This is Pastor Bart Wilkins speaking on Hebrews, Chapter 1 entitled “Are You Listening?”

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Welcome
Welcome to Grace Learning Center’s study of Hebrews. We have entitled this study, “God’s Masterplan Revealed”, because we feel it captures the total essence of what the author of Hebrews wants us to understand. We hope that you will see the glory presented in God’s Masterplan. We desire that you will come to see the picture described in Hebrews 12:22-24, of a city of the living God, filled with thousands of angels, of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven, to see God himself, and to see Jesus as he sits at the right hand of God.
Who
We don’t know exactly who wrote Hebrews. Many have said Paul but the structure of this letter doesn’t resemble his other letters. We do know that the author must have been a Jewish believer because of his intimate knowledge of Judaism and certain Jewish traditions outside of the Scriptures. We can almost be certain that he wasn’t an eyewitness to the ministry of Jesus but must have been a second generation believer (ch. 2:3-4).
We also don’t know exactly who the letter was intended for. Because of the verse 13:24, we can say that either the letter was intended for believers in Italy or it was written from Italy. We do know that the recipients most likely were Jewish because the author writes with full expectation that the readers will respect the Old Testament and the whole backdrop of the letter is from Jewish history and religion.
Why
The recipients of this letter were experiencing heavy persecution and wavering in their faith. They were considering going back into Judaism, at least temporarily, in order to escape the persecution. The author, who knew these believers personally, was concerned that if they did go back to Judaism, they would lose their belief. He wrote this letter to specifically contrast the Old Covenant, found in Judaism and the New Covenant, as given by Jesus.

If you would like to print this, we have provided a document in PDF format that you can download here.

If you are also participating in our group study on Hebrews, you can download your Chapter 1 study materials here.