Letter to the Hebrews Volume 179

 Sacrifices Pleasing to God Part 6

Hebrews 13:7-8 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the Word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. KJV

The respect for those whom our Lord Jesus Christ has chosen Himself to lead His Mystical Body (the Church ⛪) here on the 🌎 earth is 🚱 non-negotiable with Him and it must be seen by each 📝 member of His Body as though they are speaking for Him, which they are. We know that during these ⌚⏰ times that we currently are sojourning it is not always that clear to us who really is speaking for God and who is not. Therefore, we must go to Him in much prayer asking Him to give us eyes to see and open our inner man or inner woman to recognize those who are true and those who are false. One recognizing feature we can look to would be those who speak the Word of God without compromise, cunning, or craftiness. The Word of God needs no embellishing, for it breaks through all barriers within the spiritual world and 🍴 cuts through all 🤥 lies, as it is written by this same writer of Hebrews earlier on in this letter with these words, "For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12) (KJV). So, we see then that those who have been chosen by our Lord Jesus Christ to give out His Word are not only to be respected by the rest of His brethren, but they themselves are to be so dedicated to giving out the truth of God to His Body the ⛪ Church, therefore, we read these words from the 📝 writer of Hebrews, "Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the Word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." (Hebrews 13:7-8) (KJV). The culmination of every man or woman of God declaring the truth of God and His Word results in what the writer of Hebrews says in verse 8. As we here today these words so often, 'the times have changed', we can see how many people would believe that to be true. However, our Lord Jesus Christ is the same today as He was when Moses were alive or when Abraham were alive or when Noah was alive. You see the years He allows to go by in human history never change the condition of the sinful human being and consequently the same things that were sin when Noah lived and when Abraham lived and when Moses lived are all still sin today in our so-called modern human society. It was Jesus Christ who allowed human knowledge to increase, not man getting smarter over the centuries or millennia's. Do you think that Noah was some sort of dumb cave man that built an Ark that survived a catastrophic flood that wiped out all the rest of humanity at that time except he and his family? Of course not, for he was as 🧠 smart as anyone today, but God was not ready for his generation to discover, design, and develop the ✈ Airplane yet, for His reasons alone. Do you think that DNA did not exist in the 1800's or 1500's or 1200's, of course it did, however, our Lord Jesus Christ was not ready for humanity to 🔓 unlock its existence back then for whatever His reasons were during those times. In verse 7, the writer of Hebrews wanted those Hebrew converts back then and we converts to Christ today and of every era and generation to remember, that is, to call to our minds how many of the earlier followers of Christ walked by faith during their sojourns on the earth and for us to imitate them during our own pilgrimage. The Apostle Paul or John or Matthew were no super saints of God, however, they were just like us sinners. Their walk with our Lord Jesus Christ may make them look like super saints to us, but in reality their difference is only that they clinged to the Word of God much more closely than many of us today and they lived a life of prayer, for many of them prayer was just like breathing. Can we say the same today?

Here is what Adam Clarke had to say of Hebrews 13:7, "This clause should be translated, Remember your guides, who have spoken unto you the doctrine of God. Theodoret’s note on this verse is very judicious: 'He intends the saints who were dead, Stephen the first martyr, James the brother of John, and James called the Just. And there were many others who were taken off by the Jewish rage. ‘Consider these, (said he), and, observing their example, imitate their faith.' This remembrance of the dead saints, with admiration of their virtues, and a desire to imitate them, is, says Dr. Macknight, the only worship which is due to them from the living. 'The issue of whose course of life most carefully consider.' They lived to get good and do good; they were faithful to their God and His cause; they suffered persecution; and for the testimony of Jesus died a violent death. God never left them; no, He never forsook them; so that they were happy in their afflictions, and glorious in their death. Carefully consider this; act as they did; keep the faith, and God will keep you." Here is what Albert Barnes said of Hebrews 13:8, "As this stands in our common translation, it conveys an idea which is not in the original. It would seem to mean that Jesus Christ, the unchangeable Saviour, was the end or aim of the conduct of those referred to, or that they lived to imitate and glorify Him. But this is by no means the meaning in the original. There it stands as an absolute proposition, that 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever;' that is, that He is unchangeable. The evident design of this independent proposition here is, to encourage them to persevere by showing that their Saviour was always the same; that He who had sustained His people in former times, was the same still, and would be the same forever. The argument here, therefore, for perseverance is founded on the 'immutability' of the Redeemer. If He were fickle, vacillating, changing in His character and plans; if today He aids His people, and tomorrow will forsake them; if at one time He loves the virtuous, and at another equally loves the vicious; if He formed a plan yesterday which He has abandoned today; or if He is ever to be a different being from what He is now, there would be no encouragement to effort. Who would know what to depend on? Who would know what to expect tomorrow? For who could have any certainty that he could ever please a capricious or a vacillating being? Who could know how to shape his conduct if the principles of the divine administration were not always the same? At the same time, also, that this passage furnishes the strongest argument for fidelity and perseverance, it is an irrefragable proof of the divinity of the Saviour. It asserts immutability - sameness in the past, the present, and to all eternity but of whom can this be affirmed but God? It would not be possible to conceive of a declaration which would more strongly assert immutability than this."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…