Hebrews is a unique New Testament writing. It has a deep and singular theology, but it is presented in the interest of pastoral care for its readers. Calling itself a word of exhortation (13:22) and sounding very much like a sermon (see the rhetoric of 3:16–19), it begins in an abrupt and powerful way. Communicating a sense of urgency, the writer spends no time on introductory details or niceties. He cuts to the quick and plunges immediately into his main focus: the greatness of God’s Son.

The first three verses are an incredible depiction of the Son. He is the supreme revelation of God, indeed the mirror image of God, as well as the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer of the world. In him, God speaks and acts uniquely and ultimately. When the Son, later identified as our heavenly high priest, had made cleansing of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (1:1–3). "Eternal redemption" had been accomplished (compare 9:12).

As Hebrews develops the theme of the Son’s greatness in chapters 1–10, the Son is declared to be greater than the angels, Moses, the Levitical priests, the atoning sacrifices they made, the blood they poured out, the covenant they were part of, the sanctuary where they ministered, and the limited access to God they represented.

The emphasis on the greatness of Christ was of special relevance to the Jewish Christians to whom Hebrews seems obviously to be addressed. Their situation helps to explain the argument Hebrews presents. In 10:32–34, the writer asks them to recall the earlier days when they became Christians. After being enlightened with the message of salvation, they had a hard struggle with suffering.

Now, at the time Hebrews was written, they were facing difficult straits again. This can be inferred from the emphasis in Hebrews 11 on all those, starting with Moses, who suffered persecution, and in Hebrews 12 on Jesus who "endured the cross, disregarding its shame" (12:2). The readers are asked to "consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart" (12:3).

In their struggle they had not yet come to the point of martyrdom (12:4), but it seems clear that this was an imminent likelihood. Hebrews challenges them to endure their painful trials for the sake of discipline (12:7–11). With the picture of the suffering but now exalted Jesus before them (12:2) and the fact that the discipline of trials yields "the peaceful fruit of righteousness" (12:11), they are to lift their drooping hands and strengthen their weak knees (12:12).

So the situation of the readers was severe. The way of Jesus was arduous, trying, and fearsome. In such circumstances it would be easy for disappointment to set in, attendance at church services to wane (10:25), questions to arise about Christian teaching (5:11–12), and a root of bitterness to spring up and endanger their discipleship to Christ (12:15). Abandoning their confidence and shrinking back (10:35, 39), that is, apostasy, was a distinct possibility.

Hebrews has a number of strategies to combat apostasy. One is to call attention to the problem and to announce the dire consequences of turning from Christ, "the source of eternal salvation" (5:9). The first shot in this direction comes in 2:1–3, where the writer, after a call to pay attention to, rather than drift away from, the gospel, reasons that if the message of Sinai, declared through angels, brought retribution upon those who rejected it, how will those escape who neglect the great salvation proclaimed by the Lord Jesus and attested to by his disciples? With pastoral angst, the writer adjures his readers to take care that no one give up faith and turn away from the living God (3:12).

Then in a stunning declaration, Hebrews affirms that is it impossible to renew to repentance people who fall away after receiving God’s enlightenment, tasting the heavenly gift, partaking of the Holy Spirit, and experiencing the powers of the age to come (6:3–4). To reject Christ after receiving him amounts to crucifying him again and exposing him to public contempt (6:6). Or, as expressed later in Hebrews, the willful sin of apostasy from Christ and his sacrifice means spurning the Son of God, profaning the blood of the covenant, and outraging the Spirit of grace. To do this is to separate oneself from the only effective sacrifice for sins and thus to have only a fearful prospect of judgment (10:26–29).

The idea of the irreversibility of one’s rejection of Christ rests on two realities. One is the correspondence that necessarily exists between the absolute greatness of Christ’s salvation, and the warning not to reject him. To reject him as Savior is to fall into the abyss of lostness. So great the Savior, so great the loss. That one cannot repent again is a way of emphasizing this.

Second is the intense desire of the writer to keep his readers from apostasy. One can go too far in turning his back on God, in burning his spiritual bridges, and our author wants at all costs to prevent this. If Hebrews seems so strong on the issue of a second repentance, it is because the answer is so easy. Stay committed to Christ, the heavenly high priest, and life in the presence of God is assured. The author feels confident his readers will remain true and inherit God’s promises (6:9–12).

Another major strategy for warding off apostasy is to portray what Christ, as our high priest, accomplished by his sacrificial death and entry into God’s presence in the heavenly sanctuary. First, whereas the animal sacrifices of the earthly priests could never take away sins (10:12), Christ bore, removed, and cleansed sins by the sacrifice of himself (9:26, 28; 1:3; 2:17). Our sins no longer stand between us and God.

On the subjective level this means that the blood of Christ purifies our consciences from the guilt of our "dead works" so that we might worship "the living God" (9:14; compare 10:22). The sacrifices of the first covenant were impotent to do this (9:9, 13). We can now experience personally the forgiveness of our sins, which is a fundamental part of the new covenant promise (8:12; 9:15). This guarantees us access to the eternal inheritance promised by God (9:15).

Second, Jesus, as a consequence of his once for all sacrifice—in contrast to the ever-repeated sacrifices of the first covenant (7:27; 10:11–12)—has "entered into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf" (9:24). Otherwise put, he entered "within the veil" of the heavenly sanctuary (6:19; compare Lev. 16:2, 12, 15), where he intercedes for us (7:25).

On the subjective level, we can follow Jesus, our forerunner, into the inner sanctum of God and let our hope, like an anchor, fasten itself there (6:19–20). We are bidden to "approach God…in full assurance of faith" (10:22), to come to the very throne of God boldly, so that we may receive mercy and grace to help us whenever we have need (4:16). The blood of Jesus gives us confidence to enter the heavenly sanctuary, and his flesh is the veil, the new and living way, through which we pass into God’s presence (10:20). How, then, could any reject Jesus when he is the way to God? That is the underlying pastoral question of Hebrews.

Hebrews further teaches that Jesus, as our high priest, is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, for he became like us in every respect and was tested in every point as we are (2:17, 4:15). Because he was tested by suffering he is able to help those who are tested (2:18). As the readers of Hebrews face discouragement, suffering, and the possibility of death, they and we should remember that Jesus himself offered supplication to God with loud cries and tears and was heard because of his reverent submission to God. As one who learned obedience from what he suffered, he became the source of salvation for all who obey him (5:7–9). We are exhorted to identify with Jesus’ death outside Jerusalem’s gates and to be willing to bear the abuse he endured (13:13).

Finally, there is the eschatology of Hebrews, which embraces both present and future. The people of God, "strangers and foreigners on earth" (11:13), are pictured as journeying toward the heavenly kingdom of God. They are seeking a "homeland," a "better country" and indeed, God has prepared "a city" for them (11:14, 16). "For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come" (13:14).

Does this mean that we live by hope alone? Not at all! What we are looking for in all its fullness is what we, in significant measure, already have. We may be looking for a city, but even now, in our Christian experience, we "have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem" (12:22). We may be looking for the ultimate rest of the heavenly Canaan, but even now we can hear God’s call and through faith enter the salvific rest that Jesus provides and of which the seventh-day Sabbath is a sign (3:7–4:11). This rest will be consummated when Christ appears a second time "to save those who are eagerly waiting for him" (9:28).

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