Episode 17
Hebrews — Read the NT in 90 Days
Have you ever felt tired, tempted to turn back when life gets hard? In this episode of Seek Go Create, Tim Winders dives into the powerful book of Hebrews—a message written to weary believers facing immense pressure, urging them not to drift and highlighting why Jesus is better than any old way they might return to. Discover the dramatic historical context behind Hebrews, explore intriguing theories about its mysterious author, and understand why its urgent warnings still resonate today. If you’re searching for faith, resilience, and context for early Christian struggles, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.
"Hebrews exalts Jesus as the better priest, sacrifice, and covenant, and warns: don't drift, don't go back." - Tim Winders
Access all show and episode resources HERE
Episode Resources:
- NT90 Hub – This is the central website for the 90-day New Testament reading plan, with downloadable, printable plans, background information, and links to all episodes and resources.
Episode Highlights:
00:00 Introduction to Hebrews
00:19 Overview of the New Testament Reading Plan
01:03 Key Facts About Hebrews
01:17 Authorship Theories
03:12 Historical Context and Audience
04:26 The Significance of James' Martyrdom
06:57 The Struggles of Jewish Believers
08:40 The Superiority of Jesus
11:19 Urgency and Warnings in Hebrews
13:18 Conclusion and Next Steps
13:58 Immersive Scene Setting
Transcript
Written to tired believers tempted to turn back.
Speaker:Hebrews exalts Jesus as the better priest.
Speaker:Sacrifice and covenant and warns don't drift.
Speaker:Don't go back.
Speaker:This is Seek Go Create.
Speaker:You're listening to read the New Testament in 90 days, 27 books in order in context.
Speaker:We're walking through the New Testament, the way it was written so you can hear
Speaker:it the way the first churches did.
Speaker:Make sure that you're going to getting all of our resources.
Speaker:The free reading plan and a bunch of other stuff at K two M Foundation slash in team
Speaker:90, there should be links down below.
Speaker:If you're listening via audio or watching on YouTube or even
Speaker:catching up with us on social media.
Speaker:Make sure you're getting that link and download so that
Speaker:you have all the information.
Speaker:We got a lot of background information there, so make sure you go get it.
Speaker:Today we are stopping at Hebrews a sermon for weary Believers
Speaker:who are tempted to turn back.
Speaker:Here's some key facts about Hebrews.
Speaker:The author is unknown, kind of interesting and unique.
Speaker:I mean really, really unknown.
Speaker:We've got some theories we'll talk about in just a moment,
Speaker:but, it is deeply Jewish.
Speaker:Pastor theologian trained in rhetoric.
Speaker:Best candidates are possibly Apollos.
Speaker:I've heard that in many places.
Speaker:Eloquent Alexandrian knew the scriptures cold.
Speaker:Barnabas is another option.
Speaker:Levite son of encouragement close to Paul's circle.
Speaker:Some actually put, of course, Hebrews in the Pauline possibilities, or
Speaker:someone in and around Paul's circle.
Speaker:But how about this one that popped up in research, Priscilla?
Speaker:Teacher connected to Rome.
Speaker:A possibility that arose that I was fascinated by.
Speaker:So I wanted to include it because I know some might be excited about that theory
Speaker:and some might be absolutely ticked off.
Speaker:So I wanted to include it.
Speaker:it's anonymous authorship.
Speaker:Actually makes sense if a woman wrote it during a time where men
Speaker:were dominant in culture and women were often considered second class.
Speaker:We have read in other places about Priscilla and all that she
Speaker:did as far as the church goes.
Speaker:That is kind of fascinating to think about that.
Speaker:Again, I'm not saying it's definitive.
Speaker:It just popped up in some of the research and I found it fascinating.
Speaker:Thought I would share it.
Speaker:Orgen, one of the early church fathers actually said it best.
Speaker:He said, who wrote Hebrews?
Speaker:God knows.
Speaker:So anyway, we'll just go with it that way and keep it possibly anonymous.
Speaker:The dating is pretty clear though, right around AD 63.
Speaker:the audience seems clear, persecuted Jewish.
Speaker:Believers, the setting is about 33 years after the resurrection.
Speaker:The temple in Jerusalem is still standing.
Speaker:Nero is beginning to heat up some persecution from Rome 80 70.
Speaker:The destruction of the temple is still, as we know now, seven years ahead.
Speaker:James was recently martyred and we're gonna look at that in just a moment.
Speaker:Here's some historical context.
Speaker:We've already mentioned this in Rome.
Speaker:Nero is on the throne and the persecution is intensifying.
Speaker:It is ramping up and hate to use a pun, it is getting heated.
Speaker:because Nero's about to do some very, very interesting things, In
Speaker:Jerusalem, the temple's still standing.
Speaker:Priests are offering sacrifices daily.
Speaker:All of that is still going on.
Speaker:That has not stopped.
Speaker:But James, the Lord's brother, was just executed.
Speaker:So let's discuss that a little bit more because I believe it's significant.
Speaker:For understanding the audience of Hebrews and its context is
Speaker:what we're trying to do here.
Speaker:We want to get the context of what was going on when this was
Speaker:written and who it was written to.
Speaker:So let's talk about the weight of the death of James.
Speaker:It wasn't just a random obscure believer that was martyred.
Speaker:James would've been.
Speaker:I'm trying to think of an example.
Speaker:I, if we found out that a Billy Graham or one of the biggest preachers around
Speaker:were martyred or something had happened, it would be that huge, that significant,
Speaker:I mean, here in the United States, I don't know if this is a good example,
Speaker:but recently there was a huge buzz over Charlie Kirk, I think Charlie Kirk.
Speaker:Pales in comparison, even though he is a great guy, had wide influence
Speaker:pales in comparison to what James would've been to the audience that
Speaker:were attempting to understand.
Speaker:So you can kind of get a little perspective there.
Speaker:He was the brother of Jesus.
Speaker:We've discussed James before, also the author of the book of James,
Speaker:that we've already read, the leader of the Jerusalem Church for.
Speaker:Over two decades.
Speaker:I'll give you some references to that to check.
Speaker:Acts 15, 13, 21 18.
Speaker:And then also Galatians two, nine.
Speaker:He was known as James, the just respected, even by non-believing Jews for his piety.
Speaker:And this is what is so interesting to understand, to get the Context
Speaker:and perspective of the audience.
Speaker:The temple authorities killed him.
Speaker:They threw him from the temple stoned and then clubbed him to death.
Speaker:The very system that these believers that are hearing or reading Hebrews,
Speaker:those believers are tempted to return to just murdered the brother of their.
Speaker:Messiah if the temple leaders did that to James, what does
Speaker:that say about going back?
Speaker:And if you don't go back, you may be next.
Speaker:The church, what was going on?
Speaker:Let's look at context.
Speaker:Jewish believers were caught in a vice.
Speaker:They were taking more heat.
Speaker:Than Gentile converts.
Speaker:The Sanhedrin sees them as traitors.
Speaker:Rome sees them as a Jewish sect without legal protection.
Speaker:They can't go to the synagogue, they can't go to the pagan temples.
Speaker:They belong nowhere.
Speaker:Except to Jesus, as Hebrews will say, let us go to him outside the camp
Speaker:and bear the reproach he endured.
Speaker:For here, we have no lasting city.
Speaker:That's in chapter 13.
Speaker:13 through 14.
Speaker:Here's that tension.
Speaker:If they renounced Jesus and returned to Judaism, the persecution would stop.
Speaker:The old ways still have pull.
Speaker:Impressive temple, ancient priesthood, centuries of sacrifices, and for many.
Speaker:There's no family left to go back to.
Speaker:Some families have already set Shiva for them, mourned them as dead.
Speaker:The pressure is relentless and the cost has already been paid.
Speaker:And again, we've said this before, but there are basically three
Speaker:kingdoms that are pulling for allegiance here or are competing.
Speaker:Rome will leave you alone currently if you return to a legal religion.
Speaker:The temple system offers centuries of identity, priesthood,
Speaker:sacrifices, festivals, family.
Speaker:But in the kingdom of God, Jesus has already sat down at the right hand of the
Speaker:majesty on high, and we'll see that in chapter one, verse three and 10, verse 12.
Speaker:The temple priest never sat, their work was never done.
Speaker:Jesus offered once and sat.
Speaker:The substance has arrived.
Speaker:We'll hear about that in Hebrews.
Speaker:Why now the writer.
Speaker:Urges them.
Speaker:Don't drift.
Speaker:Don't go back.
Speaker:Jesus is better than everything you might return to, and here's
Speaker:the weight they couldn't see.
Speaker:The system they're tempted to return to is about to be judged and destroyed.
Speaker:Within seven years, the temple will.
Speaker:Be rubble.
Speaker:The priesthood will end.
Speaker:Sacrifices will stop.
Speaker:What they might go back to won't exist.
Speaker:The old system is ready to vanish away and it will.
Speaker:Here's what we're gonna encounter in Hebrews.
Speaker:It is exalted and urgent.
Speaker:Better, better.
Speaker:Better than Don't drift.
Speaker:Here's what you'll hear about better than angels.
Speaker:Jesus is the radiance of God's glory seated at his right hand.
Speaker:He's better than Moses.
Speaker:Moses was faithful as a servant, Jesus as a son of God over God's house.
Speaker:Better than Aaron, a priest forever.
Speaker:In the order of Mel Hasek better covenant, the old is becoming obsolete,
Speaker:ready to vanish away the once for all sacrifice, no more bulls and goats.
Speaker:Jesus offered himself.
Speaker:There's warning passages.
Speaker:Don't drift, don't harden, don't shrink back.
Speaker:And then that Hall of Faith, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham,
Speaker:Moses, Rahab, all lived by faith.
Speaker:They persisted and lived by faith.
Speaker:We hear about running the race surrounded by witnesses, looking to Jesus the author.
Speaker:And perfecter.
Speaker:As we said earlier, the temple is still standing, but
Speaker:Hebrews says it's all fading.
Speaker:The substance has arrived.
Speaker:And then here's some of the imminence, the urgency that we see in Hebrews.
Speaker:In these last days, he has spoken to us by his son.
Speaker:That's in chapter one, verse two.
Speaker:Last days not distant future.
Speaker:You see the day drawing near chapter 10, verse 25, not someday drawing near.
Speaker:So if in the early sixties of the first century you're
Speaker:hearing this, you're thinking.
Speaker:It's coming very, very soon with that type language, yet a little while, and the
Speaker:coming one will come and will not delay.
Speaker:Chapter 10, verse 37.
Speaker:Just a little while, the writer isn't theorizing about centuries.
Speaker:He's pleading with people who can see the horizon.
Speaker:They can see the end.
Speaker:They can see that judgment that Jesus warned about.
Speaker:That other authors in the New Testament did.
Speaker:It is being emphasized here in Hebrews and the warnings are sharp.
Speaker:How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?
Speaker:Chapter two verse three.
Speaker:Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you and evil, unbelieving,
Speaker:heart leading you to fall away.
Speaker:Chapter three, verse 12.
Speaker:It is impossible to restore again, to repentance those who have once been
Speaker:enlightened if they then fall away.
Speaker:Chapter six, verse four and six.
Speaker:If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge
Speaker:of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.
Speaker:Chapter 10 verse 26.
Speaker:This.
Speaker:Is urgent.
Speaker:The writer isn't theorizing, he's pleading or possibly she, they're pleading.
Speaker:Don't go back.
Speaker:There's nothing to go back to.
Speaker:Alright.
Speaker:Have fun with Hebrews over the next five sessions or.
Speaker:Like I encourage you to often try to read it all at once or a couple
Speaker:of times over the next few days.
Speaker:It's powerful when you put it all together.
Speaker:Next, we're going to get to first Peter and holy resilience as exiles who
Speaker:bless suffering well under pressure.
Speaker:Remember to go to our K two M Foundation slash NT nine link.
Speaker:Get a bunch of great stuff there, and before you read, let's set the scene.
Speaker:This is a powerful scene to immerse ourselves into.
Speaker:So just, just put yourself in this situation.
Speaker:It's AD 63.
Speaker:You're in Jerusalem.
Speaker:The temple is still there.
Speaker:Morning smoke is rising from the altar priest moving through their routines.
Speaker:It looks so solid, so safe.
Speaker:But James is dead.
Speaker:They threw him from the temple wall, stoned him, beat him until he
Speaker:stopped breathing the same temple.
Speaker:The same priests, your family already sat Shiva for you.
Speaker:To them you are already dead.
Speaker:And now you are wondering was it worth it?
Speaker:The whispers, the locked doors, the looks from old friends who cross
Speaker:the street when they see you coming.
Speaker:Maybe if you just went back, offered a sacrifice, said the right words, you're
Speaker:tired and the old ways still have pull.
Speaker:Now let's read.
