Today, we are going to begin studying the book of
Hebrews. Before we get into the first
chapter, I want to give you a little background information. The book of Hebrews a little mysterious. It is believed to have been written prior to
the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. Scholars believe, because of the subject
matter addressed in this letter, the author would’ve mentioned that major event
if it were written after that time (See Hebrews 8:3-4). Once the temple was destroyed, no gifts were
being offered, so the wording of those verses would’ve been different. Ooh, think about that. There’s no atonement for the Jews right now.
The author is unknown, but many scholars believe the
author to be an associate of Paul and Timothy.
Some scholars believe Paul is the author because of how doctrinal truth
is presented first, then practical application in the letter’s structure. But other scholars say that the writing style
is more elegant in the Greek language, like the Gospel of Luke and Acts, which
would make Paul’s friend and traveling companion, Dr. Luke, the author. Only God truly knows who the author of this
letter is.
It was written to Jewish believers in a church in Rome to
encourage them to remain steadfast in the face of persecution within their own
communities to go back to the old ways of being Jews. Don’t we need a message like that as
believers today? Couldn’t we all use a
little encouragement not to go back to our old ways? We may not be facing the same opposition as
the recipients of this letter since they were apparently being pressured by
Jewish friends and family members as well as possibly being influenced by
Nero’s persecution of Christians, but we have challenges just the same. Maybe you are being pressured by your friends
and family to give up your new faith and go back to your old ways. This book will provide encouragement to stand
strong in your faith because it teaches, especially in the first chapter,
specifically about Christ’s superiority. Let’s pray before we get started.
Holy Father, bless
this time in Your Scriptures. Open each
heart and mind that lingers here to the truth.
Fill us with awe over Your Son, Jesus.
Convict our hearts of sin we need to confess. Fill our hearts and minds and mouths with
thanks to You for this time, the Bible, our ability to read it, and Your Holy
Spirit, who gives us understanding. In
the majestic name of Jesus Christ, amen.
To introduce our chapter today, I want to ask a question:
How do you want to be known by those who encounter you? I can be pretty blunt, so here’s my
laser-focused, point blank, between the eyes translation of that question: What
do you want your tombstone to say? What
will people say about you at your memorial service? When you exit their office? What names do you want to be known by? Would people call you “faithful”? Would they call you “busy”? Or “gracious”? Or “moody”?
I’m preaching to myself, here.
What can you do today to change that moniker to be in better alignment
with Jesus and His glory? When you leave
here today, I want you to know that Jesus,
the radiance of God’s glory, is superior to all. Whatever you contemplate putting your faith
in, Christ is better.
We have two divisions:
1.The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact
representation of His being. (Heb 1:1-4)
2.The Son is superior to the angels, who were sent to
serve those who inherit salvation. (Heb 1:5-14)
Read Hebrews 1:1-2.
No greeting.
Unusual in comparison to the other letters we read in the New
Testament. This author jumps right in,
not identifying himself, but to identify God as a Master Communicator! God has always communicated with man in one
way or another. In the past, God spoke
through the prophets. God gave messages
to prophets in the Old Testament, and the prophet’s job was to pass God’s
message on to the people. There are
several prophetic books in the Old Testament.
We will study many of them in BSF’s “People of the Promise: Kingdom
Divided” study starting in September. Sign
up now at bsfinternational.org.
There was a point in time when God stopped speaking
through the prophets. You may have heard
people speak about the 400 years of silence between the end of the Old
Testament until the silence was broken with the cry of a baby born in Bethlehem
to Mary and Joseph. Ever since Jesus
appeared on planet earth, God has spoken through His Son! There is no more need for prophets. We have the very Son of God! I love how Pastor Matt Fox puts it: “Do you speak Son-ish?” Is your language pointing others toward Jesus
Christ? As Christ followers, we have
been given the Gospel message and we’ve been commanded to go and make
disciples. How are you obeying that
directive? What unique gifts and talents
has the Holy Spirit equipped you with to make the Son of God known? How are you using those gifts?
We also see in these verses that Jesus is the appointed
heir of all things as well as the Creator of the universe. So God the Father created everything by
speaking it into existence. He created
everything through Jesus, Who is called “the Word,” then gave it all back to
Him as an inheritance. One commentator I
read, J. Vernon McGee, explained that Adam was given dominion over all creation
and that dominion was taken away when he sinned in Genesis 3. When Christ, “the second Adam,” appeared, He
exercised control over the flesh, over the elements, and regained dominion over
the earth that the first Adam lost. That
is how the Creator could become an heir.
Ah, the power of the Word! The
last Word from God to man is Jesus. Let’s
continue.
Read Hebrews 1:3-4.
Oh, how beautiful!
Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory!
He is the exact representation of God the Father to mankind. Jesus makes the invisible God visible. Remember when the disciples asked Jesus to
show them the Father and Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the
Father”? God gave mankind the gift of
Himself wrapped in the skin of His one and only Son! Verse 3 also says that Jesus sustains all
things by His powerful word. He
strengthens and supports.
Physically. Mentally. Emotionally.
Spiritually. What holds your life
together? He came to earth to meet our
greatest need and exceed every one of our expectations by doing the work of
being the sacrifice to pay for all sins.
Once He completed that work, He sat at the right hand of the Father in
heaven. But more on that later.
In verse 4, there are two Greek words that effectively
“hijacked” my study this week. I
questioned the word “inherited” and was led to the first Greek word, kleronomeo,
which is translated “he has inherited” in the NIV translation, but can also be
translated “he has received.” The
implication is that what has been received is of great value and has not been
earned. Inheritance implies a gift received
from someone who has died. Jesus’ death
on the cross finished the work He was born to accomplish: the sacrificial
payment for all sins ever committed. I
was alerted to the second Greek word while I was studying vocabulary for my
Basic Biblical Greek class. I saw the
word onoma,
which means “name” or “reputation,” and I thought to myself, “I wonder if
that’s the Greek word in verse 4 for ‘name’,” and it is! So, effectively, Christ’s name and reputation
are on display. His is the name above
all names. And that author of this
letter to the Hebrews, in the verses that follow in our second division, will quote
some beautiful Old Testament passages revealing several “names” or
characteristics which declare the reputation of Jesus Christ, clearly identifying
Him as superior to angels…and to anything else we can possibly think of! And nothing is going to come along to top
Him! Ever! He is God!
And that means that, when we place our faith in Christ for salvation, we
have a relationship with God! Isn’t that
incredible? This leads us to our first
principle:
Principle 1: We can know God by knowing Jesus, the Son.
Application 1. How are you pursuing spirituality? Are you taking full advantage of your access
to Scripture and the privilege of prayer to know Jesus? What needs to change in your heart for you to
better reflect the character of God? What
area of your life would benefit most from being scrutinized by the mind of
Christ? Where does your thinking and
attitude need to change for your words to have a more positive impact on others
and yourself? How might your words be
changed (as a result of studying Scripture) to be more in alignment with the
life-giving words of Jesus Christ? What
are you putting your faith in other than Jesus Christ? What shift needs to occur in your thinking to
change that allegiance? How are you
encouraging others to place their faith in Jesus?
We are going to take these remaining verses one or two at
a time because they are packed with cross-references I want to look at.
Read Hebrews 1:5.
Jesus is superior to the angels in that He is God’s “Son.” The author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 2:7 here. Psalm
2 is identified as a royal coronation psalm, and this verse speaks of coming
into royal position of kingship. “I will
be His Father, and He will be my Son” is quoted from 2 Samuel 7:14 and 1
Chronicles 17:13. Although these verses
refer to Solomon, they also allude to a promised future King who will rule both
Israel and Gentiles: Jesus. Isn’t it
cool how the Old Testament and the New Testament snap together like puzzle
pieces to complete a beautiful picture of Who the Messiah would be and Who
Jesus is? Let’s keep reading.
Read Hebrews 1:6.
Jesus is superior to the angels as God’s “firstborn.” The author of Hebrews quotes Deuteronomy
32:43 (see Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint) and Psalm 97:7. Both of these verses effectively cite God as commanding
the angels to worship His Son! Psalm 97
has the heading “The Lord’s Power and Dominion.” He is all-powerful and sovereign over all!
Read Hebrews 1:7.
Jesus, as the Creator of all things, is superior to all
created things, including created beings like angels. In this verse, which quotes Psalm 104:4, God
is saying that the angels are messengers and servants. We’ll get more specific about that in a
minute.
Read Hebrews 1:8-9.
Jesus is superior as a just and righteous and joyful “King.” Psalm
45 is called a wedding song or a song celebrating the King’s marriage. This gives me chills. The author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 45:6-7,
but pull out your Bible and read all 17 verses.
This is a royal military wedding right out of the pages of the book of
Revelation! Look at it in conjunction
with Revelation 19:7-9. One particular
verse that popped out to me is Psalm 45:8.
It states that the King’s garments are fragrant with myrrh. Ooh!
One of the gifts of the magi to Jesus!
The gift that was symbolic of His death!
The gift that identifies our King as the Lamb of God! Do you have chills running down your spine right
now?!?!?!?!
Another thing
that popped out to me in these verses, tying the Old Testament again to the
new, is the prophecy Israel spoke of Judah when he was blessing his sons in
Genesis 49:10, which reads: ”The
scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his
feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations
shall be his.” Sound familiar? Jesus is the Lion of Judah as well as the
Lamb. Hallelujah! Let’s keep going.
Read Hebrews 1:10-12.
Jesus is superior
because He is the “Creator.” Jesus is
superior because He is also “eternal” and “unchanging.” These qualities are very evident in these
verses quoted from Psalm 102:25-27.
Anything other than God, anything other than the Son, will fail. He is the same yesterday, today and
forever. Putting your trust in anything
else will lead to disappointment. Just
read Psalm 102. It’s the prayer of an
afflicted man for mercy. The psalmist
recognized that God was his only hope. Where
do you go when you’re suffering and you need mercy? Nothing and no one else can sustain you. His love for you never changes!
Read Hebrews 1:13.
Jesus is superior
in that His work is finished. The
blood of Jesus (the spotless Lamb of God) is so precious, it satisfied the
requirement of sacrifice for all sin once for all! This
verse reiterates what was stated in verse 3: that Jesus’ work is finished and
He is “seated” at the right hand of the Father.
Psalm 110:1 reminds us that God will make Jesus’ enemies His
footstool. In Psalm 110, the Lord gives
dominion to the King. This is so
exciting! Read this Psalm. Now let’s take a look at Satan’s temptation
of Jesus in Matthew 4. Isn’t what’s
being offered in the Psalm so much better than what was offered in Matthew
4? When I first read the Psalm, I
thought to myself, “Oh, goodness! Of
course Jesus passed on the devil’s offer!
He KNEW Psalm 110!!! He wrote
Psalm 110! He knew what would be His! He knew there was no comparison!” So, this gives me an application for us: How
well do you know the Scriptures? How
well do you know God’s promises? If you
were playing a spiritual game of “Let’s Make a Deal,” would you know enough
Scripture to know whether to keep what’s behind door number one or trade it for
what’s behind curtain number two???? Get
in the Scriptures and memorize.
Seriously. It may save your
life! And your ministry. Continuing on…
Read Hebrews 1:14.
The final verse
reminds us that angels are messengers, envoys, those sent by God, ministering
spirits. And to whom do they minister? To those who will inherit salvation. That’s believers. Angels minister to us! But don’t overlook the language here. Angels are being sent to minister to those
who will
inherit salvation. Not just those
who have inherited salvation. They are
sent to minister to us prior to us coming to belief in Christ! Angels are pretty special, yet Jesus is
superior to them! Jesus does the saving
and sends angels to minister to His people.
Did you know that angels actually observe us with awe? 1 Peter 1:12 says, “It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves
but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who
have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even
angels long to look into these things.”
Angels long to look into things related to our salvation. God’s saving grace is a wonder that they studied
by watching Jesus…that they study and ponder by watching us. They eagerly want to understand God’s grace
toward mankind. They don’t understand
salvation because there is no salvation for angels. Christ died to redeem man. Take a few minutes to wrap your mind around
that!
You may be asking, “What’s the big deal about angels? Why is the author putting so much emphasis on
Jesus being superior to angels?” Well,
this is being written to Hebrew followers of Christ - completed Jews. As such, they would’ve known the power of the
angels in the Old Testament. They would’ve
heard or read the Old Testament references to “the angel of the Lord” (which is
a theophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ, actually). Angels would’ve been a really big deal to the
Jews. Just like the prophets! Moses was a big deal to the Jews, and the author
declares Christ superior to the prophets!
Many of the Jews missed the first appearance of Messiah because they
were looking for the Lion! The warrior
King who would rescue them from Roman oppression! They weren’t looking for the Lamb, the humble,
gentle, self-sacrificing King who would lay down His life to rescue them from
sin and death!
Jesus is
superior! Only Jesus delivers from sin
and death! Only Jesus is the Son of
God. Only Jesus is the Lion and the
Lamb. Only Jesus is the King of
kings! This leads us to our second
principle:
Principle 2: Jesus is superior to angels.
Application 2. In
what areas of your life are you failing to revere Christ as Lord? Where are your thoughts not honoring Christ’s
authority and superiority? Where are you
giving more thought or respect to the “created” over the Creator? Where do you long to see Christ’s reign? Do you desire Christ’s grace for yourself and
justice for others? Does the height of
your gratitude match the depth of your unworthiness? Does Jesus have the number one place in your
life? What needs to shift for Jesus to
occupy the throne of your heart? How can
looking upon your redemption with awe lead you to a deeper place of worship for
Jesus?
In closing, I want to ask again: How do you want to be
known? Is that what people would say
about you right now? What does Jesus
need to do in your heart and mind for you to bear the fruit that will change
your name? Will your tombstone say:
“Believing Disciple of Christ”? Or will
you allow the pressure of people, of the world, move you off the path of
righteousness? Let’s pray.
Father, I pray in
Jesus’ matchless name that You will fill each one reading this with a reverence
for Your Son, Jesus. Draw each one into
a deeper relationship with You through salvation and sanctification in Him by
faith. May each of us seek to honor and
glorify His name and make Him known in our spheres of influence. Amen.
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