Background of the Passage Many people have a distorted picture of Christianity, as having no message but “fire and brimstone, hell and damnation.” Anyone who read only the first four chapters of Hebrews might be confirmed in such thinking. For until now the subject matter of the epistle to the Hebrews has been largely negative: Unbelievers will be doomed—forever apart from God and His perfect rest. God’s Word, likened to a two-edged sword (4:12), has been shown in its all-seeing and judgmental role.