We are not quite sure who the author of this letter is. The Lord knows. I like it that we don't know the details about the author, for I believe the Holy Spirit wants all the light to fall on the Holy Son (See 2 Peter 1:21; 2 Timothy 3:16). We do know that it was written to a community of Jewish people. The letter was written by the Holy Spirit. So this letter is also intended for you and for me. This letter was written before the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem in the year 70 A.D. The temple services went on as usual even though the big curtain was torn from the top to bottom.
Hebrews was written to three different groups of Jewish people:
1. Believers who came from Judaism. They were also persecuted by their own people for their faith in the Lord Jesus.
But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. [Hebrews 10:32-34 ESV]
(See also Hebrews 12:4). They ran the risk of continuing to mix the new with the old, with its rituals and its symbolism (Deuteronomy19:19). They were weak in calling unclean what Jesus had declared clean (Mark 7:19). They should by now have been teachers of the word of God (Hebrews 5:12).
2. Jewish people who were intellectually convinced, but had not yet accepted the Lord Jesus as their Lord and Saviour in their hearts. They loved the glory of men rather than the glory of the Lord (John 12:42-43; Heb. 2:1-3a; 6:4-6; 10:26).
Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. [John 12:42-43 ESV]
Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? [Hebrews 2:1-3a ESV]
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. [Hebrews 6:4-6 ESV]
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, [Hebrews 10:26 ESV]
3. Jewish people who were not fully convinced (Heb. 9:11-15, 28).
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. Hebrews 9:11-15 ESV]
so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. [Hebrews 11:28 ESV]
The first or old Covenant was not bad or wrong either! The Lord Himself had given it to them. But it was imperfect and temporary. It was dangerous for the common people to come near to God.
But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” [Exodus 33:20 ESV]
The people needed a perfect High Priest and a perfect sacrifice! The Lord Jesus fulfilled that 100% (Hebrews 8:1).
Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, [Hebrews 8:1 ESV]
The New Covenant gives us a better hope, a better covenant, better promises, a better sacrifice and a better land, which is the heavenly Jerusalem. Everything in the new and eternal covenant is completely and totally perfect.
For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.”
[Hebrews 13:20 ESV]
It was difficult for them to say goodbye to the Old Covenant altogether. They were not allowed to enter their synagogues and were more despised than the Gentiles. Paul, who was also a born again Jew, has written the following:
He is not a Jew who is one outwardly; nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that which is of the heart by the Spirit not by the letter, and his praise is not from men but from God (Romans 2:28-29).
We would never have known the Lord if he had not spoken to us through His Word' and in His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
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