From "This is bad" Comes Very Good

I have just completed teaching an online class on the Letter to the Hebrews. For a few weeks I will be sharing thoughts that came from this study.

Of all the lessons we gain from the letter to Hebrews there is one that is very easy to miss and that is how God works for good even in things that are not good. You may ask where does the writer of Hebrews teach this idea. Probably no where explicitly.

However consider these two facts: (1) this letter was written because some followers of Jesus were apparently not doing well in their faith and were dangerously close to leaving him and going back to their previous practice of Judaism, and (2) Hebrews is the only New Testament document  that shows us that Jesus is our new and great high priest-- a precious doctrine we will give more thought to another week.

Somewhere, in probably the mid-60s AD, word came to some leaders that followers in another city were backing away from Jesus. Somebody probably heard this and said, “This is a bad thing,” and it was. We do not know what those shaky disciples eventually did, but we do know a letter was written that leads us to an understanding that we get no where else in the New Testament. Even in Paul’s many letters he never showed us that Jesus is our great high priest.

The next time something happens and we label it “not good” or “very bad,” let’s not be so sure that this is the end of the story. Instead, let’s be confident in our God who works in all things to accomplish good.