Hebrews 3-5

Hebrews 3:1 “Partakers of the heavenly calling.” NIV says an invitation that comes from heaven and leads to heaven! (I like it!) However, it is probably referring to the Melchizedek Priesthood. “High Priest” Jesus Christ is the great high priest (Teachings, 158). “Our profession” = Our faith, gospel, and priesthood.

Hebrews 3:7-11 No second chance for salvation! Hebrews 3:11 “Enter into my rest” The scriptures define the “rest” of the Lord as, “the fullness of His glory” (D&C 84:24).

“President Joseph F. Smith put it a little differently” “The ancient prophets speak of ‘entering into God’s rest’; what does it mean? To my mind, it means entering into the knowledge and love of God, having faith in his purpose and in his plan, to such an extent that we know we are right, and that we are not hunting for something else, we are not disturbed by every wind of doctrine, or by the cunning and craftiness of men who lie in wait to deceive. We know of the doctrine that it is of God, and we do not ask any questions of anybody about it; they are welcome to their opinions, to their ideas and to their vagaries. The man who has reached that degree of faith in God that all doubt and fear have been cast from him, he has entered into ‘God’s rest.’… rest from doubt, from fear, from apprehension of danger, rest from the religious turmoil of the world…” (Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 58).

Hebrews 3:7-8 The reason the Ancient Israelites fail in their efforts to enter the rest of the Lord! (D&C 84:23-24) They hardened their hearts! Hebrews 3:12“Evil heart of unbelief” Saints who fail to believe the truth offered them is a sin! Hebrews 3:14 “Partakers of Christ” = Joint-heirs = Romans 8:17

Hebrews 4:1 “His rest”NIV says eternal! Hebrews 4:8 Why does Paul indicate that Jesus did not give the Ancient Israelites “rest?” Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Yeshua and is transferred into the English as Joshua. Paul has reference here to the man Joshua of the Old Testament rather than to Jesus Christ. His point is that the Israelites did not find their ‘rest’ under Moses nor Joshua, under whose direction they found and entered the promised land, or even under David, their greatest king.

Hebrews 4:11 “Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest” Only the faithful members of the Church enter into the rest of the Lord. This rest is the companion of a pure testimony of the divinity of the Lord’s work and carries with it the hope of eternal life in the world to come. To his obedient saints the Lord promises, “I will give you rest…Ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matt. 11:28-29).

Hebrews 4:12-13Alma 31:5, D&C 6:2 The Mary Barnes and David Walling story! Hebrews 4:15 “In all points tempted like as we are” Jesus worked out his own salvation, suffered pain of body, was tempted, and overcame the world, thereby learning by experience the temptations and agonies which are the common lots of men (Alma 7:11-12).

Hebrews 5:1-3 What do we know concerning the work of Ancient High Priests? Sometime during the sojourn of the children of Israel in the desert near Sinai, God commanded Moses to take Aaron and his sons and consecrated them in the priest’s office. An account of their consecration, which lasted seven days, is found in Leviticus chapter 8. Later, other priests, members of the tribe of Levi, were likewise ordained to assist Aaron and his sons in their priestly duties. These sons of Aaron presided over those priests of the Levitical, or lesser, order and are specifically called “high priests” in some passages (Lev. 21:10; Num. 35:25; Joshua 20:6; 2 Kings 12:10). Though they were not high priests as we know them today; rather, they were presiding priests of the Aaronic order.

Hebrews 5:4“Called of God” John 15:16, 5 th Article of Faith “As was Aaron” Aaron’s position then became comparable to that of the Presiding Bishop of the Church (John Taylor, Items on Priesthood, 5-6). “The Priesthood is an everlasting principle, and existed with God from eternity, and will to eternity, without beginning of days or end of years” (Smith, Teachings, 157).

“If a man gets a fullness of the priesthood of God he has to get it in the same way that Jesus Christ obtained it, and that was by keeping all the commandments and obeying all the ordinances of the house of the Lord” (Smith, Teachings, 308).

Hebrews 5:7-8 Despite the J.S.T. footnote Elder McConkie suggest that these verses apply to both Melchizedek and Jesus Christ. Melchizedek was a prototype of Christ and that prophet’s ministry typified and foreshadowed that of our Lord in the same sense that the ministry of Moses did. The typology of the high priest carrying Israel next to his heart lends added meaning to the promise that the Lord will some day select his “jewels” (D&C 60:4, 101:3).

The Urim and Thummim consists of two special stones called seer stones or interpreters. Both words in Hebrew are plural and mean lights and perfections. Presumably one of the stones is called Urim and the other Thummim. Ordinarily they are carried in a breastplate over the heart (Exodus 28:30; Leviticus 8:8). The Robe was blue and was woven without seams with a hole for the head to go through (Ex. 28:31-32). Jesus, the Great High Priest, was clothed in a similar seamless garment prior to his crucifixion (John 19:23). Along the hem of the robe were placed, alternately, bells and fringes woven to look like pomegranates.

The significance? Woven in one piece, which sets the idea of wholeness or spiritual integrity; and the dark blue color indicated nothing more than the heavenly origin and character of the office with which the robe was associated. Where every Israelite is directed to make a fringe in the border of his garment, of dark blue purple thread, and when he looks at the fringe to remember the commandments of God and to do them.

For allusions to word and testimony of God the pomegranates with their pleasant smell, sweet refreshing juice, and the richness of their delicious kernel, were symbols of the word and testimony of God. The golden diadem and the mitre: (hat or bonnet) The high priest wore a golden band on the front of his mitre, upon the forehead. Engraved on the band were the words “Holiness to the Lord” (Exo.28:36-38), signifying, first, that the high priest should be characterized by this attribute, and, second, that Christ, the Great High Priest, would be perfectly holy before God.

The pattern of the official clothing of the high priest, or presiding head of the Aaronic Priesthood (not the Melchizedek Priesthood office of high priest), like the tabernacle, was given by revelation and had symbolic as well as practical significance. It consisted of the following items:

Ephod An article of sacred clothing worn by the high priests of the Levitical Priesthood. The Lord directed that they were not to wear ordinary clothing during the service, but they were to have ‘holy garments’ made by those whom the Lord had ‘filled with the spirit of wisdom’ (Exodus 28:2-3).

It was worn over a blue robe, was made of blue, purple, and scarlet material, with designs of gold thread skillfully woven into the fabric. This garment was fastened at each shoulder and had an intricately woven band with which it could be fastened around the waist. In gold settings on each shoulder were onyx stones engraved with the names of the 12 sons of Israel as a ‘memorial’ as the priest served before the Lord (Ex. 28:6-14 and 39:2-7). The exact function of the ephod is not known.

It is sometimes translated as an “apron” with a beautiful symbolic concept. The two onyx stones, which fastened the ephod on the shoulders, the high priest (a type of Christ and also of his authorized representatives) entered the tabernacle (the house of the Lord, or God’s presence) carrying Israel on his shoulders (Exodus 28:12).

The Breastplate Attached to the ephod with golden chains and sockets. It was made of fabric and was woven of the same material that was used on the ephod. It was twice as long as it was wide and when folded became a square pocket into which the Urim and Thummim was placed. Upon the exposed half of the breastplate were precious stones inscribed with the names of each of the tribes of Israel. Thus the high priest bore “the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart… for a memorial before the Lord continually (Exodus 28:29).