HEBREWS

General Outline

I. The New Testament is better than and takes the place of the First Testament because its Founder, the Messiah, is better than (1:1-8:6)

1. The prophets (1:1-3)
2. The angels (1:4-2:18)
3. Moses (3:1-6)
4. Joshua (3:7-4:13)
5. Aaron (4:14-8:6)

II. The New Testament is better than and takes the place of the First Testament (8:7-10:39), because

1. It was prophesied to be better (8:7-13)
2. It is actual; the First Testament only typical (9:1-15)
3. It is made effective with better blood (9:16-10:39)

III. Faith, not works, the way of salvation, as proved by instance of First Testament saints (11:1-12:2)

IV. Final Warnings and Exhortations (12:3-13:25)

Detailed Outline

I. The New Testament is better than and takes the place of the First Testament because its Founder, the Messiah, is better than (1:1-8:6)

1. The prophets (1:1-3)
a. God the Son, heir of all things, and creator of the universe
b. the outshing of God's glory, the expression of the nature or essence of Deity, the sustainer of the universe He created, and the Sacrifice that paid for sin
2. The angels (1:4-2:18)
a. Has a better name, Son
b. Is worshipped by angels
c. Is Creator and Master of angels
d. Has an eternal throne and is anointed with the Holy Spirit
e. Is unchangeable
f. Is seated at God's right hand
g. Has ushered in a Testament which displaces theirs
(1) Warning against letting New Testament slip away
(2) If rejection of First Testament truth was punished, how much more will rejection of New Testament truth be punished, which truth was spoken by the Lord, confirmed by those who heard Him, and attested by miracles
h. Is to be Ruler over the Messianic Kingdom
(1) Angels, being servants,cannot rule
(2) Adam, placed over earth, lost his dominion through sin
(3) Our Lord has regained this dominion for man, who will be associated with Him in His rule.
i. Is the High Priest who has put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself
(1) He becomes Saviour through His death on the cross
(2) This death made possible through His incarnation
(3) As High Priest for human beings, it was necessary that He become incarnate
3. Moses (3:1-6)
a. He is Creator of Israel, Moses only a member of that house
b. He is Son of God over Israel, Moses a servant
4. Joshua (3:7-4:13)
a. Warning against ardening their hearts toward the Holy Spirit as the wilderness wanderers hardened their hearts against God.
b.That generation did not enter Canaan rest
c. The evidence of the fact that the recipient is saved, is that he retains his profession of faith in Messiah under the stress of persecution, not going back to the First Testament sacrifices.
d. The recipient will die in his sins if he fails to put his faith in Messiah as High Priest, just as the wilderness wanderers died a physical death because of unbelief.
e. Exhortation to enter rest in Messiah, and warning against continued unbelief.
5. Aaron (4:14-8:6)
a. Ascended through the heavens into the actual Holy of Holies
b. Was taken, not from among men, but from the Godhead
c. Is sinless
d. Is an eternal High Priest
e. Becomes actual High Priest through His death and resurrection
f. Is the reality as High Priest, which does away with the types of the First Testament
(1) The recipients hard to teach and dull as to spiritual perception
(2) They had been instructed in New Testament truth
(3) They were babes, that is, immature in their spiritual thinking
(4) They are exhorted to put away "the beginning word of the Christ," namely, the Levitical ritual, and be borne along to New Testament truth, and are warned against laying down again a foundation of First Testament doctrines.
(5) They had been enlightened by the Holy Spirit as to New Testament truth, and they had tasted of that which constitutes salvation, and had been made partakers of the Holy Spirit.
(6) They had tasted the Word and had seen the attesting miracles.
(7) They had been led into repentance. Now should they fall away from their profession of faith in Messiah and back to the sacrifices, it would be impossible to renew them to repentance.
(8) The saved among the recipients would not apostatize. The unsaved exhorted to follow in the steps of faith of the saved.
g. Is a High Priest who actually brings the believer into an eternal standng in grace.
(1) Abraham, the man of faith who was rewarded, a precedent
(2) God's oath and God's promise guarantee the believer's eternal retention of salvation
(3) This salvation made possible by the presence of the High Priest in the heavenly Holy of Holies
h. A High Priest after the order of Melchisedec
(1) Melchisedec, a sinner saved by grace, had no recorded parents, no recorded date of birth or death
(2) A type, therefore, of Messiah in His eternal priesthood
i. A High Priest in a superior order of priesthood
(1) The Aaronic priests received tithes
(2) Melchisedec received tithes from Abraham, therefore, was better than he
(3) Melchisedec in type still receiving tithes, whereas Aaronic priests died.
(4) Aaron in Abraham paid tithes to Melchisedec, therefore, the latter is superior; therefore, Messiah is better than Aaron, being a priest in the order of Melchisedec
j. Is High Priest of a Testament that offered a sacrifice that put away sin
(1) The First Testament neither offered nor made anything complete
(2) First Testament priest came from tribe of Levi, the New Testament priest from the tribe of Judah
(3) First Testament set aside in favor of a better Testament
k. Messiah lives forever: the Aaronic priests died
(1) Because mortal, there were many Aaron priests
(2) Our Lord, because eternal, has a non-transferable priesthood thus able to save the believer forever
(3) A better High Priest, because sinless
l. Officiates in a better tablernacle
(1) His tabernacle the heavenly one; Aaron's merely the type
(2) His Testament therefore better than the one Aaron served under

1. It was prophesied to be better (8:7-13)
a. The First Testament faulty in that it did not put away sin
b. New Testament made with Isreae and Judah
c. First Testament dealt with Israel as with a minor
d. New Testament through indwelling Spirit brings believers to adult sonship
e. Under the New Testament, all individuals in Israel will know the Lord
f. Under New Testament, sins put away
g. New Testament displaces First Testament
2. It is actual; The First Testament only typical (9:1-15)
a. First Testament typical
(1) Its sanctuary on earth
(2) Its appointments typical
(3) Its priesthood temporary
b. New Testament actual
(1) The reality better than the type
(2) The sacrificial blood better
(a) It was His own blood
(b) Animal blood cleanses from ceremonial defilement
(c) Jesus' blood cleanses from actual sin
(d) Therefore, He is the Priest of a better Testament
3. It is made effective with better blood (9:16-10:39)
a. The heavenly Testator Himself dies
(1) A last will or testament operative at testator's death
(2) First Testament made operative by death of an animal
b. The better tabernacle purified with better blood
(1) Earthly tabernacle cleansed with animal blood
(2) Heavenly tabernacle cleansed with blood of Messiah
c. The once for all sacrifice of Messiah better than all the sacrificesof the First Testament
(1) He suffered once on the cross; He appears in heaven as High Priest now: He will come in His second Advent to Israel. Notice, if you will, the three appearings of the Messiah here. These correspond to and are the fulfillment of the three appearings of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement in Israel.
(2) Blood of animals cannot take away sin
(3) In view of that fact, Messiah volunteers to become the sacrifice. In so doing, He sets aside the First and establishes the Second Testament.
(4) Notwithstanding the fact that the First Testament had been set aside by God, and the New Testament had been brought in, the Aaronic priests still offered animal sacrifices.
(5) The New Testament Priest procured a finished salvation
(6) The Holy Spirit through Jeremiah bears witness to the New Testament
(7) The unsaved professing Hebrew exhorted to place his faith in the High Priest of the New Testament
(8) He is exhorted to hold fast his profession and not waver between the desire to go on to faith in Messiah or to go back to the sacrifices
(9) Exhorted to continue attendance upon the New Testament assembly
(10) Warned not to sin wilfully in renouncing his professed faith in Messiah and going back to the sacrifices
(11) For the one who would go back, there remains only judgment
(12) The one who rejected the First Testament was punished
(13) The one committing the threefold sin against the three Persons of the Triune God would be punished more severly
(14) The recipients are urged to remember the persecutions they endured for their testimony to Messiah, and not let them go for naught by returning to the sacrifices.
(15) They are urged to obtain jusification through placing their faith in Messiah, and not draw back to perdition

1. Faith defined (11:1-3)
2. Faith illustrated (11:4-40)
3. Faith exhorted (12:1,2)]

1. If these Jews remain under the chastening hand of God, and do not seek to escape persecution by renouncing their professed faith in Messiah, that is an evidence that they are saved. But if they do the opposite, that shows that they have never been saved (12:3-17)
2. When they come to New Testament truth, they come, not to the thunders of Sinai, but to the grace of Calvary (12:18-24)
3. They are warned not to refuse the Lord Jesus, for those who refused Moses were punished (12:25-29)
4. General exhortations (13:1-17)
5. Closing words (13:18-25)