Read
Hebrews
1
New
book! We are back in the New Testament.
Who was the original audience, at least as we discern by the title assigned?
The Hebrew people—the Jews as they
were called after the Babylonian captivity—werte the primary, at least the
original audience. We are all blessed by it as well, just not just its first
audience
Who wrote it? We could spend some time
on that one, and we might as we do our chapter-by-chapter navigation once again.
How do you feel about our chapter-by-chapter approach?
This is an unpaid
political announcement. Your elders who now serve on the session are your
elected representatives in this part of the body of Christ. Tell them what you
are looking for in the areas of education, worship, fellowship, and other
matters regarding the life of the church.
We don’t know the author or location
where this text was written. We do know that it was canonized in 393 at the Council (Synod) of Hippo.
It was surely utilized by believers before then, just without the institutional
authenticity.
We can see that the first part of this
book like in Luke’s gospel was written in classical Greek.
Hebrews was something of a homiletic
appeal to the Jews that Jesus was—is—the long-promised Messiah. In
fact, scholars speculate that this text or texts was not a letter but sermon
notes.
In many ways, it is a doctrinal
compendium of so many things that are a part of this story of God’s creation
and its redemption. Determining things decades or centuries after
they were written comes with challenges.
There are just some things that we don’t
know.
Experts examine and analyze, postulate
and speculate, and sometimes they only spitball a guess. We don’t know who
wrote this or where was written. We don’t even know if it was a letter or a sermon.
What do we know?
This book made it
into our Bible. The Spirit of God
was at work in the canonization of the book of Hebrews.
It’s not in our Bible for a reason. It
is in our Bibles for HIS reasons and His designs. It is by man’s effort that we
have this book today, but surely it is available to us this day by heavenly
design.
We know that we are blessed to read some
scripture because
the scripture says so. I will say of my own accord, that you will be
blessed to read, study, and discuss this book.
You will be blessed to embrace the
process one more time. Read your chapter daily. Discuss in your Sunday School classes
and tune in for a sermon that covers very familiar words. Come Sunday, you won’t
be surprised by the text for the message. You will be ready to embrace the
message because you know the text so well.
I even know what one of your blessings
is going to look like. It looks like more questions than answers when you are finished.
That’s often the case in adult education.
Now here’s the blessing. Your quest
for answers will very likely lead to a hunger for God’s word. Once you truly
hunger for what God has to say, you will realize how much you are blessed.
Your blessing for reading this book is
hunger—hunger for more of God’s word.
Let’s get started. This biblical
author is in concert with the full biblical witness.
In
the beginning was the Word and the word was with God. The Word was and is
God. That’s from John’s gospel. From its beginning, Hebrews confirms that the
universe was made through Christ.
God spoke to humankind mostly through
the prophets. Some of them were considered great men and others were scorned or
persecuted by the worldly rulers. They were the primary means of communicating
with God’s people, and even with a few pagans as well.
Paul tells us that Jesus is the
image of the invisible God. Hebrews says that the Son is the exact
representation of God’s being. God’s most recent and fullest communication has
come through Jesus.
The Son is the radiance of God’s
glory. Read John’s
Christmas story in comparison.
The Word became flesh and made his
dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son,
who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Christ died for our sins. Read
it in Romans.
But now apart from the law the
righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets
testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who
believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God, and all are justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God
presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his
blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness,
because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand
unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so
as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
It's only been 4 verses and we are
already going to dive into Jesus
stepping out of heaven into humanity and that at the end of this mission,
his Father will exalt him and his name above all the angels.
In your relationships with one
another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own
advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a
man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the
highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and
every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
I make these associations now, so you
may see that though we do not know the human author, this book is surely in tune
with its divine author and those biblical authors who he inspired.
Hebrews makes this point early. Jesus
is the center of everything. God made it that way.
I don’t know how much time existed
before God created the universe, but ever since that creation, Jesus has been
the main force. He was there at the creation. He may have made other
appearances. A wide range of interpretations are considered.
He came in the flesh, lived in the
flesh, taught us in the flesh, died in the flesh, and overcame the death of his
flesh. We will talk about him being
fully human in the next chapter but for now, understand Jesus is at the center
of everything we know.
Jesus—the ultimate expression of God’s
love—is the target and lens by which we will navigate this book.
Don’t worry, he and his Father and the
Spirit are always in perfect harmony. Throw this Greek word into your Sunday
lunch conversations: perichoresis.
Essentially, it means the divine dance,
specifically that one among the Father, Son, and Spirit.
Hebrews takes a foundation of the Supremacy
of Christ and relates it to the Mosaic Law and Feasts. We should know that
while Christ is at the center, the Father and the Spirit are at work as well.
While the triune God is always at
work:
In this age, Jesus is center stage.
Even the angels in heaven fulfill the harmonious
will of the triune God throughout the universe.
You will find some familiar scriptures
as we move forward.
The
word of God is living and active… Many of you know it well.
For the word of God is alive and
active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing
soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the
heart.
There is no forgiveness of sins without
the shedding of blood.
Now faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We
draw on this one frequently.
How about counsel to keep
our eyes fixed on Jesus—the author and finisher of our faith.
Some of you are thinking, but you left
out it is impossible
to please God without faith.
How about the part about dying
once and facing judgment? And don’t forget not
to stop gathering together as believers.
And we have a great
high priest who knows what it is to live the human life. And yet, we can
approach his throne of grace with confidence.
We will get those and more in the
weeks ahead. For now, remember that Christ is the center of this message.
Christ is the ultimate expression of God’s love for us. Christ humbled himself
to live the human life and suffer a human death as a sacrifice for our sins.
His name is the name above all names
and he sits at the right hand of the Father.
Normally, I have a challenge for you
about putting the words of our God into practice. I have challenged you to fulfill
the law guided by love.
Today, I challenge you to read this
book of Hebrews with the lens of the ultimate expression of God’s love coming
in Christ.
Listen to the first part of Chapter 1
again.
In the past God spoke to our ancestors
through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days
he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and
through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory
and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his
powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the
right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the
angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
Our salvation and much teaching come through
Christ Jesus. We are to take his yoke and learn from him. We are to put his
words into practice. The Spirit gives us the light to understand these holy
words.
For the next few weeks view everything
you can from the perspective of Christ Jesus. Look through the lens of:
Messiah.
Savior.
Lord.
King.
Priest.
God.
Intercessor.
As the only one who ever fulfilled the
law and what was given by the prophets.
You have been given the mind of
Christ. Now take the view of Christ as we engage this book.
Let’s read faithfully and see if we
can fit all of this together.
Amen.
