HEBREWS 30 Last Prayer (Heb 13:20-21)

“Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Heb 13:20-21)

Sacrifice
Hebrews 13:15 says, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.”  (Heb 13:15)
 
In the previous passage, the author talked about the altar Christians have. This altar is different from the past altar where animal sacrifices were offered in the Old Testament. A new altar needs a new kind of sacrifice. Then, what new sacrifices should we bring to the new altar?
 
One thing’s for sure, we don’t have to offer a sacrifice of atonement that needs blood. In the Old Testament, the high priests had to kill bulls and goats at the altar and bring their blood into the Most Holy Place year after year because animal sacrifices weren’t perfect.
 
Heb 10:1, 4 say, “It can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship… It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (Heb 10:1, 4)
 
However, the author also said in the same chapter, “Sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary” (Heb 10:18) because “[Jesus] entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption” (Heb 9:12).
 
So, we don’t need to offer a sacrifice of blood anymore because Jesus shed His own blood for our sins, which was perfect and pure enough to cleanse all our sins.
 
9) Offer a Sacrifice of Praise
But we still need to bring our sacrifices to Jesus’ altar. The author of Hebrews mentioned two kinds of sacrifices we’re to bring to the altar. One is a sacrifice of praise and the other is a sacrifice of good deeds.
 
Let’s read Hebrews 13:15-16 together.
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Heb 13:15-16)
 
First, we should offer to God a sacrifice of praise with our lips. That’s the main reason we gather every Sunday—we gather to worship God and praise His name together.
 
We should continue to openly profess His name. We’re to profess to each other what God has done in our lives and praise Him for His goodness and faithfulness.
 
The importance of worshiping God can’t be emphasized enough. It is so important. The Bible says that God made us for that very purpose. “The people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.” (Is 43:21)
 
We were essentially created to worship God. As Christians, we should continue to worship God wherever we are. We should always express our love for God by openly proclaiming how good He is. That’s the first sacrifice we should bring to the altar.
 
We should use our weekdays to prepare for the sacrifice of praise on Sunday. The sacrifice of praise with our lips is the result of our lives during weekdays. We can’t truly worship God joyfully with all our hearts if we live our weekdays without thinking about God.
 
God wants us to worship Him. But that’s not for Himself—it’s actually for us. Through worship, God forms our minds and touches our souls. During worship, God opens our hearts and allows us to deeply experience and see His goodness, faithfulness, and everlasting love.
 
Just as you become more similar to the people you love the more you spend time with them—such as your friends, partner, or parents—the more you love and worship God, the more you will become like Him in every way. So, worshiping God is not a burden God requires us to do but is actually a blessing for us. It is a blessing for us to know God, love Him, and have a relationship with Him by worshiping Him.
 
10) Offer a Sacrifice of Good Deeds
The second sacrifice we’re to offer is a sacrifice of good deeds. Hebrews 13:16 says, “Do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Heb 13:16).
 
In fact, our worship and our lives can’t be separated. We can’t truly worship God if we fail to live a life that God is pleased with.
 
In the Old Testament, we can find many passages in which God didn’t accept or wasn’t pleased with the Israelites’ sacrifices. That wasn’t because there were problems with their sacrifices themselves, but because their lives were far from the life that reflects God’s goodness and holiness.
 
In Psalm 50, God said to the Israelites,
“I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices or concerning your burnt offerings” (Ps 50:8)
 
There were no problems with their sacrifices or burnt offerings. That wasn’t why God rebuked them. But God continued,
 
“You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you. When you see a thief, you join with him; you throw in your lot with adulterers. You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit… When you did these things and I kept silent... But I now arraign you and set my accusations before you” (Ps 50:17-21).
 
Even though they offered all kinds of sacrifices on the altar, they failed to live according to God’s will for them. They ignored God’s word and their lives were no different from evildoers. They used their lips to curse others, not to bless them. So God said that he would judge them.
 
God said something similar in Isaiah chapter 1. He said,
“The multitude of your sacrifices - what are they to me? I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats… Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. I cannot bear your worthless assemblies… Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow” (Is 1:11-13, 16-17).
 
What God teaches us through these passages is that the sacrifice He really wants us to give him is the sacrifice of our lives. God wants us to reflect His good image in our lives. He wants us to have an interest in those He’s interested in.
 
Even though the Israelites worshiped God with a multitude of sacrifices, God wasn’t pleased with them. Rather, He said that these were detestable to Him. They gathered to worship God on a regular basis, but God said that the assemblies were worthless. That’s because they went against God’s expectations for them and failed to show His holiness and love by taking care of those in need.
 
What really pleases God is not our sacrifices, but our lives. Our offerings, worship, and praises matter when our lives are in line with God’s good will for us. So, we should bring both—a sacrifice of praise and a sacrifice of good deeds. These are the sacrifices that God is pleased with.
 
This reminds me of what Paul said about a living sacrifice. Let’s read Romans 12:1-2 together,
 
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Rm 12:1-2)
 
The true sacrifice we should bring to the altar of Christ is the sacrifice of praise combined with our lives. We’re to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. That’s how we give true worship to God. So whenever we come to God and worship Him, we should continuously check if our lives are in line with his good, pleasing will for us.
 
The Last Prayer
Now, let’s move on to the last part of Hebrews. In this part, the author writes a closing prayer for the readers.
 
Let’s read today’s passage together again.
“Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Heb 13:20-21)
 
The God of Peace
Here, the author calls God, ‘the God of peace.’ Peace refers to a specific peace between God and us that Jesus achieved through the shedding of his blood.
 
Jesus’ blood was the blood of the eternal covenant. It means that the effect of Jesus’ blood is eternal and that His sacrifice was according to the new covenant God said He would make with His people in the Old Testament. God brought Jesus back from the dead, and this resurrection is what gives us hope.
 
In order to allow us to have a peaceful relationship with Him, God sent His only Son to demolish the thick wall of sin that was the biggest obstacle between God and us. Jesus died to give us peace, but God didn’t allow him to remain in death. God raised Him from the dead in three days, and Jesus overcame death. By doing so, He gives eternal life to all those who believe in Him.
 
Jesus’ death and resurrection according to the new covenant are central to our faith in Him. We can only have peace with God through Jesus Christ.
 
The Great Shepherd of the Sheep
The author of Hebrews also says that we have a great shepherd—Jesus Christ. The Bible often describes Jesus as a shepherd who takes care of His sheep.
 
The prophet Isaiah said,
“See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm… He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart…” (Is 40:10-11)
 
Jesus Himself also said that He is the good shepherd who knows His sheep in John 10.
 
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me - just as the Father knows me and I know the Father - and I lay down my life for the sheep” (Jn 10:14-15)
 
The Israelites were very familiar with the relationship between a shepherd and sheep because their ancestors were nomads. So they often used the metaphor of a shepherd to explain God’s guidance and care for His people.
 
In the Old Testament, there were many great leaders who served as God’s shepherds such as Moses, David, and other priests and prophets. But the author of Hebrews calls Jesus not just the good shepherd, but the ‘great’ shepherd, which implies that Jesus’ shepherdship is superior to all other shepherds in the Scriptures.
 
That’s why the apostle Peter called Jesus, ‘the Chief Shepherd.’ He said to the elders of the church,
 
“Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them… And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.” (1Pt 5:2-4)
 
There may be many shepherds who take care of God’s flock. But there’s only one Chief Shepherd. Only Jesus Christ is the chief, eternal, and great shepherd of His sheep, who loves them even to the point of laying down His life for them.
 
God’s Equipping Ministry
The author prayed,
“May the God of peace… equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Heb 13:21)
 
The author prayed that God would equip His people through Jesus Christ so that they would do His will. The prayer reminds us of the fact that we can’t just follow God’s will on our own. We have to be prepared and equipped by God through Jesus Christ.
 
We can’t really follow God’s good will by ourselves. We don’t have good things in us. As Paul confessed,
 
“I know that good itself does not dwell in me… I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” (Rm 7:18)
 
We may have a desire to do good, but we’ve often found ourselves not doing what we want to do but doing what we don’t want to do. That’s because of our sinful nature working in us. Instead, we should continue to be equipped by God through Jesus Christ.
 
We should continue to pray that Jesus cleanses our hearts with His precious blood, removes all impure things in us, and fills us with everything good so that we can be truly prepared to follow God’s will and do what’s pleasing to Him.
 
We are to remember the fact that God saved us for a specific purpose. God redeemed us through Jesus Christ and gave us spiritual blessings in Him so that we can be equipped with everything good for doing His good, pleasing will for us, which is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, to build the kingdom of God here on earth, and to seek justice and righteousness by raising our voices against all unjust matters in this world.
 
Even now, God is equipping His people. He wants us to be prepared for His mission for the world. But He doesn’t force us to do so. Rather, God is waiting for us to willingly and joyfully join in His will. He is still inviting us to this good life in Jesus Christ. And the first thing to do is to humbly go to the throne of God’s grace with continuous prayer.
 
So, we’ve finished the book of Hebrews. As I mentioned when we first started to talk about this book, I really like it because it best describes who Jesus is theologically and explains His ministry for us in light of the Old Testament.
 
The key words of the book of Hebrews are superiority and faith. Jesus is superior to all important things, symbols, and figures in the Old Testament. Everything written in the Old Testament just served as a shadow of the existence and role of Jesus Christ.
 
So we, who acknowledge the ultimate authority of the Scriptures in our lives, should hold fast to our faith in Him. It won’t be easy for us to live out our faith in Jesus. We may join in His sacrifice, disgrace, and suffering in this world, which we don’t have to go through unless we believe in Jesus.
 
Nevertheless, we must keep holding fast to our faith in Jesus, trusting in Him and putting our hope in Him and following in His steps on earth. That’s because the Jesus we believe in is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Only He can give us true, eternal life, and He is the only way to the Father in heaven.