The Book of Hebrews and the End of the Age

The purpose of the Book of Hebrews, the nature of the kingdom of God and its entrance into the world and whether or not God has a future plan for the non-Christian, Jewish people have all been topics of debate among theologians in recent years. These issues are all closely related and cannot be resolved without a careful reading of the Book of Hebrews in its historical context and an understanding of its background. In light of internal evidence, historical accounts, and other witnesses from scri pture, I would argue that, as the Jewish age was drawing to a close, the Book of Hebrews was written as a final warning to professing Jewish Christians not to reject entrance into the kingdom of God by apostataizing from Christianity just before God's covenental wrath was to be violently poured out on the unregenerate, rebellious nation of Israel during the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

A clear, early reference to the nature of the coming of the kingdom which also provides backgound information regarding the era in which the Book of Hebrews was to be written can be found in the Book of Malachi. The prophecy presented by Malachi brought a number of charges against the nation of Israel concerning their relationship to God and a warning that the coming of their long-awaited Messiah will bring fiery judgement upon them.

"Behold, I send My messenger. And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold He is coming," says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when he appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like launderer's soap. (Malachi 3:1,2 NKJV).

Malachi's prophecy warns the Jews that even though they delighted in the soon coming of the Lord, many would not be able to stand when he appears. His appearance would be "sudden" and he would come to "His temple" as a judge. J. Stuart Russell writes, "The temple was the center of the nation's life, the visible symbol of the covenant between God and His people; it was the spot where 'judgement must begin,' and which was to be overtaken with sudden destruction." 1

Malachi closes his short book with another prophecy of the coming of the Messiah and His forerunner which he ends with the words, "lest I come and strike the land with a curse" (Malachi 4:6b NKJV). The Jews would be given a period of time in which to repent of their rebellion against God, but their land would be stricken with a curse if they did not. Russell states, "The full import of this ominous declaration is not at once apparent. To the Hebrew mind it suggested the most terrible fate that could befall a city or a people. The 'curse' was the anathema, or cherim, which denoted that the person or thing on which the malediction was laid was given over to utter destruction."2 These passages from Malachi are a foretelling of the fall of Jersalem and the destruction of the temple, events which occurred shortly after the writing of the book of Hebrews.

John the baptist, Christ, and the apostle Paul also warned of impending wrath. John preached regarding the coming of the Messiah, "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (Matthew 3:1 NKJV). Such a separation of "wheat" and "chaff" occurred with the destruction of Jerusalem. Those who were followers of Christ heeded His warnings to them (see Matthew 24:15,16) and fled just before the Roman army invaded, but the unbelievers were left to face the invasion without the covenental protection of the God they had rejected. The epistles of Paul contain illustrations of this distinction between the true spiritual Jew (ie the Christians) and false Jews. Examples of this distinction in Paul's writings can be found in the Book of Galatians.

The synoptic gospels are filled with Christ's warnings of the wrath to come. Probably the most well known of which is the olivet discourse of Matthew 24 and parallels which we cannot look at in detail here. However, Christ was very clear in His de scri ptions of how the present, unregenerate generation would end. This generation would hear and reject the teachings and miracles produced in the ministries of John the baptist, Christ Himself and also the apostles. Of the generation present at that time, Jesus advised, "on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Able to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation" (Matthew 23:35,36 NKJV).

Internal evidence suggests the Book of Hebrews was written in part as a warning to its original audience just a short time before the fullfilment of these prophecies of judgement would occur. The Book of Hebrews contains some of the strongest worded warnings found in the New Testament outside of the synoptic gospels. These warnings contain an application to all readers throughout all ages but had a very real, pending application to its original audience. Hebrews 2:3 states, "how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which was at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him" (NKJV). Clearly this passage applies to everyone who has ever lived, yet notice the author's use of terms such as "we" and "us". He also pinpoints his own generation by stating that they had heard the gospel through those who had heard Christ themselves. His warning here can certainly apply to the eternal torment awaiting in the hereafter for those who reject Christ in all ages, but history has provided us with a foretaste, a concrete example, of the wrath to come through an event that occurred during the lives of those the apostle was addressing. This event exemplified the reality of the wrath of God against those who stand in opposition to his kingdom