Hebrews
1:1-14
“God, who at
sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he
made the worlds; 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 on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than
the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than
they. For unto which of the angels said
he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he
shall be to me a Son? [Psalm 2:7] And
again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let
all the angels of God worship him. And
of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a
flame of fire. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated
iniquity; therefore God, even thy
God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid
the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: they shall perish; but thou remainest; and
they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them
up, and they shall be changed: but thou
art the same, and thy years shall not fail. But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand,
until I make thine enemies thy footstool? [Psalm 110:1] Are they not all ministering spirits, sent
forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”
Introduction: Who Wrote the Book of Hebrews?
“OK,
tonight as I mentioned, we’re going into the Book of Hebrews, and I won’t take
a lot of time with the background, because you can pull out some commentaries
and read a lot of those kinds of things yourself. But I thought it would be helpful to at least
talk about a couple of things that we
should have in the back of our minds as we go through the book itself---things that
I think are vital at least. One thing
you should know as we start out with the book of Hebrews, it’s written by the
author, Paul. The apostle Paul wrote the Book of Hebrews. Now, can I say that 100 percent? No I can’t. Actually, it’s probably one of the most disputed authorships in the New
Testament. So, many claim that it wasn’t
Paul who wrote the Book of Hebrews. Now
why would they say Paul didn’t write the Book of Hebrews? I’m just going to talk about two major things
that seem to indicate that Paul did not write the Book of Hebrews. One of the things that most scholars will
come up with for a reason why he didn’t write the book is because of the Greek
itself. Of course the letter was
originally written in Greek, and because of the style of that Greek, it’s very
eloquent, it’s what we call “fancy” writing, it’s more of a formal writing than
the other letters that Paul has written. And so often times scholars will point to the fact that this seems to be
different than the Greek that he used as he wrote the other letters [in koinonia, or common Greek]. So, that’s one of the main reasons. It’s kind of interesting, there’s a quote
from the Expositors Bible Commentary about the type of Greek that Paul or
whoever wrote the letter wrote in. And they
say this, they describe this letter to the Hebrews as “Excellent Greek.” But they
describe his other letters as “Rugged
though vigorous.” I like the way
that’s described. So they say his other
letters are “rugged though vigorous.” So
there’s a little bit of a difference in the style in this particular
letter. So that’s one of the things
pointed out. Now a second aspect of why
some scholars feel that Paul did not write the letter to the Hebrews is because
of the quotes that are used in this letter. And these are quotes from the Old Testament. The quotes that he used here, I probably
should write here, the LXX, which is standing for the Septuagint. The Septuagint is the Old Testament written
in Greek. And so scholars will point to
that and say, ‘The quotes in the Book of
Hebrews are from the Septuagint.’ Now why is that important? Why
would that point to the fact that maybe Paul didn’t write the book? Well because in his other letters he used the
Masoretic text, or the Hebrew text. So
in all the other letters he either uses the Hebrew text, or paraphrases the
Hebrew text. So why would he use the
Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament to quote in the Book of Hebrews? Well because of that, the scholars say ‘Well, he probably didn’t write the letter.’ So those are the Big Two of why scholars feel
that Paul did not write the letter to the Hebrews. All right, lets think for a moment ‘Why did he?’ Why do we think that Paul did write that
letter to the Hebrews? Well there’s a
couple amazing things when you think about the evidence as to why Paul wrote
this letter. Even among churches, you go
to Eastern Orthodox Church, they feel that Paul absolutely did write that
letter. But it’s the Western Church that
feels that ‘Well, maybe he didn’t, maybe
he didn’t.’ Now let’s think for a
second, why did he? Well is it a problem
that the Greek is different in the style that it’s written in? Even though the other letters are said to be
rugged and vigorous, and this letter to the Hebrews is said to be eloquent,
very stylized and formal. Is that a
problem for the apostle Paul? You think
of why that wouldn’t be a problem for the apostle Paul. Well, one of the reasons is he was
educated. There’s no doubt he was an
educated man, he was trained in Judaism. How do we know that? Anyone know
why we can say we know Paul was educated, we know he was trained? He studied at the feet of Gamalial, that’s
right, so if you go to Acts, chapter, what is it, 22. Acts 22, verse 3 points right to the fact
that he studied with the best, he studied with the best. So would that help him to be versed in the
kind of Greek that the letter of Hebrews would be written in? I think that does point to the fact, yes,
Paul could very well have done that, because he was certainly very versed in
all the technical aspects of the Old Testament Law. There would have been no doubt about it. And so that points to the fact, I think Paul
did write that letter. All right, now,
there are other things that point to the fact that Paul wrote this letter. Think about, for just a moment, where was
Paul commissioned to preach? Or could we
say, to whom was Paul commissioned to preach? To the Gentiles. We know that
Peter was given a commission to preach to the Hebrews, the Jews, and Paul to
the Gentiles. Now this letter is to the
Jews, the Hebrews, which becomes synonymous at this point. So why would Paul be writing to them? See that we probably could put on the side of
maybe he didn’t. But, when you think about
it a little bit, there’s an interesting passage that’s over in the book of 2nd Peter. Turn there with me, 2nd Peter chapter 3, and verse 15, gives us an interesting insight into one of the
reasons why I feel that Paul did write this letter to the Hebrews. 2nd Peter chapter 3, verse 15, we’re going to pick it up there, here Peter
wrote, as he’s writing to the Jews, he says, “As also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to
him, has written to you.” So here’s
Peter, writing to Jews, says ‘Our brother Paul also wrote to you.’ So that seems to be an interesting
indication that, whether it’s talking about the Book of Hebrews or not, we’re
not really sure, but it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for Paul to have
written to the Hebrews, or to the Jews. So that certainly seems to fall under that category that Paul could
easily have written the Book of Hebrews. Now here’s also an interesting little reason why it seems to be an
indication that he did. Does anyone know
where the Book of Hebrews falls in your Bible? OK, it’s in the New Testament, we got that, very good. Yes, we’re sharp tonight. OK, it’s in the New Testament, and in the
inspired order, when you look at the inspired order of the New Testament in
Paul’s writings, guess where this letter falls? Actually, it’s right in the middle, right in the middle. And so it’s the seventh book out of fourteen. And in the inspired order, it’s right in the
center. Now, does that prove
anything? No, not really. But, when you think of the number seven. Does God inspire the number seven? Absolutely, it’s the number of completion,
there’s no doubt. And so to put that
book dead smack in the middle of the number of writings by the apostle Paul,
what does that tell you? Well he didn’t
write it? If he didn’t write the book,
why put it in the middle of the others? I think it’s an important point. You may laugh about it, but I think there is some significance to that
fact. All right, any other reasons? We could go on with fourteen, sixteen,
eighteen various reasons of why that. But as you look at it, right in the middle of the inspired order, we
find the letter to the Hebrews. And so I
think that is an aspect that we do have to take into consideration. And just this, we’ll put the order as one of
those reasons, and this concept of seventh out of fourteen of the letters that
Paul wrote, and it seems to fall right in that order. OK, is there proof that he did or didn’t, I
don’t think so. I ran across an
interesting study that was just done this year, and they took the letters of
Paul and they analyzed them, they analyzed them, ran them through computers and
all kinds of things, to look at what the Greek, and the way that it was
written, how it all flowed together, to try to see if there was any connection
to other letters that Paul wrote. They
did that with Peter as well. And so when
they ran these things through like say 1st Peter, 2nd Peter, [it came out] something like a ninety-nine percent chance that Peter
wrote these things [i.e. 1st and 2nd Peter]. All right, we’d expect that sort of
thing. But when they did the same thing
with Paul’s writings, and what was really interesting about it, the letter to
the Hebrews, in comparing those to other letters of Paul, that aren’t disputed
the way Hebrews is, do you know what it came up with? It was over ninety percent of an indication
that Paul could have written the book. So, is that proof? No, it’s not
proof. But, I think when you look even
at the analysis of the text itself, as you run it through a computer, seems to
point to the direction that the apostle Paul certainly could have written
it. Some of the early Church fathers or
some of these individuals (maybe we wouldn’t consider them fathers, but other
scholars do) point to the tradition that they feel that Paul certainly did
write the Book of Hebrews. So that’s a
place that we can begin with. Alright,
so let’s go on from there. So I feel
we’re in pretty safe territory to say that the apostle Paul was the author of
the book. Now some traditions are kind
of humorous when you think of some of the possibilities, some say Apollos wrote
it, some even think that Priscilla might have been the author of the book. But when you start comparing some of the
reasons why they feel that way, it’s pretty sparse with any proof of those
kinds of things.
The Temple of God Was Still There, In Existence,
When the Book of Hebrews Was Written
OK,
let’s go on, as we continue thinking about the background of the Book of
Hebrews. Think about the dating of this
book. When was this book written? When would have this been penned by the
author? Well there’s a few interesting
things as we think about that. Because
some of the indications as we read through the Book of Hebrews point to the
fact that the Temple was still there. The Temple was still there. Expositors Bible Commentary says this, “A date before 70 A.D. is
indicated, but how much before we can’t say. Some passages in the Epistle gain in force if we think of a time not
long before.” So not long before 70AD. What are some of the indications that that
would be the case? Well if you turn over
to Hebrews chapter 8, look at Hebrews chapter 8. Right at the very beginning we see the
apostle Paul points to an interesting aspect. He says here, “Now of the things
which we have spoken this is the
sum: We have such an high priest, who is
set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens…” (verse 1) So, if the Temple were gone, why make a
reference to the high priest? Now if the
Temple is there, it’s still in operation, it still has the sacrificial system
in place, he’s making a comparison in contrasting the difference between the
physical high priest and Jesus Christ, our spiritual High Priest. And so I think that’s part of what Paul uses
to make the point that he’s trying to bring home to God’s people, the difference
between the physical and the spiritual. In fact, in the Book of Hebrews, he’s going to spend a lot of time doing
this. In fact, just a couple of pages
later in chapter 13, around verse 10 or so, he talks about the Temple
itself. He talks about the altar. And this is pointing to the fact that the
destruction of the Temple hadn’t occurred. And so that destruction would have occurred about 70AD. And so this seems to show, “And so, this
hadn’t happened yet.” And it brings up
part of the issue why the book would have been written as well. There were Christians at the time, who had
been converted, and yet were still hanging on to some of the old rituals, they
were still into the ritualistic system even after conversion. So here Paul is trying to get those converted
Jews to understand the connection between their old way of worship and the
sacrificial system under the Old Covenant, and what the New Covenant was all
about. What is true worship all
about? And so that seems to be an
indication that some were still hanging onto that. In fact, in chapter 5, look at chapter 5, verse 11, in chapter 5,
verse 11 all the way through to the beginning of the next chapter we see that
Paul is encouraging them to really understand what’s going on. He says, first of all, verse 11, ‘There’s
much to say, it’s hard to explain, because you’ve become dull of hearing.’ He says, ‘You ought to be teachers, but
you’ve got to be taught again the first principles of the oracles of God.’ He says in verse 13, “For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.” So he’s pointing to the fact that they’re
still stuck in an old perspective, they don’t understand it. So by the time we get to chapter 6 he says, ‘Leave
the elementary behind,’ which I think connects to this Old Covenant
sacrificial system, and he says, ‘and let’s go on to perfection,’ I
think in this section of Scripture it points once again to the fact that the
Temple was still there. It had not been
destroyed yet. And even though the
destruction of Jerusalem was imminent, it was going to happen, it hadn’t
happened yet, it hadn’t happened yet. Now, we know that Paul was killed in Rome. We know that the Emperor Nero would have been
the man responsible. And of course if
you look up your history of Rome and Nero, of course Nero was the guy who was
fiddling while Rome burned, right. Well
Nero committed suicide, he committed suicide in 68AD. Now Paul was killed under the rule of Nero,
which seems then to indicate it had to be before 68AD. And so when you put all of these things
together, before the destruction of the Temple in 70AD, under Nero was when he
was beheaded, then it seems to indicate it was pre-68AD, which many of the
scholars will say it would be around 67AD or so, maybe in the spring. Well you can read all kinds of books and
things like that, that kind of point in that direction, because of the way that
Paul was imprisoned and then released, and then put back in prison again. I just don’t have the time to get into it all
tonight, but I appreciate the question. But I can give you some information on that, that you can look up and
maybe read some more about it as well…Alright, so that’s pointing us to about
when it was written. And of course, if
you think, where does that place the book after the crucifixion of Christ? We’re more than 35 years after the
crucifixion of Christ. So we keep that
in mind as well, as we go along. OK, we
talked about, let’s see, who wrote the book, we talked about when the book was
written.
Who Was The Book of Hebrews Written To?
And
we could think just for a moment, who was it written to, who were the
recipients of this letter that Paul had written? Well it seems that, of course it says, “To the Hebrews” is the official title
of the book. And of course we realize these
are people that are in God’s Church, you could say. They’re converted [Holy Spirit indwelt]
members of the Church. And as we begin
to think about that, they certainly would have been people that had a
background in the Old Testament. They
would have understood the sacrificial system, they would have understood the
practices of that form of worship. And
so it certainly points in that direction. But where exactly were they, who was it written to? Well we know it was converted people. It
seems traditionally it points to Palestine, in the area of the Mid East there,
rather than a specific congregation, like Philippi, rather than Ephesus, rather
than a specific congregation, it seems to point to a general group. [See http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/earlychurch1a.htm] A general group, in Palestine, seems to be
who the letter was intended for. And
isn’t it interesting, as we get toward the end of the book we’ll see that Paul
knew these people. He knew them, it
wasn’t like he had never met them before or was not familiar with them. We’ll see the way that he addresses them in a
very personal way, as we get through the letter. So we can say, probably, pretty confidently
that the letter would have been written to God’s people who are in the area of
Palestine [Judea].
Why Was This Letter Written?
OK,
let’s think for a moment as well, I think an important aspect of not only who,
and where, and when this letter was written, but I think maybe even more
importantly---I think to have a good concept as we get into this letter, of
what is being written in the context of the writing itself, is to try to answer
the question, ‘Why?’. Why was this
letter written? What was the purpose in
writing this general letter to the Hebrews, what would be the purpose for
writing the letter? If we look to the
book itself, look to what was actually written here, I think it would give us a
pretty good indication of the purpose of why it was written. Of course, if we put ourselves in this
timeframe, we talked about 70AD being an important date. Because what was happening? The pressure on Judea from Rome was mounting,
more and more and more. The destruction
of not only the Temple but Jerusalem was coming. The Jews had been revolting. This idea of a nationalism, and this
patriotism for the Jews in that area of Judea was gaining. I mean, they were strong, and they were going
to oppose Rome. But Rome was an
overwhelming, tremendous military force. They were going to come in there and just crush them. And that was basically just on the
horizon. And so before these Roman
armies come and just wipe them out, they were very strong, very patriotic. And yet at the same time, those that were
converted, those Christians, had to be encouraged, because Paul saw this
coming. Maybe that was part of the
inspiration for the writing itself, is that Paul realized this could not
continue. Certainly under the
inspiration of God he realized that this Levitical system was not going to
last. [i.e. the Levitical system functioned around the
Temple and needed the Temple in order to function, and that Temple was about to
be destroyed.] Whether he realized that
the Romans were on their way, and that was going to be the ultimate end, you
know, it’s very possible, very possible. The way the handwriting was on the wall even at this time. [i.e. being under Roman guard, and probably
being the evangelical Christian he was, he’d probably befriended quite a few of
those guarding him, and became privy to what they knew was going on within the
Roman garrisons preparing to invade Judea. It is recorded I believe in Acts or one of the Epistles that even some
of Nero’s household servants had become Christians. Thus the knowledge of the inner workings of
the Roman Empire would have been available to Paul.] And so, as he warns them, he tells them, one
of the things that’s important here, is in Hebrews chapter 2, right at the very
beginning of the chapter, chapter 2, we’ll see I think one of the reasons why
Paul did write this letter. So notice Hebrews chapter 2, at the very
beginning of the chapter here, he says, “Therefore
we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest
at any time we should let them slip” [or
as another translation says, “lest we drift away.”]. I
want to come back to this in a moment. But Hebrews 2 is encouraging. So
part of the purpose here, he’s going to encourage them, ‘Don’t give up, don’t abandon the
faith. We can’t abandon it, we can’t
give up. We can’t give up no matter
what’s going to happen, we can’t abandon the faith.’ [i.e. he’s showing them in Hebrews where
their High Priest is, as the physical high priesthood is about to be
destroyed.]
So
he’s encouraging them. He’s helping to
support them, ‘Keep the faith.’ Keep
the faith is what he’s reminding them to do. Now a couple chapters later, I think we’ll see another example of why he
wrote this book. Look at Hebrews chapter
6, we touched on it just a moment ago. Hebrews
chapter 6 at the beginning of that chapter, what did he tell them? He encouraged them, to what? We just read it, right, ‘To go on, go on to perfection,
or maturity. Go on to spiritual
maturity, don’t give up, keep going, no matter what the political scene is
like, go on to perfection. Don’t abandon
the faith, keep going.’ (cf.
paraphrase Hebrews 6:1) Those
are notions that will keep coming up over and over again throughout the
book.
Third and Central Theme of the Book, The Supremacy
of Christ
Now
another aspect that we actually will get into quite a bit, if I can make it
through the first chapter here, is the fact that he points to Jesus Christ,
over and over and over again, and he makes special note of this, especially the
supremacy of Christ. Christ is
supreme. Look at chapter 8, beginning of
chapter 8 in Hebrews, we’ll see just one quick example, and then we’ll notice
it coming up throughout chapter 1 as we get started here, ok. So let’s just notice chapter 8, at the very
beginning here. Chapter 8, this is the main point, we were in a little bit of this
earlier, “We have such an high priest,
who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens…”
(verse 1) How does this show his
supremacy? He’s a minister of the sanctuary,
verse 2. He goes on to show, verse 6, “he obtained a more excellent ministry,” and then he goes on to
show how awesome a Saviour we have. And
so the apostle Paul continues to point this out over and over again throughout
the Book of Hebrews, the supremacy of Christ, Christ is supreme. Now, if you put yourself in the position of a
converted Jew of the day, and they’re still clinging on to the sacrificial
system, we can see why that would be important to point out, that Christ is
supreme.
Fourth Point: The Old Covenant verses The New Covenant
Christ
and the New Covenant overrides that old sacrificial system. And so, in order to
show that more clearly, he keeps pointing to this fact about the work of Jesus
Christ. So, those three things I think
lead to the fourth aspect that’s important, and Paul continues to point to it,
in fact just a couple verses later, if you look at Hebrews 8:7, it points to
the old covenant verses the new covenant. I’ll just abbreviate it here. Because throughout the book what Paul’s going to do is compare the old
covenant to the new covenant. [What is the New Covenant, anyway? See http://www.unityinchrist.com/newcovenant/TheNEWCOVENANT.htm] He’ll keep bringing this concept up over
and over, comparing and contrasting, and really pointing out, through the
supremacy of Christ, he’s going to point out the whole spiritual intent of the
Law, and how spiritual, how meaningful in a spiritual way, the New Covenant
is. And so that’s going to keep coming
up throughout the Book of Hebrews. So
these are just a couple of quick reasons why he would have written the book. He wanted to continue to encourage them,
because what was coming on the horizon was tough, difficult things, ‘go
on to maturity, keep growing, keep building, rely on the supremacy of Christ,’ and of course, to direct them to the more important aspects of the spiritual
covenant that we have with God as his people. So those are a couple of thoughts as to why Paul would have written the
Book of Hebrews.
Taking The Book As A Whole, Two Warnings, “The
Seven D’s”
Now
before we actually get into the text, I thought it might be helpful to just
look at two things to kind of frame our thinking as we get into what was
actually written in the book. There’s
two things that kind of stand out in my mind, that we should note, and
sometimes when you just read through it you might miss it if you don’t take it
as a whole. So thinking of the book as a
whole, there’s a couple of things that are written as warnings. There are several warnings that are given in
the Book of Hebrews. In fact I’ve, you
probably can come up with more than just this, but I have just labeled them for
my own thinking ‘the seven D’s throughout the Book of Hebrews.’ And I just put them in order so we can flip
through them as we write them. We
already read one of those passages of the “seven D’s”, and that’s in Hebrews
chapter 2, and it’s right in the beginning of the chapter. Remember what I talked about, it talked about
“drifting.” Don’t drift. Make your calling and election sure. Don’t drift. That was one of those things he points to, one of “the seven D’s.” Now if you turn over to Hebrews chapter 3,
we’ll just go right down the line here. In verse 12, see if we can pick that up, Hebrews chapter 3, and in verse
12 he warns, “Take heed, brethren,
lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from
the living God.” So here he ties the
warning into ‘Stay close to God, don’t depart from the faith.’ And so he makes that point as a
warning for all of us. Now you turn the page over to Hebrews 4 we’ll see a
third example, over in verse 11. And in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 11, he makes
the point very clear here, that we have to be very careful, because we don’t
want to fall into disobedience. So he reminds us to hold onto the faith, don’t drift, don’t depart, don’t
disobey, continue to follow God no matter what. And so he’s urging them, warning them through
these various “D’s” as he writes this, at least in English they’re in “D’s”, as
he writes to us through the Hebrews. Now, we can go on to chapter 5. Hebrews 5, and verse 11, you can
continue on reading from there, what does he write about in Hebrews chapter 5,
and going on from verse 11. We’ll see
very clearly, he says, “Of whom we have
many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of
hearing.” And so, Hebrews chapter 5
reminds us, we’ve got to stay sharp. We’ve got to stay focused. We can’t let ourselves have an outlook where we can become apathetic,
that is unacceptable. So throughout this
section of the letter he writes about that (cf. verses 11-14), and warns us to
keep a focus, keep a focus on God’s way. OK, we skip over to Hebrews chapter 10, we’ll pick up our next warning,
that is also a “D” word, in verse 26, we
can get an idea here Hebrews chapter 10,
verse 26, a familiar section of Scripture here. It reminds us “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of
the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and
fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” (verses 26-27) So as we read through this, we see that
people are despising the truth. Anyone
who has rejected the Law, without mercy on the testimony of two or three
witnesses, he says ‘How much worse punishment do you suppose will be thought worthy of
those who have trampled the Son of God underfoot, by which he was sacrificed a
common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?’ And so in a way this whole section
(verses 26-32) is talking about those that despise the truth. So I just kind of summarized that one in that
regards. So Paul warns us to maintain
the honor and the love and the respect of God the Father and Jesus Christ, and
of course the Word of God as well. AS se
go onto Hebrews 12, we’ll see a sixth warning, and in Hebrews chapter 12, also down in that area of verse 25, we’ll see his encouragement to us to do the right
thing. So let’s notice Hebrews chapter 12 and in verse 25, “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that
spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him
that speaketh from heaven: whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once
more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.” (verses 25-26) And so, as we continue to read, he says, verse 28, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably
with reverence and godly fear: for our
God is a consuming fire.” (verse
28-29) And so he’s pointing to the
fact that we can’t disobey, and that the disobedience that comes from this, and
neglect, is something that we have to be careful of. And so he points out that fact that we don’t
want to depart from the truth in that way. So, through this section we see continuing warning, that is written in
order to counteract these things. What
if we bump back just a little bit, go back to Hebrews 11, verse 6, Hebrews 11, verse 6 we see the example that
Paul gives there in Hebrews chapter 11. And in chapter 11 he says, “But
without faith it is impossible to
please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that
he is, and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him.” And
then he goes into the other aspects of faith. So we see here that he’s warning us and reminding us that we
should be diligent, that we have to continue to obey God, exercise
faith, and be diligent in that faith that God gives us. So, these are some of the warnings that Paul
gives us throughout the Book of Hebrews. And I think it’s important to note those are encouraging things, even
though those are negative things if you think about them in the context of what
he writes about. But he’s encouraging us
to understand and have that motivation to continue to follow God no matter
what. So those are a couple things I
think to keep in mind as an overview.
The Word “Better” Keeps Popping Up In The Book of
Hebrews
One
of the things maybe we could quickly talk about, I don’t know if I’ll write
them all down, but there is a word that keeps popping up throughout the Book of
Hebrews that I think is an important word to keep in mind as we read through
it. You may not notice it, because it
keeps coming up throughout the whole book, but if you were to look at it as an
overview, the word that keeps coming up throughout the Book of Hebrews is “better.” “Better” keeps coming up over and over and
over again, related to the supremacy of Christ. We have Christ is better than the angels, we’re going to read a little
about that in this first chapter. We as God’s
people have better hope, Hebrews talks about that as well. Christ is a mediator of a better covenant, also, established on ‘better promises.’ ‘Christ’s sacrifice is a better sacrifice
than the animals.’ ‘We
have a better possession,’ and of course that’s eternal life. ‘We have a better country,’ than
just a physical land, we have the Kingdom of God. And of course that reminds us, that we also
have ‘a
better resurrection.’ And so as
we read through the Book of Hebrews, let’s try to keep that in mind, that the
word “better” is going to continue to keep coming up over and over and over
again. So we’ll notice that as we
go.
God Is Not Limited In The Way He Reveals Himself
“God, who at
sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he
made the worlds.” (verses 1-2) OK, with that let’s see if we
can go ahead and in the few minutes we have left let’s see if we can get into
the first chapter of the Book of Hebrews. The first chapter in the Book of Hebrews, let’s see if we can pick it up
right in chapter 1, verse 1, it
starts out, “God, who at sundry times
and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,” It’s hard to tell here, but this is part of
this beautiful, powerful very intricate Greek that was written that is just
very, very expressive. So he says ‘There
are various times, various ways,’ in other words, he’s saying ‘There’s
many, many ways.’ Did God reveal
everything to us all at once? No, of
course not. And so here we have the Word
of God, written over a thousand years or more it took to put all of this
together. The revelation [of God] wasn’t
given all at once. And so Paul makes
this point, and that he’s done it in various ways. You think of the different ways that God’s
Word has been revealed. Well we’ve got
the Prophets [i.e. see http://www.unityinchrist.com/Prophets_Prophecy.html],
Laws, we have Psalms (songs), we have parables, we have Proverbs, we have
fingers writing in stone, we have visions, we have angels. We have all kinds of different ways, various
ways that God has revealed himself. And
so Paul’s pointing that out. Why would
he say that? Why would he say ‘the
various times, various ways’? Well if you remember our audience, it’s a Jewish audience again, right
to the Hebrews. The Hebrews had a
feeling that after Ezra and Nehemiah, God no longer revealed things, God’s
revelation was complete, it was done. But see, Paul is saying, ‘Wait a second, no that’s not the case,
that’s not the case.’ Because
the Jews would say, ‘Well, if it didn’t
come through a Prophet, then forget it, it must not be inspired.’ But see Paul is reminding them that God
has revealed things, his plan, his will, in many ways, at many different times,
and it wasn’t limited to just one thing, just one way, not one method. And so, regardless of the way, God was still
the source of the revealing. It didn’t
just have to come through a prophet. God
was not limited in the way that he reveals himself, how he reveals his
plan. And so that is an important point
as Paul begins writing. And so he said,
why would that be important? Because to
an average Jew, pre-conversion, was Christ a Prophet? Well he might have been a good rabbi, but he
certainly wouldn’t have been seen as that. So now Paul’s going to make this connection. Alright, God talked in various ways, he
revealed himself in so many different ways at different times, now, verse
2.
Paul Begins His Letter By Pointing Out The
Supremacy of Christ
‘in
these last days he’s spoken to us by his Son, whom he’s appointed heir of all
things, through whom also he made the worlds.’ There’s
another revealing in other words. God
reveals through his Son, and it’s important because this Son, Jesus Christ, is
superior to all of the other prophets, to all of the other prophets, Christ is
supreme, he’s superior, he’s over all. And so Paul begins his letter by pointing out the supremacy of Christ. In a way he’s saying, ‘Well, the prophets might have
known God, maybe they were kind of friends with God, but Jesus, he’s the Son of
God. These prophets might have
understood a little bit about God’s mind, but who is Jesus Christ? He embodied the mind of God, he embodied the
mind of God.’ And so he’s making
this connection between them, and how superior Christ is. The prophets may have expressed, you know,
just a little bit, a fragment of the truth of God, but who is Christ? When you think about who Jesus Christ was, he
was different than the prophets. He was
the whole truth, he was the embodiment of the Truth of God, where God didn’t
just display a part of himself, but all, all of himself [in the Person of Jesus
Christ]. So I think that’s an important
aspect, as we see the importance of the Son of God, and how that’s going to
relate then to this concept of the sacrificial system. So that’s going to come a little bit
later. We’ll see how that comes up in
just a bit. OK, so we go back to verse 3
then. Oh, maybe we should talk just for
a second, this world, where he also made the worlds. That doesn’t mean there are other worlds out
here with other humans and all that sort of thing. But he’s talking about the times and the
ages, the ages, the worlds, the ages, not just limited to the physical universe
but the ages, he’s responsible for all of these things.
The Son Is The Express or Mirror Image Of God
Then
he points back to Christ in verse 3, he
says, “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 on the
right hand of the Majesty on high;” So here’s Christ, the brightness of his glory, not sure whether that
means radiating his glory, or a source of that glory. That word can actually
mean both of those things. But either
way, the glory of God was seen in Jesus Christ. And he points to how that happens. He says “the express image of his
person.” How was Christ the express
image of his person? What that points to
is, what’s written in the Greek (so I’m really not misspelling this, the
transliteration) is “the image”, or “the character.” So we have ‘the express “image” or in the
Greek “character” of his person.’ And as you think about this Greek word for character, it was used as a
seal. If you were to send a letter, they
would put an image as they sealed that letter. And this is the word that they would use, a character. And so the seal would have certainly been
part of that, as well as the impression that that seal would have made normally
in the wax. And so if you’ve got the
seal itself that’s stamping the letter, and you have the impression that it
makes, how do they look? They look the
same [mirror image], they look the same. And so Paul uses that analogy that the Son is the express image of God,
and exact reproduction. He is God. So when you look at the impression, it looks
exactly like the seal. And so that’s the
aspect that he’s talking about, God’s glory, his image, his character is Jesus
Christ. [Comment: And who is Jesus Christ? Look up and read John 1:1-14; John 8:58;
Exodus 3:13-15. Jesus is Yahweh, none
other than the God of the Old Testament. Jesus came to introduce God the Father, someone the Jews did not know,
were totally unaware of.] Christ and God
the Father are exactly alike. In fact,
he kind of gives us a little more insight into it, where he says “upholding all things by the word of his
power,” and then he says that he “sat
down on the right hand of the Majesty on high…”, with God. And so we have this image, and in fact he
uses the word “person” in the New King James, “the express image of his person…” This is a fancy Greek word called hypostaseos, which really focuses on the foundation or really the
essence of what God is. And so, can you
say that Christ is not God? See, that’s
what he’s pointing to here. The fact
that Christ is God, he is the
essence of God, he’s the substance of God. Christ is God. And one of the
things he does, it says, he’s “upholding
all things by the word of his power,” So he’s making a connection here, to how supreme is Christ? Well Christ is God, Christ is God, and he’s ‘upholding all things.” Of course, some of the gods in Greece would
immediately think, ‘Who is upholding the
world?’ in the pagan system of the Greek gods. Atlas was carrying the world on his back,
right? But he’s not saying Christ is
like Atlas. In fact he’s saying just the
opposite here. When he says “upholding”
it doesn’t mean just carrying it, or holding it in place, but it means “to move
it from one place to another.” So “he’s upholding all things,” which
carries the connotation of ‘bringing it along to the goal, carrying all
things to the ultimate goal.’ So
what is Christ carrying to the ultimate goal? The ultimate goal is the Kingdom of God, isn’t it?---the Kingdom of God
where ultimately the Father will dwell with men. And Christ is shown here as carrying all
things to that ultimate point, to that ultimate goal that God has established
in his Plan. And so we see that is part
of the essence of what he’s getting at in verse 2. That it’s not just
sustaining things, but he’s bringing it for that very purpose, bringing it
together for that purpose. “when he had by himself purged our sins,”
(verse 3b) And so he says he not
only upholds all things, but it says he purges our sins. He purges us, kind of a Passover kind of
representation there, because sin needs to be cleansed, and Christ did that for
us. And so even though other revelations
have been partial, the prophets revealed some things about the way of God and
his plan, but when we come to Jesus Christ, and what do we have in Christ? A partial representation? A partial revelation? No, we have the full revelation of the
Father. And so Christ is supreme. And he goes through at least these three,
four or five things right here in these first couple of verses, that the Father
is fully revealed in Christ. He reveals
the Father’s glory, we just read about that. We see the character [of the Father] is revealed. In other words Christ translated or
represented the character of God, his expressed image in human form. And so he shows that. Jesus Christ, as well, sustains all things,
he upholds all things, he carries them to the ultimate purpose. In fact it shows, he was the only one
possible to do that, the only one capable to do that. And also, he paid the penalty for our
sins. And now he’s ultimately seated at
the right hand of the Father. And so
he’s been given authority because of that. And so, in some perspective that the Hebrews would have had, we see how
much more supreme Christ is. So no
wonder he says that in verse 4, “Being made so much better than the angels,
as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” So here’s the first occurrence of that
word “better.” What’s better? ‘Christ is so much better than the
angels.’ And so by inheritance
he’s obtained it. He had a right to
it. It was his. And so it says, “he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” Name not just meaning the name of Jesus
Christ, but meaning everything that he is, what sums him up in all that he
is. That’s the name that he’s referring
to here. An angel’s name is honorable,
that’s an amazing thing. But the Son,
Jesus Christ, more honorable, more glorious, a different name.
Seven Quotes From The Old Testament Showing
Christ’s Supremacy
So
I think that’s an important aspect of what Paul begins to show, how supreme
Christ really is. In fact these next
verses from here to the end of the first chapter, he’s going to focus in on
seven quotes from the Old Testament. Seven quotes from the Old Testament that are going to be listed
here. And as he goes through these
various quotations, why would he use those quotations? Why bother quoting the Old Testament, why
would you want to do that? Well he’s
writing to Jews. He’s writing to those
that know the Word, and he’s going to quote those things to show them the
deeper spiritual meaning that they may have missed. And so Paul is going to quote these things
seven times from here to the end of the chapter, and he’s going to point out
how supreme Christ is by using the Old Testament and showing a deeper
relationship for them. So notice here in verse 5, “For unto which of the angels
said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he
shall be to me a Son?” First quote
there is from Psalm 2, verse 7, if
you got a Bible that has a margin reference, that should be there. Psalm 2, verse 7, that’s where is says “You are my Son today.” So he’s not focusing on the idea of ‘I’ve
begotten you.’ That’s not the
point. He’s pointing to his position as
Son, Jesus Christ was fully the Son of God, in a way that never applied to the
angels (even though they might be called ‘the sons of God’). It refers to Christ in a way that never
referred to angels. What is it pointing
out? I think it points out something so
very important here, in the fact that we have the chief relationship between
God and Jesus. So how would you define
that chief relationship? We have a
family relationship. And he points that
out to them clearly out of the Old Testament. It probably wouldn’t be the first thing on the Hebrew’s mind, that Jesus
Christ is the Son, God is the Father [and they both make up what we know as
God], and that’s the primary relationship that we have between them, and Paul’s
going to focus on that. And so he says ‘You
are my Son,’ and then he quotes from 2nd Samuel chapter 7, verse 14, this is the second
passage quoted from the Old Testament, for he points out very clearly that
Christ is the Son, God is the Father, defining that relationship, that family
relationship of Son to a Father. Then in verse 6 he says, here’s our third
quote, “And again, when he bringeth in
the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God
worship him.” Psalm 97:7. Psalm 97:7 in verse 6, he’s not just talking about the birth order,
being firstborn, even though he was firstborn [of many brethren] spiritually
speaking, the more important point he’s emphasizing, the legal rights and the
leadership position that he has here. Because the angels worship God. They worship Jesus Christ. Christ
is superior to the angels. If the angels
worship him, he has to be superior to the angels. And so Paul draws that out very clearly
here. Then in verse 7 he says, “And of the
angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of
fire.” That’s the fourth quote, from Psalm 104, verse 4. Some of the translations say ‘the
winds are his messengers.’ The
ministers, servants are the flames of fire. Some of the commentators say ‘the angels are like mighty winds, and his
ministers are like flaming fire.’ It
doesn’t really matter which way you want to take that particular quotation,
they mean the same thing in the sense of what Paul’s pointing out. He’s pointing out that Jesus Christ as our
Saviour, once again, superior to the angels. That’s so important. Because as
he goes on, he points out this connection once again, this family relationship
in how the Father and his Christ are both God. Notice verse 8, “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, a scepter of
righteousness is the scepter of thy
kingdom.” [Wow, what a proof-text
that Jesus is God, as well as the Father is God. I never noticed this verse before in that
light.] That’s a quote from Psalm 45, verse 6 and verse 7. And like we said with this concept with the
firstborn [firstbegotten], he’s emphasizing leadership, isn’t he? You notice the connection there?---and how it
references leadership just in that one particular passage, it becomes really
clear, because he focuses on how Christ is leader. Do you notice how he says this? He says “Your
throne”, that’s one aspect, we have a throne of leadership. And he also refers to here in verse 8, we
have “the scepter.” And then there’s the third aspect in
leadership, is the Kingdom. And so we have a reference to all three of
those in the leadership of Jesus Christ. He calls him God, first of all, he said ‘It’s your throne, O God,’ So Christ is clearly called God. Whose calling him God here? Not only Paul, but back in the Psalms, Psalms
is referring to Christ as God. And that
idea of rulership is emphasized over and over again. So we have the rod of authority, symbolizing
that authority. We have the dignity, the
power that is behind the throne, the royalty you might say. And then in the Kingdom we have the dominion,
we have the territory, we have the rule. And so all of those things are pointed to Jesus Christ. And he’s saying, ‘Look at this, this was
prophecied, this was recognized in the Old Testament.’ And so he continues to point that out
at the end of the chapter. Notice verse 9, continuing that quote from Psalm 45 it says, “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with
the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” ‘God, your God, the Father, has anointed you, Jesus Christ, with the
oil of gladness more than your companions.’ And so we see that clearly pointing to
Christ. Christ is the Anointed One, he
is the Messiah. He’s the Anointed One,
and this anointing is not one that is for healing, this anointing is connected
to the anointing of a king. This is the
anointing that a king would have, one of rulership, one of rejoicing, one of
excitement, one of anticipation of a new king to rule over. And so of course he’s ruling over the Kingdom
of God [which physically hasn’t come to earth yet, although it’s future
co-rulers who will rule with Christ are currently being trained, and have been
since 31/32AD]. So Paul is making that
connection here to Christ. And then once
again, verse 10, “And, Thou, Lord, in
the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the
works of thine hands:” Whose that
talking about? The Father? No. If
you thought it was the Father before, Paul makes it very clear, this is Psalm 102, verse 25, it’s the sixth
reference to the Old Testament, and in the Psalms, these words were addressed
to God, the Father, in a sense [although in the Old Testament, the only God
David and the prophets and the Israelites knew was Yahweh, the pre-Incarnate
Christ.] Now we’re qualifying them to
Christ. So the only logical connection
here then that you can come to, is that the Son is the God that’s addressed
here in the Psalms, it’s Jesus Christ. So Paul draws that connection, verse
11, “They all perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a
garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be
changed: but thou art the same, and thy
years shall not fail.” (verses 11-12) So
just like the earth, he says, ‘You laid the foundations, but you know
what? It’s not going to last.’ You know, we know this earth to be solid, and
you lay a foundation, you put down footers and secure your building. And yet, no matter how permanent that seems,
we’re shown, that’s just a temporary thing. That’s going to grow old just like old clothing. And so, what is he pointing out then, should
be our foundation? Now you trust in the
earth? You trust in your
foundation? You trust in whatever it may
be? He says, ‘That’s not going to remain,
that’s not going to stick around. What’s
really going to stick around is God the Father, and Jesus Christ, and what
their plans are all about.’ So,
he’s saying ‘Our foundation has to be in God.’ Our foundation cannot be in any physical
thing. So it points back to Christ as
that foundation. So he says in verse 12, “And as a vesture [cloak] shalt
thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.” ‘Like a
cloak, you’ll fold them up, like old clothes, they’ll be changed. But you’re the same, and your years will not
fail.’ So just like we throw
away old worn out clothing, and we give it away, it’s going to be folded up.
That’s what’s going to happen to the universe. The universe is going to be folded up just like old clothes. And in fact he goes on in verse 13, “But to which of the angels said
he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy
footstool?” That’s the seventh
quote, as we get to the end of the chapter, from the Old Testament, Psalm 110, verse 1. Who does it apply to? Jesus Christ. And once again he draws in that family relationship, of a Father and a
Son. In fact he uses the qualifier
there, doesn’t he? “But to which of the angels”, to what angel, he qualifies it, in
other words by saying, ‘There is no angel that rises to that level.’ He qualifies that. No angel could possibly
fulfill that statement that was made in the Psalms. And so it can only apply to Jesus
Christ. And then he kind of concludes
this section by talking about angels, verse
14, “Are they all not ministering
spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” So the angels are called to be servants,
they serve us, they’re ministering spirits. Yeah they have a lot of different duties, but whether they’re
ministering protecting, serving, maybe delivering a message, whatever it may
be, ultimately, their ultimate purpose is to assist God in carrying out his
Plan for man. And so they are
ministering spirits, saying ‘there’s no exceptions, there’s not
exceptions, so Christ is all in all.’ And I know we’ve gone just a couple minutes overtime, but I want to
maybe draw your attention to one other thing here, at the end of the
chapter. He also points out in verse 13
and verse 14 here, this concept of inheritance, an inheritance. And that’s really important. You can read through almost all the
commentaries, and they have a problem with that. They have a problem with an inheritance,
because they want to only apply it to property, or possessions. But Paul has set this up so well that it’s
hard to miss the point. When you talk
about an inheritance, what do you find in this relationship? [What was the inheritance of the
Levites? Yahweh, God was their only
inheritance.] You see, the inheritance
really isn’t a physical thing, it’s not a possession in that way, you can’t
substitute the word “possession” for “inheritance”, which is the way most
commentaries like to understand it. The
only way you can understand this, after everything Paul has written in this
first chapter, is he’s pointing to the fact that God has a Plan. And that plan is a family plan. And Christ as the Son, is the forerunner to
that plan. And so when you realize the inheritance
then, for you and I means, we have the opportunity to be children in the family
of God. That makes sense. [Comment: Understand, we will never be very God, as Jesus and the Father are
God. The angels are called ‘the sons of
God’ in the Old Testament, but they are not God. We will be created children, through the
resurrection to immortality. We in that
sense, will never have the power or mind of God like God has, we will always be
lower down as created beings in that sense.] That fits with this whole concept of an inheritance, not just being a
possession, not just being a thing, but ultimately the possession of being a
true child of God in his family, in the Kingdom forever. And that’s where Paul’s going to lead us as
we go on from here…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Hebrews
1:1-14, given by Pastor Steve Myers, United Church of God, Cincinnati, Ohio.]
Related
links:
The
Churches of God in Judea, the ones Hebrews was written to, what were they
like? See:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/earlychurch1a.htm
For
the incomplete revelation of God through the Prophets, see:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/Prophets_Prophecy.html
What
is the New Covenant, exactly? See:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/newcovenant/TheNEWCOVENANT.htm
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