Study Desk

God rested after he finished his work. So everyone who enters God's place of rest will also have rest from their own work just as God did.

So let us try as hard as we can to enter God's place of rest. We must try hard so that none of us will be lost by following the example of those who refused to obey God.

Nothing in all the world can be hidden from God. He can clearly see all things. Everything is open before him. And to him we must explain the way we have lived.

We have a great high priest who has gone to live with God in heaven. He is Jesus the Son of God. So let us continue to express our faith in him.

Every Jewish high priest is chosen from among men. That priest is given the work of helping people with the things they must do for God. He must offer to God gifts and sacrifices for sins.

To be a high priest is an honor. But no one chooses himself for this work. That person must be chosen by God just as Aaron was.

It is the same with Christ. He did not choose himself to have the honor of becoming a high priest. But God chose him. God said to him, "You are my Son. Today I have become your Father."

And in another part of the Scriptures God says, "You are a priest forever— the kind of priest Melchizedek was."

While Jesus lived on earth he prayed to God, asking for help from the one who could save him from death. He prayed to God with loud cries and tears. And his prayers were answered because of his great respect for God.

Jesus was the Son of God, but he still suffered, and through his sufferings he learned to obey whatever God says.

God made him high priest, just like Melchizedek.

So we should be finished with the beginning lessons about Christ. We should not have to keep going back to where we started. We began our new life by turning away from the evil we did in the past and by believing in God. That's when we were taught about baptisms, laying hands on people, the resurrection of those who have died, and the final judgment. Now we need to go forward to more mature teaching.

And that's what we will do if God allows.

But other people are like land that grows only thorns and weeds. It is worthless and in danger of being cursed by God. It will be destroyed by fire.

God is fair, and he will remember all the work you have done. He will remember that you showed your love to him by helping his people and that you continue to help them.

We don't want you to be lazy. We want you to be like those who, because of their faith and patience, will get what God has promised.

God made a promise to Abraham. And there is no one greater than God, so he made the promise with an oath in his own name—an oath that he would do what he promised.

Abraham waited patiently for this to happen, and later he received what God promised.

God wanted to prove that his promise was true. He wanted to prove this to those who would get what he promised. He wanted them to understand clearly that his purposes never change. So God said something would happen, and he proved what he said by adding an oath.

These two things cannot change: God cannot lie when he says something, and he cannot lie when he makes an oath. So these two things are a great help to us who have come to God for safety. They encourage us to hold on to the hope that is ours.