A simple examination of the book of Hebrews shows it to be a comparison and contrast between what went before, and what is now present in the kingdom of Christ. A simple way to think about the book is that it is about the better things in Jesus. A better covenant, a better Lawgiver, a better rest, a better High Priest, a better Sacrifice, a better sanctuary.
The book was written to a Jewish group that was faltering in their faith in Christ. They were pulled by the past to embrace their previous relationship to God through the old law, and were questioning their commitment to Jesus. This was in part because they had not grown as Christians, and needed “someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food” (5:12).
They had faltered in their growth disappointing the writer, but he had not lost all his trust in them. After his admonition he said, “But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation” (9). Here we have an important truth revealed. Since what Jesus has brought is better, better things are required of us as well! “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, what at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him” (2:3).
