Chapter Thirteen

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The Key Verses in Hebrews

In this chapter, we show you the “Bridge Section” in the Book of Hebrews. The three verses below form a bridge between Group Two and Group Three. Group Two had accepted God’s final sacrifice and Group Three had not. The three subdivisions in Group Three, remember, were 3A, 3B and 3C. You remember that Group 3A had totally and finally rejected Jesus; Group 3B was thinking about it but as yet had not accepted Him; Group 3C professed Him but did not possess Him. In this Bridge, our Author pleads with the “rejecters” of Group 3A, the “undecided ones” in Group 3B, and the “phonies” in group 3C to “mimic” those in Group Two who had accepted Jesus, God’s final sacrifice.

In the next chapter, we shall see why our Author wanted them to “mimic” Group Two, who had already accepted Christ as their final sacrifice. His reasons will both astonish you and build your faith in the miraculous things God has for us Gentile Christians. When we get into the next chapter, remember that we Gentile Christians are grafted into the Abrahamic blessings. Consequently, these miraculous blessings belong to us as well as to the Hebrews. Why? Because when we accept Christ as out Savior, we are grafted into those same blessings on an equal footing with them. Now, look at this Bridge Section that contains the Three Key Verses in Hebrews.

Heb 6:10-12

10            For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

11            And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:

12                That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (KJV)

“Slothful,” in verse 12 above, translates nothrus, which means “slow, dull, indolent or sluggish.” In a word, nothrus can mean just plain lazy. Here, our Author pleads with his readers not to be lazy in their consideration of Jesus. He is, after all, God’s final sacrifice for their sins. Nevertheless, they had “drifted by” this great eternal truth. Therefore, he screamed out to them, “Sharpen up!” He screamed out, “Give heed!” He screamed out, “Get serious!” Since God no longer accepted the blood of bulls, goats, cows, and sheep, they, henceforth, had no way to escape if they persisted in being slothful concerning Jesus. He is God’s only way. They must get serious!

“Followers,” in verse 12 above, translates mimatas, which means “one who mimics” or simply a “mimic.”  To put it differently, the verb form of mimatas means “to mimic.” Many scholars think our English word “mimic” comes from mimatas.

With this one word, mimatas, our Author told his readers to stop being lazy. He told them to get on the ball and “mimic” (copy) those who have already accepted Jesus, God’s final sacrifice for their sins under Moses’ law. He wanted them to do what Group Two did, since they were continuously inheriting the Abrahamic blessings.

“Inherit” translates kleronomeo, the combination of two Greek words, kleros and nemomai. Kleros means “a lot,” and nemomai means to “possess.” The combination--kleronomeo--means “to obtain and possess your allotment.” “Inherit,” therefore, means “to possess the allotment promised you.” In addition, “inherit” contains two more faith-building things for us.

1. Our Author renders “inherit” as a “present tense participle.” Right now, dear Reader, this “present tense participle” means nothing to you, but it will in a matter of seconds. Therefore, read on! The most common use of the Greek present tense describes continuous action in present time. In other words, our Author, by his use of the Greek present here, blasted out to his readers that Group Two were “continuously inheriting” the Abrahamic promises. Think of this for just a moment! Even as our Author penned these words, Group Two was continuously inheriting the Abrahamic blessings of healing, prosperity, family well being, holiness, sanctification as well as salvation. No wonder he pleaded for his readers to mimic them.
   

2. He also casts “inherit’ in the active voice. In Greek, as well as English, the active voice declares that the subject of the verb performs the action portrayed by the verb. In other words, Group Two was actually inheriting in present time the Abrahamic promises even as the Author wrote these words. They were really, actually possessing what Abraham was promised way back in Genesis.

How did Group Two inherit these promises? They inherited them through “faith and patience.” We have already learned what constitutes “faith.” It is information we get from God for us to act upon and which shows us (in advance) His will. This information usually contains instructions for us, which enables us to know (in advance) what God wants us to do. In other words, we know what to do by the instructions in the information.

We demonstrate and prove our belief that this information came from God by walking it out, by acting on it. We do what the information said that God wanted us to do. If we do not act upon the information (our faith), we simply did not believe that God was the source of it.

Now, Group Two was actively, presently, continuously inheriting, and possessing the blessings of Abraham. They acted upon the information that Jesus was God’s final sacrifice for their sins under Moses’ law. In so doing, they maintained their inheritance.

Contrast this with those Hebrews in Groups 3A, 3B and 3C who tried to stay with the blood of bulls, goats, cows and sheep. They lost it all. They lost their entire Abrahamic inheritance. They were lost. They were doomed. They were damned. Jesus (and no other) was and is God’s final sacrifice for sin. No wonder, therefore, Jesus said that “No man cometh to the Father but by me!”

“Patience” above translates the Greek word, makrothumeo, which combines two Greek words. It combines makro (long) with thumeo (temper.) This combined word simply means, then, “long tempered.” That is, they had a temperament that enabled them to wait a “long time” to possess what they were promised. Hence, “patience” was essential to obtain what God promised them. In addition, “patience” is also essential for us Gentile Christians to obtain what God promised us. No wonder our Author exhorted his readers to “mimic” (copy) those in Group Two who were still in possession of what they had by birth.

They were born with Abrahamic healing, prosperity, family well being, holiness, sanctification as well as salvation and were still in possession of these birthright blessings. Therefore, our Author simply wants them all to maintain what was rightfully theirs by birth.

 To maintain their Abrahamic inheritance, all they had to do was “mimic” (copy) those in Group Two who had accepted Jesus, God’s final sacrifice for them. That was all there was to it. That was all they had to do. They were not being asked, over thirty years after Jesus resurrection, to do something that no other Hebrew had done. They were being asked to “mimic” something that many Hebrews, by that time, had already done. Our Author simply said to them, “Do what they did and keep your Abrahamic inheritance.

In the next chapter, we prove for you that Group Two was continuously inheriting and obtaining the same healing, prosperity, family well being, and salvation that Abraham himself obtained. This shows, demonstrates, and proves that the Bible does not contain two separate blessing systems, one for the Old Testament and one for the New Testament. There is only one blessing system in both Testaments: the Abrahamic covenant. You will see that Group Two was continuously inheriting the same identical blessings that Abraham himself had. Hang on. Your faith is about to fly.

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