Isaiah 55:1-12

““Hey, all who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come! Buy and eat! Come! Buy wine and milk without money and without cost! Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? Why spend your hard-earned money on something that will not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is nourishing! Enjoy fine food! Pay attention and come to me! Listen, so you can live! Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. Look, I made him a witness to nations, a ruler and commander of nations.” Look, you will summon nations you did not previously know; nations that did not previously know you will run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he bestows honor on you. Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; call to him while he is nearby! The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle and sinful people their plans. They should return to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. “Indeed, my plans are not like your plans, and my deeds are not like your deeds, for just as the sky is higher than the earth, so my deeds are superior to your deeds and my plans superior to your plans. The rain and snow fall from the sky and do not return, but instead water the earth and make it produce and yield crops, and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat. In the same way, the promise that I make does not return to me, having accomplished nothing. No, it is realized as I desire and is fulfilled as I intend.” Indeed you will go out with joy; you will be led along in peace; the mountains and hills will give a joyful shout before you, and all the trees in the field will clap their hands. Evergreens will grow in place of thorn bushes, firs will grow in place of nettles; they will be a monument to the Lord, a permanent reminder that will remain.”

— ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭1-13

YHWH makes an offer Israel can’t refuse here. They are stuck in exile, and He is offering restoration. Food and water that they didn’t earn or labor for in the field. They don’t own any fields. 

NET has 3-4 options on how to interpret “Davidic covenant” here, whether this is simply extending the covenant made to David to the entire nation or talking about the new covenant. Hebrew is unclear and needs more study. They use context to conclude the translation they have here.

“Seek Lord while he is available.” I thought God could always be found… “If you seek him, you will find him,” etc. I don’t think there’s a window of opportunity to repent or receive forgiveness per se. God is more than willing to extend grace. So this could be referring to a national window for Israel, or it could be just the natural cycle of life that people die. Window closed. 

We love several verses in this chapter…God’s thoughts higher than our thoughts…word does not return void. But this is again, another passage of promises to Israel in exile that God will bring them home. 

There’s actually weird promises about not paying for food and enemies coming to serve them. If/when Israel would repent, God would restore them. And God’s plans would be fulfilled. A new covenant would be inaugurated. 

Israel would find joy again…but it would not be the same as before. They actually have a hard time recovering from exile. But God does allow many of them to return home (those willing to return), and Messiah does come, and the kingdom expands to include Gentiles. 

This is cause for joy, and it’s certainly not what they were expecting. God’s plans were far more and far better.

Hebrews 10:19-39

 “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the fresh and living way that he inaugurated for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. And let us hold unwaveringly to the hope that we confess, for the one who made the promise is trustworthy. And let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works, not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and even more so because you see the day drawing near. For if we deliberately keep on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins is left for us, but only a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume God’s enemies. Someone who rejected the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for the Son of God, and profanes the blood of the covenant that made him holy, and insults the Spirit of grace? For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But remember the former days when you endured a harsh conflict of suffering after you were enlightened. At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and afflictions, and at other times you came to share with others who were treated in that way. For in fact you shared the sufferings of those in prison, and you accepted the confiscation of your belongings with joy, because you knew that you certainly had a better and lasting possession. So do not throw away your confidence, because it has great reward. For you need endurance in order to do God’s will and so receive what is promised. For just a little longer and he who is coming will arrive and not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, I take no pleasure in him. But we are not among those who shrink back and thus perish, but are among those who have faith and preserve their souls.”

— ‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭10‬:‭19‬-‭39‬‬

This is the fourth of five warning passages in Hebrews. These grow in fierceness throughout the book. Very difficult to understand, but it can be helpful to look for discussion of five topics throughout these passages: spiritual descriptions of audience, description of sin, promised consequences of sinning or repenting, how they should respond, confidence in God. 

Also genre of Hebrews is important and historical context: persecution. Written to primarily Jewish Christians. These people are being tempted (probably bc of persecution) to return to former Judaism. 

Too long of a passage to walk through each phrase. Overall message is that we have access to God because of Jesus’ sacrifice. Endure. Endure. Endure. Do not turn back. Judaism does not equal following Jesus/Christianity. 

“Keep on sinning” is not same as 1 John 3. This is not just a habit of sinning. I understand this at least as relying on sacrifices to cover sin. Generally it means remaining in Judaism. If we take away Jesus, “no other sacrifice remains.” Where else can we find forgiveness? Judaism or any other religion does not reconcile humans with God. 

Rejecting Christ profanes the blood of the covenant. Makes it useless. 

Descriptions of these people make it sound like their saved. Same as in 6:1-4. Probably because author is speaking to mixed audience. (Obviously this is one of the most heated aspects of debate). Hebrews is written in sermon form, so to me it make sense that he is writing as if everyone is saved but pleading for those thinking to walk away, not to do so.

How can a community endure best? By spurring one another to love and good works. This is encouragement, accountability, service, support for each other. Hard to do this in isolation. V. 25 really isn’t talking about going to a church building each week. It certainly includes regular worship services, but it’s much more meaningful than that. There are no Lone Ranger Christians. We need community. Do not abandon one another. That leads to not spurring each other to love and good works. That leads to going back to sacrifices and ultimately leaving Jesus. Stick together.

But author has confidence that people will endure. In ch 6 he makes this explicit that God is faithful and will preserve them. 

We are those who have faith…And ch. 11 explains what that faith is like. 

I love the book of Hebrews. It’s so much more than just the “Jesus is better” book. It’s a comparison of New and Old covenant. It’s a plea to stick with Jesus because He is the only source of hope and life. He reconciles human to deity. Through faith and endurance of this world’s pain and anger (toward them), believers find their joy.

Hebrews 11:1

 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.”

— ‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬‬

“And these all were commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised. For God had provided something better for us, so that they would be made perfect together with us.”

— ‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭39‬-‭40‬‬

I’m not philosophical/theologically inclined enough to distinguish hope and faith right now. No pithy or tweetable definitions to astound. I’m sure there are biblical passages to help separate them, but I’m just as confident there are passages where the semantic range overlaps. This is why I stick to individual passages and branch out to books, or the author’s corpus (and if need be other portions of the Bible if a topic demands it).

It does appear here that faith is a more grounded hope, and it is grounded in something stable, i.e., the faithfulness of God. We can only be convinced of something we have not touched or seen because we are confident in the character of the One who has promised. And we can only be confident in His character because of past kept promises. 

Yet, even in this chapter, the context of the book of Hebrews is more important. After listing many OT individuals and what they gained or accomplished by faith, the author of Hebrews says these “did not receive what was promised.” So did God fail? No, the point is that Jesus and the New Covenant is superior. This has been the point throughout the whole book. 

Stick with Jesus and receive the promises, just as those saints will. Endure (12:1-2). Do not return to Judaism, even if it is safer and you escape imminent persecution. 

This book is amazing, but it must be read sequentially and fully. Chapters 10 and 12 surround this chapter as warning passages (the most harsh warnings to not turn back). We are going to inherit a kingdom that doesn’t fade away. We enter by faith. We see it now by faith.