Hebrews ties Christ into the whole story

 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.