceremonies.

Characters: Christ, God, Holy Spirit, Abraham, Melchisedec.

Conclusion: Those who have advanced to the very threshold of Christ's salvation, even being clearly convicted by the Holy Spirit and fully enlightened in the Word of God as to the way of life, again turning to trust in dead works and ceremonies, put Christ to an open shame and will not be renewed again to repentance by the Holy Spirit. The true believer takes refuge wholly in Christ's finished work, in which he finds a hope sure and steadfast leading him heavenward.

Key Word: Dead works, v. 1.

Strong Verses: 10, 18, 19.

Striking Facts: vv. 4-6. These verses do not apply to backsliders, for it states that there is no restoration possible after having once fallen away. The reference is to Hebrews fully enlightened in the prophecies about Christ, and having seen Him and having been carried along by the evident work of the Holy Spirit following His resurrection, yet rejecting all this light. For such there was no further conviction, v. 9 shows that this cannot occur to a true believer, who has "received" not merely "tasted" and is "sealed by the Spirit," not merely a "partaker" in His illuminating work.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Contents: Melchisedec as a type of Christ. Comparison of. Melchisedec and Aaronic priesthoods.

Characters: God, Christ, Melchisedec, Abraham, Levi, Aaron, Moses.

Conclusion: Jesus Christ, the true King-Priest, the anti-type of Melchisedec is greater than all the priests of the order of Aaron, and is the mediator of all blessings to the children of men. Whereas the Levitical priesthood could bring nothing to perfection, nor justify men from guilt, Christ's priesthood brings with it a better hope a foundation of salvation and perfect security in Him as Intercessor in heaven.

Key Word: Better priesthood, vv. 17, 22.

Strong Verses: 19, 24, 25, 26, 27.

Striking Facts: v. 26. No priest could be suitable or sufficient for our reconciliation to God, but One who could meet the conditions hero laid down, and our Lord Jesus alone could meet them. He was free from all habits or principles of sin, never did the least wrong to God or man, was absolutely undefiled in His own life, and was never accessory to other man's sins. Those who come to God by Him are saved, not only PROM the uttermost, but TO the uttermost, (v. 25).

CHAPTER EIGHT

Contents: Aaronic priests a shadow of Christ who mediates a better covenant.

Characters: God, Christ, Moses.

Conclusion: We have in our Lord Jesus Christ such a High Priest as no other people ever had, all others being but types and shadows of Him. He is the author of a new covenant, better than the old, which was not efficacious; established on better promises; obedience to it springing from a willing heart and mind rather than from fear; securing the personal revelation of the Lord to every believer and guaranteeing the complete oblivion of sins through His finished work.

Key Word: Better covenant, vv. 6, 13.

Strong Verses: 12.

Striking Facts: v. 4. There are no earthly successors to the priestly tribe of Aaron, for the reason that it is now a heavenly office centered in Jesus Christ. The earthly priesthood is out of commission, for with the atoning death of Christ the vail was rent.

CHAPTER NINE

Contents: Ordinances and sanctuary of the old covenant as types of the new. The realities of the new covenant which is sealed by the blood of Christ.

Characters: God, Holy Spirit, Aaron, High Priest, Moses.

Conclusion: Christ is a more excellent High Priest than any under the law, who but prefigured the work He came to do. He has entered once for all within the Holiest place. Having undertaken to be our High Priest He could not have been admitted into heaven without shedding His blood for us, having no errors of His own to offer for, and neither can any of us enter God's glorious presence except by a saving trust in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, without which remission for sins is impossible.

Key' Word: Atonement, v. 22.

Strong Verses: 11, 12, 15, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28.

Striking Facts: vv. 24-28. We have here three great aspects of the work of Christ, v. 26 atonement the past tense of His work for our salvation, v. 24 advocacy the present tense of His work for us. v. 28. advent when He will return to complete our salvation from the very presence of sin.

CHAPTER TEN

Contents: Law only a shadow of things to come. Through Christ a way made into the Holiest for all believers. Warning to the Hebrews who were wavering between Jewish sacrifices and Christ's finished work.

Characters: God, Christ, Holy Spirit, Moses.

Conclusion: The legal sacrifices under the law, which were but shadows of Christ's atonement, could never make the comers perfect nor satisfy justice. Now, under the Gospel, Christ's atonement is perfect and not to be repeated, and the sinner once pardoned, is ever pardoned as to his standing, and only needs to walk in communion with God, on the basis of Christ's blood, to have a continuous sense of God's pardon and favor.

Key Word: Better sacrifice, v. 12.

Strong Verses: 4, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 19-25, 29, 31, 37.

Striking Facts: vv. 26-29. In v. 26, "more sacrifice" should be "other sacrifice." If this "judgment and fiery indignation" were the penalty of every sin, what Christian could escape for there is none who has not since converted given way to sin by consent of the will. These verses must be taken with the context, which contrasts the inefficacious and oft-repeated sacrifices of the law with the one sacrifice of Christ. There were many Hebrews perfectly enlightened, having witnessed the works of Christ and the Holy Spirit, but who deliberately put themselves under the law, trusting to "other sacrifices," thereby treading under foot the blood of Christ.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Contents: Superiority of the way of faith. Instances of faith.

Characters: God, Christ, Abel, Cain, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sara, Joseph, Moses, Pharaoh's daughter, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthae, David, Samuel.

Conclusion: Faith is the firm persuasion that God will perform all that He has promised to us in Christ, and brings the soul a present fruition and foretaste of eternal things, which sets a seal that God is true. The way of faith is the way of victory, peace, assurance, and endurance.

Key Word: Faith, v. 1.

Strong Verses: 1, 6.

Striking Facts: vv. 2, 39. The effect of faith with God is "good reputation." Is it any wonder that God cannot be pleased when men are devoid of that trust in His Word and in Jesus Christ whom He has sent, which receives Him as Savior and Lord and impels to obedience and good works?

CHAPTER TWELVE

Contents: The Father's chastening of believers and its purpose. The difference between living under law and under grace.

Characters: God, Christ, Esau, Moses, Abel.

Conclusion: Christians have a race to run, of service and sufferings, a course of active and passive obedience, in all of which they need to keep their eyes fixed upon the Lord Jesus. The best of God's children may need chastisement, but afflictions rightly endured, though they be the fruits of God's displeasure are yet proofs of His paternal love and designed to fit us better for His service and to bring us closer into His fellowship.

Key Word: Chastening, v. 5.

Strong Verses: 1, 2, 5, 6, 14, 25.

Striking Facts: vv. 1, 2. Christ is not only the object, but the Author of our faith. He is the purchaser of the Spirit of faith and the publisher of the rule 'of faith and the cause of the grace of faith. He is also the finisher of our faith the fulfilling of all Scripture promises and prophecies, the finisher of grace, the rewarder of faith and will eventually bring faith to an end by bringing us to Himself.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Contents: Exhortations to the Christian. Separation and worship. Apostolic

benediction.

Characters: God, Christ, Timothy. Conclusion: Our Lord Jesus purchased us with His blood that He might set us apart a peculiar people zealous of good works. Let us therefore seek to excel in those duties becoming to Christians, such as brotherly love, generosity, contentment, obedience to those over us, fixedness in the faith, patient suffering with Him and continual praise.

Key Word: Instructions.

Strong Verses: 1, 5, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16.

Striking Facts: vv. 12, 13. Our Lord Jesus was the perfect anti-type of the sin offering, being offered "without the gate," a striking illustration of His humiliation as a sin bearer. The believer is therefore exhorted to go forth from the ceremonial law, from sin, from the world, and identify himself with Christ, being willing to bear His reproach in gratitude for the salvation He has provided.