Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.       Genesis 4:3 says that, Cain, a son of Adam and Eve, brought “an offering” to God from the ground. Perhaps Cain was a farmer. In contrast to this, his brother Abel brought G...  Read More

Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.       Prior to anything tangible existing, God was existing—all three members of the Trinity dwelling together in eternity in perfect love and unity, lacking nothing. Everything that this one God existing eternally in three distinct persons chose ...  Read More

Hebrews 10:39—11:2 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval.       Having warned his audience about the eternal dangers of turning against Jesus Christ after having previously believed in Him (10...  Read More

Hebrews 10:37-39 For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. 38 But My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.            Back around 610 BC the prophet Habakkuk was praying to God in a particula...  Read More

Hebrews 10:35-36 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.            In Jesus’ parable of the soils in Mark 4:1-9 (cf. Matt. 13:3-9, 18-23), He surmises a preacher who sows the word of God like a farmer sows seed in his fields. The seed represents the gos...  Read More

Hebrews 10:32-34 But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, 33 partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. 34 For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a ...  Read More

Matthew 13:8-9, 23 And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear… 23 And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”            When the word of God is preached, ...  Read More

1 Timothy 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith.            Notably, the Spirit of God (i.e., Scripture) says that in “later times” some who will “fall away” from the faith. The Greek for “fall away” (Gr. aphistēmi) is literally “from standing.” Now neither the Apostle Paul nor any other writer of Scripture ever promotes the false notion that a C...  Read More

Hebrews 10:30-31 For we know [God] who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.            The Holy God of the Bible is certainly the God of love, but He is also the God of wrath. Since His wrath is upon all who sin, and since all are sinners (Rom. 3:23), all are under His just wrath....  Read More

Hebrews 10:28-29 Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?           In Deuteronomy 17:2-7 God gave Moses the sti...  Read More

Hebrews 10:26-27 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.            The writer’s appeal to his Christian audience in vv. 22-25 concerned three applications vital for Christians in light of who Jesus Christ is as o...  Read More

Hebrews 10:26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins…            In Micah 2:4, the Hebrew term for one who falls or turns away from their faith is “apostate” (Heb. shobeb). And when one turns away from their faith, they commit the sin of “apostasy” (Jer. 8:5; Hos. 14:4). Now for one to become an apostate, one first...  Read More