Hebrews Part 16

INTRO: After completing Hebrews chapter 2 we took a long break and now we have come to Hebrews chapter 3. We do not know who the writer of this book is but we know the reason why it was written. Not long after the Lord ascended to heaven some Jewish believers came to faith. We do not know if they were in Italy or Israel or elsewhere. We have covered all this in the introductory message. These new believers rejoiced in their faith and lived in hope of Christ's soon return. But Christ did not return. And their Christian life turned for the worse, not better. And now the hope in Christ was not wonderful any more. As a matter of fact, persecution set in and life became difficult and slowly their new found hope in Christ began to wane.

And then they began to look back to the security they had had in traditional Judaism. When they had turned to Jesus Christ, they were cut off from the Jews, their own people. Now they didn't fit into the world nor among their own people. They became lonely and life got more difficult and they began to go back in their hearts to Judaism. The first teaching they were beginning to consider was a certain teaching of the Jews of a hope to be delivered from Rome's oppressive rule by angels. Instead of remaining steadfast in their hope in Jesus Christ, they began to waver. They became double minded and thus unstable.