Monday, September 21 –
Welcome to the beginning of a new week, and as we begin it,
we also start a new book in the New Testament – the book of Hebrews. Today, we’ll read Hebrews 1:1 – 14. After you’ve finished reading the passage, please
come back as we begin to tackle this marvelous book.
The book of Hebrews has been argued as Paul’s thirteenth letter, but it has also
been argued that Paul never identified himself in this letter. Since all of his
other letters contained his greeting and conclusion with his name, many do not
think Paul wrote Hebrews. In fact, there
is no name that is ascribed to the letter of Hebrews, which leaves it wide open
to much speculation as to the writer.
What we do know is that the writer of this letter knew the Old Testament
very well, and not only was he steeped in Old Testament knowledge, but he also
wrote in fluid Greek. We also know that
the writer was well known to his readers (10:32-34), and was probably either
the Apostle Paul or someone working with Paul (13:22-23). The early church fathers of the second century
attributed it to Paul, but others thought it either Barnabas, Luke, Silas, or
even a second-generation leader, Clement.
Church history has not resolved the authorship, but what is clear is
that the Church fathers saw the book as inspired by God, and worthy of being
recognized as “what the Holy Spirit says” (3:7).
Reading the book of Hebrews will do two things: 1), It will help us see how the Old Testament
prepared for the Messiah, Jesus’ coming.
Jesus is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, images, worship, and
revelation. 2) It helped us to see how
the Gospel – that Jesus died for our sins so that we might be declared
righteous before a Holy God – fulfills all of the Old Testament pictures and
promises.
Why did the writer of this letter write it? The Jewish believers in Jesus were beginning
to suffer persecution. The Jewish
synagogue leaders and the Jewish Temple councils of the Sanhedrin all forced
Christian Jews to renounce Jesus or be excommunicated from the Synagogue. Not only did they do this, but they forced
Orthodox Jewish families to renounce their children and declare those that
converted to Christianity to be dead. Jewish
believers were ostracized from their families, their jobs, their community, and
were not merely ignored; they were hated and reviled. The Reformation Study Bible says of the
Hebrew Christians – “Subject to suffering and shame for their confession of
Jesus, stripped of the familiar and visible institutions of organized Jewish
religion and confused by the hidden character of Jesus' glory (veiled in
suffering when He was on earth and now hidden in heaven), the readers are
tempted to turn away from the faith (10:38, 39), to fall into unbelief and so
to give up their pilgrimage toward God's rest and God's eternal home.” The writer encourages them to persevere
and also look at the Old Testament as testifying to proof that the Old Covenant
and the sacrificial system all pointed to Jesus Christ. Jesus is “better,” that is the main theme throughout
the book of Hebrews. He is better than
angels, better than Moses and the law, better than the Temple and the
sacrifices because he is the Son of God who mediates the New Covenant – why?
Because Jesus fulfills and links us to the God of Grace.
The writer of Hebrews introduces us to this immediately – “Long
ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed
the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the
radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature…” (1:1- 3a).
Long ago – i.e., throughout Biblical history, God kept speaking through the Scriptures'
writers, always pointing towards the future promises and fulfillment. Jesus is the one who is the fulfillment of
all those promises. More than that,
Jesus is the “heir” of all God has made, including His creation. Jesus, as the Son, radiates the glory of God
and is the exact imprint of God’s nature.
Those few words are profound in theological significance. The word in Greek is “kharakter,” from
which we get our word “character.” In the Roman Empire, an official document of
the kind an Emperor would issue had a seal engraved to match the exact
representation of the Emperor. What the
writer of Hebrews is saying is that Christ Jesus is exactly the same in his
being as the Father. While “the Father
and Son are distinct in their persons – the Father is not the Son, and the Son is
not the Father, but everything the Father is, the Son is too.” [1]
The work of the Son is “better” because of what he does, and
what he has done – “… he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the
Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he
has inherited is more excellent than theirs” (1:3b-4). Jesus “upholds” the creation, not with strength
of an Atlas, but with His own “word.” It
is in his word and work that he demonstrates the unique God-Man that Jesus
is. He made purification for sins, which
means that the Fall of man and therefore the Sinfulness of all mankind, Jesus
overcame with his shed blood on the cross.
This the writer of Hebrews will fully explain as he goes along. Finally, Jesus “sat down” at God’s right
hand. Jesus is exalted to the throne of God,
the lamb of God as once slain, but is alive and has overcome death (Revelation
5:13). It is Jesus’ position as exalted in
Heaven at the throne of God that makes clear His superiority over all of the
Angels –
“For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have
begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a
son”? And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let
all God’s angels worship him.” Of the angels he says, “He makes his
angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire” (1:5-7).
God created the angels, thus they were created by Christ, who created all things. They are messengers who do the will of God,
but it was not an angel that God, the Father, sent to the earth to bring about the
salvation of all. Jesus is the Son of
God, which means He is God in being as the Father is in being. Therefore, the Angels worship him as they
worship the Father.
The uniqueness of Jesus, the Son, is that he is the God-Man –
“But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the
scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved
righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with
the oil of gladness beyond your companions” (1:8-9).
He has told us that God has spoken through his Son (1:1) and that the Son brought
about purification for Sins and is now seated at the Father’s right hand (1:3),
and now assures us that the Son is completely sovereign as the King in God’s
Kingdom. We often wonder how the world
can be “fixed”…when will injustice end, evil be destroyed, and the Kingdom of
God come upon the earth – where “his will is done on earth as it is in
heaven?” (Matthew 6:10). Yet, what
we know is that Christ rules in the Kingdom of God in righteousness, hating
wickedness, and will uphold all things in His perfect sovereign will – “the
scepter of uprightness is the scepter of His Kingdom” (1:8). The Angels
minister the will of God, but Jesus is the will of God in his incarnate righteousness.
Finally, Jesus is superior to all created things, including
the Angels, because he is Eternal.
“ But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever… And,
You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens
are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will
all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a
garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no
end. And to which of the angels has he ever said, ‘Sit at my right hand until
I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’? Are they not all
ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit
salvation?” (1:10-14).
The angels are intriguing beings, who serve God’s purposes, and by extension,
serve us in the process. Yet the angels
are not Deity, not God. Jesus is “forever
and ever” and “laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning.” Not only that, but all of creation is
destined to perish, wear out, and will be changed. Yet, Jesus is the same, from the beginning,
and through the end of all things, his “years will have no end.”
Jesus is God’s final word to us, and we discover Him in His
word. Contrary to many modernist
conceptions of Jesus, he is not merely a good teacher, a person who did good
things; He is the exact substance of being as the Father and participated – as
the entire Trinity of God did – in creation.
It is Jesus that makes Salvation from Sin possible – an only Jesus. The angels are God’s marvelous creation, who
serve us as “heirs of salvation.” The
great Puritan John Owen comments that “these blessed angels specially
minister to the church and have us under their constant care.” While it is good to have a deep respect for the
angels as those who serve before God, yet, in Jesus, we are worshiping the very
one who created them, and who is their Lord.
The creed said it beautifully, (Jesus) is very God, of very God,
begotten not made”.[2] How can we not see that Jesus is to be
worshiped and praised, even as we worship and praise the Father?
Peace
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