Heb. 3: 14  "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, (the only One we need to communicate with God), who is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,  let us hold fast the profession of our faith."  Jesus is our priest.   Our job is hold on tight to our faith, which we have professed.

Heb. 3:15b  "…but (He) was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."  This is the third time the writer has reminded us that Jesus was just as human as we are.

And then comes the verse I want to talk about.

 Heb. 3 15 "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

Because of what Jesus did, because he is our priest, we have access to a Holy God.  We can walk right into the throne room and say, "Hello Father."

And God will see us as sinless, covered by Christ's blood--the sacrifice for sin.

And we get mercy.  And grace.  And help in times of need.

Mercy, grace and help.  What a comfort.  What a savior.  He died so we could live and have access to God.

Restoration to the place God wanted for us in the first place.

In Heb. 3:7,  the writer again says: "Today….today."  Do not harden your heart.  He is telling us that ignoring the voice of God places scar tissue over our sensitivity.  As we refuse to do His will, the scar tissue builds up until we can no longer hear his voice.

Then the writer gives us one of the greatest verses in the Bible.  A verse of instruction to the faithful who believe in the words of Jesus and the words written by those who knew Him.  We hear God's voice in many ways, but through His Words we find His will.

Heb. 3:12, "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged 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."

Quick, Powerful, Sharp, Piercing, discerning.  That is the work of God's word in our hearts.

It goes deep into our inner soul, and spirit, and bones, and marrow, and thoughts, and intents.

God speaks through his word.  It is critical that we read it or we will be untouched by His Spirit.  His words are the words of life.  Reading His words fills a person with joy.

Don't get spiritual scar tissue.  Answer him.  Today, today, today...

Today.   Today.   Today.   That is the message of Hebrews chapter 3.  

Paul (probably)  is calling on the people to remember Moses, and all of the Israelites who followed Moses into the desert..  Warning them that if they don't do what God asks them to do, they can't enter into the promised land.  The allegory is about our promised land--heaven.

In verse 7b-8a, he says, "…Today if you will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts…" 

In verse 13 he says, "But exhort one another daily, while it is call Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin."

In verse 15a, "While it is said, Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts…" 

Notice that in all three verses, God equates refusal to respond today with a hardened heart.  A hardened heart says, "Tomorrow," "Later,"  or "Not now."  The Bible says that God will not always call you. That is scary. 

You have probably heard that still small voice of God calling you.  The  response is critical.  You must respond today. 

The most horrible passage in the Bible to me is the passage in Romans 1: 28a  "And even as they did not like to retain God (God's voice) in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind…"

He has a plan for you.  It involves a response.  Today.  You don't have any Biblical assurance that God will always strive with you.  "God gave them over…"  The most horrible passage in the Bible.

The writer ends his thoughts on angels by saying in Hebrews 2: 17-18  "Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren (us), that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.  For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to succor (assist and support)  them that are tempted."

The high priest is Jesus.  In all things pertaining to God.  To make reconciliation with God for us.  Now where in that passage is there any room for praying to anyone but Jesus--who now is in our hearts and is His Spirit?   What other way can we "get" to God?  You have to have someone to intercede and Jesus is it.  He alone makes reconciliation for sin.

"Neither is there salvation in any other (name); for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."  Acts 4:12

He made a decision, knowing what all it entailed, to come to earth and be like us.  For the purpose of bringing man and God back together.  We were alienated from God because of our sin.

He was tempted.  There are some who would say that He was God so he wasn't really tempted like we are.  The writer of Hebrews says in Heb. 4: 15 "For we don't have a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."

What a man.  What a high priest.  What a God.

It is hard to read the book of Hebrews and not comment on every verse.  So, since I am going to be here for a while, it might be helpful if you would read along in your Bible.

In Heb. 1:4-2:1,  the writer gives us the comparison of Jesus and angels, and declares the supremacy of Jesus is without question.

In 2:2-3,  He says, "For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense (punishment) of reward;   How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation…spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by them that heard him."

God punished angels.  Lucifer is a prime example.  He was cast out of heaven.  And if God would do that…how do we think we can escape his punishment?

But the big word in all that is "Neglect."  Guilty, guilty, guilty.  We spend our days doing a thousand things other than tending to our salvation.  We are prone to wander.  To get distracted. We neglect God.

I am amazed as I watch the Discovery channel at the "could be's" and the "might be's' that are present in the documentaries.  We have a book full of confirmations "...spoken by the Lord…"  by multitudes that heard him.  The Bible itself is a documentary of eye witness testimonies.

Heb. 2. 9   "But we see Jesus, (through the eyes of those who heard him and touched him) who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man."

I really don't want to taste the kind of death that Christ did.   I'm so glad he was made lower than angels for a period of time.  Lowly, like  us.   "He tasted death for us, by the grace of God."   Grace,  Grace,  God's grace.  Grace that is greater than all our sin.

"…in these last days has spoken to us by his Son…" God is through speaking to us in terms of what is, what was, and what is to come.  Done.  The Word of God.  Jesus.  The Bible.   Anything more than that is false prophecy.

Hebrews 2:2b-3 "…whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom he also made the worlds;  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;"

John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God with God, and the word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God."

Everyone who wrote about Jesus in what we now call the Bible is in agreement.  Jesus is it.

He made the worlds.
He is gloriously bright
He is the express image of God
His words are full of power
He purged our sins………………….and then………………….

He sat down and waited for us at the right hand of God.

We are all waiting.  Some of us don't have that long to wait.

And then there is the book of Hebrews.  I think I will stay here for awhile.  I love this book.  They say Paul wrote it, but no one is sure.  It doesn't sound like Paul.  When Paul  is writing something,  right in the middle of it he gets caught up in something else.  He always returns to his subject, but I think that his head was so full of knowledge that he literally burst with desire to cover it all in one breath.

Hebrews isn't quite like that.  I love the way it starts.

Heb. 1: 1-2a  "God, who at sundry (many, several) times and if divers (various) manners spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son…"

If someone comes to you with a "new word" or a "new prophecy"  you can automatically know that they are a false teacher.  All prophecy ended with Jesus Christ.  Only the second coming is unfulfilled.  The Old Testament predicts the coming of Jesus.  That was fulfilled.  Perfectly, in every prophetic detail.  And there were many, many prophecies--all of them exactly fulfilled in Jesus.

But nowhere does our Bible say that new prophets will come, or new words will come.  John the Beloved wrote the last book of prophecy.  Revelation.  The heart of the Bible is the first and second coming of Christ.

You don't need any more prophecy.  You have it all.  God spoke in the olden days through prophets.  But in these last days He has spoken through His Son.  In these last days.  Jesus spoke.  Those who knew and wrote of him 2000 years ago are the final word from God.  The Word of God.  

That's it.  Listen to the Son.  But people have itching ears--they want ghosts, aliens, and vampires.