Hebrews Chapter 1: Study #2
Hebrews 1:1-4
Study #2
Sunday, March 18th, 2007
We opened up our study of Hebrews a couple of weeks ago…
· Talking about a bit of the history of this book
· It’s uniqueness
· It’s origins and authorship
· It’s controversies
· And its strong authority and message
· How it is so basic, yet so revealing
· And how it is foundational to our doctrine as Christians
And the power of what is written in this book
· Starts of right at the beginning
· The author wastes no time getting right to the point
· In dealing with the Hebrew nation, the Jews as a race of people
· If we, as evangelicals are to reach them…
· What is central to Christianity…
· Needs to be understood by them to be central to Salvation.
· And the spiritual epicenter of salvation is Jesus Christ Himself.
There is a moving scene in the movie Fiddler on the Roof…
· Where Tevye the father, after finding out that his daughter married a Orthodox Christian boy rather than a Jew
· And he looks at his wide Golde and says..
· “she is dead to us now…”
To the Hebrew, Jesus is dead to them too.
· And if they are going to come to that saving faith in Christ
· If they are going to realize that it is faith and not works that saves them
· If they are going to finally know, in this lifetime, that Jesus Christ is the way to salvation…
· They need to know who He is, and most of all, that He is alive!
The author here, knows this, and wastes no time getting to it.
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
The Hebrews are the chosen people
· They know this, and they know they are special because of it.
· They also know that they have suffered because of it.
· Some of this suffering is self-inflicted as they refuse to take heed of the hope that is in Christ, the true messiah.
· But in any case, they have a great reverence for God
· The author knows this of course, and so this is exactly how the book starts
· GOD!
We like to look at Hebrews and say that there is no known sure author to this work…
· As we had said last week…
· Many earthy authors have been suggested for this epistle.
· Remember the tradition of,
o and typical style of writing of the day
· was for the introduction to contain the name of the author.
· A well known author was important for the Christian movement
· A well known author…
o as we have seen with so many other letters,
o names like Paul, Peter, Luke, or James…
· …meant that the letter held apostolic authority
· And therefore had public support for it’s authenticity and value to the Christian faith
Such as is the case with Hebrews…
· …Not the author in its introduction had its draw backs
· And its authority would have been questioned.
o As it is in some circles still today
· But is this epistle really lacking an author?
· The fact of the matter is that the introduction of Hebrews DOES list the author.
· Right here with the very first word,
· GOD.
· There is no better authority to back the Work than the heavenly author of all things
· The Father Himself.
God…
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets
· Napoleon once said that, ‘all things proclaim the existence of God’
· This is profound, and true, but not something that Napoleon came up with on his own
· Paul taught us all in Romans…
o another famous treatise towards a particular people group…
· Romans 1:20
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
· Through nature itself is one of the various ways through which God has spoken to us.
We would be wise to remember, that ‘speaking’ to someone…
· …does not always mean with words
· Saint Francis of Assisi made the famous quote, ‘preach always, if necessary, use words’
· This sentence could also be used to make the same statement
· But the word used for ‘speak’ is a word that literally means ‘words’
· Utterances, to tell
· To use words to declare one’s mind or thoughts…
· In this way God spoke to us as well…
And in 2 ways…
1. Audibly
o Most famously from Mount Sinai to Moses
o Exodus 3:14
14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
o And he continued to speak to Moses and his people audibly over the years
2. By proxy
o First through the Fathers
· Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses,
· God spoke to the people through these, the earliest of “church fathers”….
· And then as this verse says, through His prophets.
o Prophet means to declare, or announce.
o Gods chosen prophets did just that
o The proclaimed and announced the words and truths that God gave them
o And the price they paid for doing so, was typically heir lives
o As far back as I Kings the bible talks about how the Hebrews, God’s chosen people killed them
o I Kings 13:26, 2 Chronicles 28:9, Nehemiah 9:26, all in the OT, all before Christ this was spoken of.
o And then Jesus Himself made the famous remarks from the hills outside of Jerusalem;
Matthew 23:37, and Luke 13:34
34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! 35 See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
· The Hebrews killed almost all that God has sent
· That being the case, how would God talk to His people?
· The same way he does it right now
· Through His Words…
· But now his audible words necessarily
· But His written Word.
· The bible itself
· Jesus & the bible are the Word!
So God, through so many times…
· And in so many ways
· By prophet, by revelation, through nature, by audible word, by written word
· Having spoken to his people in these ways….
· He reached a point in His plan, more had to be done,
· His ‘speaking’ was still not reaching those whom He wanted so desperately to reach
· He had tried the revelations, dreams, and prophets
· He had even tried written words.
· And still there were those who did not understand
· It was time to do something more
· When words did not work
· He sent THE WORD!
· He sent the son…
· And this is declared in verse 2
2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
· John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
· Jesus Christ IS the Word!
· And for God’s message to be fully understood, He had o send His son
· And His son had to die.
· This IS the Gospel.
· And THIS is what the Hebrews needed to know.
· And for many, they still do
· Continuing on in John 1, picking up in verse 3
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
· Isn’t that what the author of Hebrews is saying?
· The SON is the ONE!
· And since all things were made through Him…
· Who else BUT Him to judge?
· Who else to turn to when you see that your laws are not saving you, and that in spite of all your religiosity, that your heart is still empty, knowing that there is more?
· Who else to love?, and to cry out to?
Cause in John 1:14 it reads…
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
But they killed this fleshly prophet too!
· The most unjust killing in all the annuls of history
· But yet the one murder than none of us could live without.
3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power,
The brightness of His glory…
· The Hebrews are not dummies…
· They know the written Word of God
· The trouble is they do not understand of believe in the Living Word of God, that being the Christ
· Oh, they believe in the Christ, the messiah, the savior to come…
· They just do not believe that it is Jesus
· And so the author continues on…
· Using the authority of God Himself to make his explanation…
· At this moment using the brightness of His Glory…
Psalm 27:1
“The lord is my light and my salvation. The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?”
In perhaps the greatest example we have of the brightness of the glory of God Isaiah said this in:
Isaiah 6:1-5
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” 4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone!
· His glory was so bright, even the seraphim could not behold it
· They had to hide behind their wings!
· Not just their faces but their feet as well.
· Isaiah also gives us a glimpse into the future glory of Jesus in:
Isaiah 60:19
“The sun shall no longer be your light by day, Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; But the Lord will be to you an everlasting light, And your God your glory.
· Again, simply reiterating that Jesus is our light!
· And of course John…
· And John in his special way of using so many comparisons..
· Make an expository work on his own making the juxtaposition of light against darkness
John 3:18-19
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
This brightness, this love,
· Is what saves!
· We run into the light, and away from darkness
· Darkness is a condition that man made by turning their backs in the light of god
· SIN is darkness and darkness exists because of sin.
· You see darkness is not a thing, it is a condition.
· You cannot say, turn down the darkness!
· We say turn up the light!
· There is no such thing as a 100 watt Dark bulb!!
· There is such a thing as a black light…
· But it’s light! There is no black dark, just a black light!
And after His brightness and glory, we are told that the Son is…
the express image of His person
· what does this mean?
· The express image of the person?
· What this means is this
· The word translated express, can also be translated exact
· He is the EXACT image of the Father.
· To the point that the word actually means duplicate, as if out of the same mold
· Like an image struck from the form of a mold like a coin
· Or something being poured out of the same mold
· An exact impression or even reproduction could be used.
And that exactness…
· …is of the Fathers image…
· So what does image mean?
· the substantial quality, nature, of a person or thing.
· the steadfastness of mind, confidence, firm trust, courage, resolution, assurance
Basically the author is saying this:
· Jesus is the exact representation of the Father in every way
· To include his wisdom, mind, qualities, courage, resolution
· His very nature itself….His full character…
· With all the confidence and trust of the Father Himself.
· The same mind, the same heart, the same goals and purpose.
And most of all….
· In the flesh!
· So we can see him, touch Him, talk to Him, ask Him questions…
· Love Him…
· Commentator John Phillips wrote it this way:
“The lines of deity have been reproduced in Jesus’ humanity, so to find our what God is like, all we must do it look at Jesus!”
and upholding all things by the word of His power,
· He is the heir of all things’ and therefore, he has all the responsibility of those things and to those things
· all thing are held together by his power.
· Scientists cannot understand why the world simply does not explode like a nuclear bomb
· Because the atomic structures they find in nature don’t work like the scientists figure they should.
· Particles that are supposed to be repelling each other are holding together, and they do not know why.
· Well we know why…
· Because all things are held together by Christ, both the seen and the unseen…
· Because it is all His.
· And he can do with it as He pleases.
And the Son upholds these things
· Again, by his word!
· And the Word is His power!
· There is strength in His word. There is power in His word!
· There is safety and salvation in Hi word
· And all of his word is right here!
The author of Hebrews may have been holding up a copy of the gospels himself…
· As he read this letter
· The Hebrews need to know this power
· They have thus far put power in the laws of God
· And in the traditions of men..
· But they have be thus far unable to believe in the power of the Word of God fully.
· The gospel has always been there…
· Saved by faith has always been the standard
· But the Hebrews being so caught up in the laws, never saw the freedom in faith.
We said earlier that Jesus could do what he pleases with creation
· Because it is his, He created it…
· And He does what he pleases…
· And what pleases Him is the will of the Father…
· John 8:27
“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. 29 And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”
· So not only in word,
· but also in deed,
· do we see Jesus being the express image of the Father…
· a point that also needed to be driven home with the Hebrews
when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
In short…
· Jesus fulfills the gospel
· Because he is the gospel
· And in one sentence we are taken from creation to Calvary!
· He created all things, holds together all things, all the while doing the will of the father.
· Yet sacrifices Himself at the hands of those who hated Him
· So that He could take on our sins
· And become sin for us
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
And having accomplished this fete…
· Sits at the right hand of God the father
· As God and judge of all.
· A total and complete affirmation of Christ's power and authority over all
· Even the Hebrews
4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
This is another important thing as well
· The Hebrews knew of the angels
· And to them the angels held power
· They brought messages
· They protected them
· They provided for them
· To the Hebrews, the angels were one step short of God
· Here we are told they less than Jesus
· That Jesus is BETTER than the angels
· Seems almost silly to us to imagine anything else
· But to the Hebrews who exalt the angels without worshipping them
· And to others like the Gnostics and other sects…
· This is important to note that Jesus is in fact higher, more important then the angels.
Jesus is better than the angels
· The word better is used 13 times in Hebrews
· Each time with significance.
· This is an important word to this writer.
· Because it is used to show that the Jesus way…
· IS the BETTER way!
· That Jesus is better than Moses
· That love and faith
o are better than the law and works
· And that total propitiation,
o the absolute and 100% removal forever of our sins…
o Blotted out… forever and ever.
o Never to be seen or heard of again…
o As far as the east is from the west
o Washed clean by the blood of the Son
o The blood of the purest lamb…
· Is better than the death blood of bulls and goats
o Who have just been ceremoniously washed…
o And who ceremony has to be performed over and over and over again
· That salvation by grace through faith is better than working hard to obey a law…
o that you can never keep
o and that was only written in the first place to drive you to see your need for Christ
That this new way, is not only the TRUE way…
· but the ONLY way.
· And that without it, they shall not be saved
· This is the importance of this message
· And we shall continue to see it, all though our study in Hebrews.