In order to understand the sermon and apply its message to ourselves, we need to understand the history of the congregation and their situation when they received the letter from the apostle.

Read Hebrews 2:3-4. What was the experience of the audience of Hebrews when they were first converted?

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This passage implies that the audience of Hebrews had not heard Jesus Himself preach; instead, they had received the gospel from other evangelists who had announced to them the news of “salvation.”

Paul also says that the evangelists had “confirmed” the message to them and that God Himself had born “witness both with signs and wonders” (NKJV). This means that God had provided experiential confirmation of the gospel by signs and other powerful deeds — among them the distribution of the “gifts of the Holy Spirit” (NKJV). The New Testament relates that signs such as miraculous healings, exorcisms, and the outpouring of spiritual gifts often accompanied the preaching of the gospel in new places.

At the beginning of the Christian church, God poured His Spirit upon the apostles in Jerusalem so that they were able to announce the gospel in languages previously unknown to them and to be able to perform miracles (Acts 2, 3). Philip performed similar wonders in Samaria (Acts 8), Peter in Joppa and Caesarea (Acts 9, 10), and Paul throughout his ministry in Asia Minor and Europe (Acts 13-28). These powerful deeds were experiential evidence that confirmed the message of “salvation” — the establishment of the kingdom of God and a salvation from condemnation and freedom from evil powers (Hebrews 12:25-29).

The Spirit gave early Christian believers the conviction that their sins had been forgiven; thus, they were not fearful of judgment, and as a result their prayers were bold and confident, and their religious experience was joyful (Acts 2:37-47). The Spirit also delivered those who were enslaved to evil powers, which was compelling evidence of the superiority of the power of God over the forces of evil and revealed that the kingdom of God had been established in their lives.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Sabbath Afternoon,

Read for This Week’s Study:

Memory Text: “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise” (Hebrews 10:36, NKJV).

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to hear Jesus, or one of the apostles, preach? We possess written excerpts and summaries of some of their sermons, but these provide only a limited idea of what it was like to hear them. God, however, preserved in the Scriptures at least one complete sermon for us: Paul’s letter to the Hebrews.

Paul, the author of Hebrews, referred to his own work as a “word of exhortation” (Hebrews 13:22). This expression was used to identify the sermon, both at the synagogue (Acts 13:15) and at Christian worship (1 Timothy 4:13). Thus, it has been argued that Hebrews is the earliest “complete Christian sermon” that we have. Hebrews was addressed to believers who accepted Jesus but then experienced difficulties. Some were publicly shamed and persecuted (Hebrews 10:32-34). Others faced financial problems (Hebrews 13:5-6). Many were tired and had begun to question their faith (Hebrews 3:12-13). Can any of us today relate?

The apostle in a stirring sermon, however, challenged them (and, by extension, us) to persevere in faith in Jesus and to fix their eyes upon Jesus, now in the heavenly sanctuary.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, January 1.

Sunday–>

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It was at church when he first saw her. He was running an errand, absorbed in his thoughts, when the sight hit him. The painting was a little less than two meters high and three meters wide, but the girl portrayed in it exerted a strange captivating force over the young man. Why could he not take his eyes off of her? What was it? After some reflection, he realized that it was her eyes. The painting portrayed only her face, and she was intently looking at something. But what, and why was she so absorbed in it? For a long time afterward, he couldn’t get the painting out of his head.

Image © Pacific Press

Several years later, the painter, Arnold Jiménez, revealed some of its secrets to him. The painting was made to attract viewers to her eyes, but the real secret was in her pupils. If you looked closely, you would find out that they reflected what she was looking at. Her eyes were fixed on Jesus on the cross.

The portrait of Jesus in the Letter to the Hebrews can exert a similar captivating force upon us. Jesus is described, first of all, as the Ruler of the universe, enthroned at God’s right hand. Innumerable angels celebrate Him, worship Him, and serve Him (Hebrews 1:5-14, Hebrews 12:22-24). He has won the right to rule because through His own death He has ensured the destruction of the devil (Hebrews 2:14-16). Jesus is also the exalted High Priest. Sinless, and perfectly holy, He lives forever to minister in our behalf in the heavenly sanctuary (Hebrews 7:26-8:5). He has won the right to do so because He offered Himself as a perfect, once-for-all sacrifice, effective for everyone and forever (Hebrews 10:1-14). Jesus has also mediated a new covenant between God and His people that will stand forever (Hebrews 8:6-13).

What captivates readers about the portrait of Jesus, however, is not simply what Jesus has done but who He is. He was born from a woman, as we were, and He has been tempted and ridiculed, as we have been. Yet, still, He sits at the center of power in the universe. When we gaze at the heavenly scene, with its diverse and fantastic celestial beings, our eyes are attracted to the One in the center of it all, who, amazingly enough, looks like us because He had become one of us. Jesus, our Brother, is there, in heaven, representing us, despite the shame of our sin and fallenness.

In the person of Jesus, three dimensions of the story of redemption intersect. The first is the local, personal dimension. For readers tired of the reproaches and hardships of Christian life (Hebrews 10:32-34), Jesus is the Author and Perfecter of faith. They need to look to Him who also suffered from sinners (Hebrews 12:1-4). The second is the corporate, national dimension. For the people of God, who are traveling toward God’s promised land, Jesus is the new Joshua. They need to follow His lead (Hebrews 3, 4, 11, 12). The third is the universal dimension. Jesus is the new Adam, the Son of Man in whom God’s purposes for humanity are fulfilled (Hebrews 2:5-10, Hebrews 12:22-28).

The portrait of Jesus, who captures the breadth and length and height and depth of God’s love for us, is our subject this quarter. And just as the image of Jesus in the eyes of the painting captured the young man’s gaze, may the image of Jesus as portrayed in Hebrews capture not just our gaze, but our love and admiration for, yes, Jesus, our Brother in heaven.

Félix H. Cortez is associate professor of New Testament Literature in the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He is married to Alma Gloria Alvarez and has two children, Hadid, a pastor in New Jersey, and Alma, an archaeology major at Andrews University.

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Support for the mission activities of the Seventh-day Adventist church has always been part of the Sabbath School program. This video is Mission Spotlight for this week.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGC1qPh9cIc&w=560&h=315]

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Teen Makes Christmas Music

By Andrew McChesney

Every year, Miharu Shimizu’s church organizes a special Christmas program in Tokyo, Japan. Every year, Miharu wished that she could participate and somehow share her joy about Christ’s birth. One fall, during her first year in university, a teacher asked her to write the lyrics for a musical.

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The musical turned out to be the final exam for all 30 students in her class. Miharu was supposed to write the script and lyrics, while the teacher would compose the music. Then the class would be divided into four groups, and each group would learn and sing the musical.

After some prayer, Miharu put together a short story about Christmas caroling. The songs were filled with praise for Jesus at Christmas. She wasn’t sure what the teacher or classmates would think. None of them were Christian. When Miharu submitted the eight-minute musical, the teacher didn’t change a single word. “The lyrics are very noble,” he said.

As the class learned and rehearsed the musical, Miharu remembered the Christmas program at church. Maybe her musical could be her contribution to the Christmas program.

That Christmas, she played the piano as seven classmates performed her musical at Setagaya Seventh-day Adventist Church, a church for young people in Tokyo. Young Adventists assisted the production behind the scenes.

More people showed up to watch the musical than Miharu had expected. About 75 people crowded into the small church building, overflowing a space where usually only 25 church members worshiped on Sabbaths.

Miharu was delighted. She sensed a bond with the audience. She saw that she and they were sharing the true spirit of Christmas — the joy that Jesus loves people so much that He came to the earth as a baby. Miharu was especially happy that one of her classmates was sitting in the audience. Afterward, the classmate asked for Bible studies.

Miharu decided to compose another musical for the next Christmas. She wrote a musical about how her grandfather became a Seventh-day Adventist. Finding classmates to participate in the new musical proved easy. They liked the previous Christmas musical and were eager to sing again. One of the new participants was the classmate taking Bible studies. Miharu, 19, is praying that Jesus will use her musical talents to draw classmates to Him.

Thank you for your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering three years ago that helped Miharu’s Setagaya Church establish a youth evangelism training center. Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will reach out to more Japanese young people through online ministry.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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