Saturday, February 9, 2008

Hebrews 3

Jesus Is Greater Than Moses: Jesus is the Son, Moses is the Servant.


Moses was faithful, Jesus was faithful, the Jews in the wilderness
were not faithful, we are to be faithful.


These Jewish believers were being told to get their eyes off Moses
and to get them on Christ instead.


   "In this passage, the author of Hebrews argues to his
Jewish Christian friends in this congregation that they must not be tempted
to go back to Moses, because they have already embraced someone who is superior,
even to Moses. Now we may not be tempted ourselves to go back to Moses; but
we are often tempted to go somewhere else, other than Christ, our ultimate hope
for our ultimate comfort in which we put our ultimate trust. So these words
are directly relevant to us, and I think you will see three or four things that
are very important for all of us as we wrestle with that particular issue in
our lives. As we, as believers, walk the walk of faith in this world and are
from time to time pulled away from Christ, the first thing we learn in this
passage is that we must remember who we are, by God’s grace." - Duncan,
J. Ligon, Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi.
"Hebrews Vol. 1 Archive Index" [Online] Available
www.fpcjackson.org/resources/sermons/hebrews/Vol%201.htm/


Chapter 1, describes the nature and person of Messiah, that He is God in flesh
(Hebrews 1:1,3,6,8,10).

Chapter 2, built on the first chapter, establishes the glory of Messiah’s
covenant, the sanctified are brothers of Christ, who will be in “Glory”.
(Hebrews 2:10).

Chapter 3, built on the 2nd chapter, makes the case of the need to turn completely
to Christ and not struggle between the Old and New Covenants.


   As we read this chapter it is IMPERATIVE that we bear in
mind TO WHOM this letter is written or we'll get confused. We are not early
Hebrew Christians torn between Judaism and Christianity; though, we might be
torn between what passes today for Christianity and true Christianity - a faith
in the living God as revealed to us in Jesus Christ.


(1) And so, *dear brothers and sisters who
belong to God and are partners with those **called to heaven, ***think
carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s ****messenger
and *****High Priest.


*dear brothers and sisters: Greek - holy brethren


**called to heaven: Greek - heavenly calling. King
James version: partakers of a heavenly calling. Israel in the Old Testament,
on the other hand, had an earthly calling - to the land!

Ephesians 1:3: All praise to God, the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.

Ephesians 2:6: For he raised us from the
dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms
because we are united with Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:20: But we are citizens of heaven,
where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return
as our Savior.


   It is a heavenly calling because it comes from heaven --
from God. And it is a heavenly calling because it invites us and leads us to
heaven -- to God.


***think carefully: The author is saying "STOP! PAY ATTENTION!
THINK ABOUT THIS DEEPLY! DON'T SLIDE OVER THIS!" If we are to be faithful,
we are to keep our focus on Jesus. Consider this Jesus!
Ponder him. It is the same word Jesus used in Matthew 6:28
when he said, "Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow..."


   The author exhorts those of us to consider Jesus. We need
to live our whole life focusing on Him. He is all we need.
Paul said it well when he said this: So you also are complete through
your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
(Colossians 2:10).


****messenger: Greek - apostle. Acts 3:22-26
(Peter speaking): Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise
up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people. Listen
carefully to everything he tells you.’ Then Moses said, ‘Anyone
who will not listen to that Prophet will be completely cut off from God’s
people.’ “Starting with Samuel, every prophet spoke
about what is happening today. You are the children of those prophets,
and you are included in the covenant God promised to your ancestors. For God
said to Abraham, ‘Through your descendants all the families on earth will
be blessed.’ When God raised up his servant, Jesus, he sent him first
to you people of Israel, to bless you by turning each of you back from your
sinful ways.”


*****High Priest: Occurs 17 times in Hebrews. Not mentioned
after Acts. The word "priest" not used by Paul in any other of his
epistles - because the priest relates to the Jews, not the Gentiles. We must
be very careful as we study this treatise to whom it is written - the Hebrews!
Ephesians presents Christ not as the high priest but as the Head of the Body!
An apostle represents God to man; a priest represents man to God -
Jesus was both! Moses was God's messenger (apostle), but not High Priest - that
required another person, Aaron. Nor, were either king. Jesus is all three to
Israel - apostle (messenger, prophet), priest and king.


Hebrews 2:17: Therefore, it was necessary for him to be
made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be
our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could
offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.


Hebrews 7:17, 24-27: And the psalmist pointed this out
when he prophesied, “You are a priest forever in the order of
Melchizedek.” But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood
lasts forever. Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those
who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their
behalf. He is the kind of high priest we need because he is
holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and
has been given the highest place of honor in heaven. Unlike those other high
priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their
own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once
for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s
sins.


   "A lot of times our Catholic friends think that Protestants
don’t like priests. Well, that’s actually not the case. It’s
just that we have one. Jesus is our High Priest; we don’t accept
substitutes. We love the priesthood of Christ; but it is a soul-sufficient
priesthood. We don’t need any extra priesthood added on top of it. So
in this passage you see Christ as priest, representing men before God. The High
Priest is the prime representative of the people of God to God. He is the one
who offers the sacrifice of atonement. And the author of Hebrews is saying,
“I want you to stop for a minute. I want you to consider who Jesus
is, He is both God’s representative to man and He is man’s
representative to God.”" - Duncan, J. Ligon, Senior Minister, First
Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi. "Hebrews Vol. 1 Archive
Index" [Online] Available www.fpcjackson.org/resources/sermons/hebrews/Vol%201.htm/


(2) For he was *faithful to
God, who appointed him, just as **Moses served *faithfully
when he was entrusted with God’s entire house.


*faithful: The main point is that Jesus was FAITHFUL just
as Moses was FAITHFUL and then the readers are directed in verse 14 to also
be FAITHFUL!


**Moses is mentioned 11 times in Hebrews and about
700 times in the Bible. No name could mean so much to a Hebrew as that of Moses.
Paul had to overcome this reasonable prejudice and show them One Who was greater
than Moses!


(3) But Jesus deserves far more glory
than Moses, just as a person who builds a *house deserves more praise
than the house itself.


*house: The house referred to here is Israel, Moses was a
faithful servant to the house of Israel, but Jesus was the creator of Israel.
The writer wants his audience of Jewish believers to grasp the meaning of the
“New” covenant. How the Old is superseded by the New, how the builder
is greater then the house.


   Moses received much glory from God. This is seen in his shining
face after spending time with God (Exodus 34:29-35), in his justification before
Miriam and Aaron (Numbers 12:6-8), and before the sons of Korah (Numbers 16).
But Jesus received far more glory from the Father, at His baptism (Matthew 3:16-17),
at His transfiguration (Mark 9:7), and at His resurrection (Acts 2:26-27 and
Acts 2:31-33).


(4) For every house has a builder, but the
one who built everything is God.


Colossians 1:16: for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things
we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen
world. Everything was created through him and for him.


(5) Moses was certainly faithful in
God’s house as a servant. His work was an illustration of the
truths God would reveal later.


Numbers 12:6-8: And the Lord said to them, “Now listen
to what I say: “If there were prophets among you, I, the Lord, would reveal
myself in visions. I would speak to them in dreams. But not with my servant
Moses. Of all my house, he is the one I trust. I speak to him face to
face, clearly, and not in riddles! He sees the Lord as he is. So why
were you not afraid to criticize my servant Moses?”


John 5:45-46: “Yet it isn’t I who will accuse
you before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, in
whom you put your hopes. If you really believed Moses, you
would believe me, because he wrote about me.


   The ancient Rabbis considered Moses to be the greatest man
ever, greater than the angels. Paul, of course, does not criticize Moses; he
exalts Jesus Christ.


(6) *But Christ, as the Son, is in
charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, **if
we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.


*But: The Greek is more like On the other
hand - comparing Christ to Moses.


**if: Does this indicate conditional salvation or the possibility
of loss of salvation? Faithfulness is a sign that we have indeed been saved
and not simply self-deluded into believing that we're saved and can't lose our
salvation, no matter what. Now this "if" is a serious thing. We are
his household -- we are God's people, we are God's possession and inheritance,
that is we are saved -- if . This "if" is so serious and so important
that the rest of chapter three is a support and explanation of it. In fact much
of the rest of this book is meant to make this "if" plain. Too often
salvation by grace is used as an excuse to sin. Romans 6:1-4:
Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more
of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we
continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with
Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried
with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious
power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.


   Some interpret this to mean, if we don’t fall from
the faith, we shall be saved. This would mean that no one is saved until they
die, (The end). What is meant, is that perseverance demonstrates true faith.


Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who calls
out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only
those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On
judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name
and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’
But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s
laws.’ This is not the case with the believer, sanctified with the
Holy Spirit, deposited in the believer as God’s guarantee of redemption:
Ephesians 1:14: The Spirit is God’s guarantee
that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased
us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.


   Moses was a part of the house he ruled but Christ
was the builder of the house. The difference between a servant and
a son is that the son, by inheritance, owns the house, and is Lord over the
house, and provides for those in the house out of his wealth. But the servants
don't own anything in the house, and the servants follow the word of the owner.
Jesus, as a son, is superior to Moses in these three ways: he owns the
house of God; he rules the house of God and he provides for the house of God.
By comparison Moses is just a servant in the house. He doesn't own
it; he doesn't rule it; and he doesn't provide for it from his wealth. So consider
Jesus in relation to Moses.



Piper, John, Pastor, Bethlehem Baptist Church. "Do Not Harden
Your Heart in the Day of Trial" [Online] Available www.soundofgrace.com/piper96/08-11-96.htm
August 11, 1996:


A Condition for Being, not Becoming


Notice first that this condition -- "'if' we hold fast to hope" --
is a condition for being something now. Verse 6 does not say: you will become
God's house if you hold fast to your hope. It says, "We are God's house"
if we hold fast to confidence and hope. It's like saying, "You are a Southerner
if you pronounce Ronald Reagan's wife's name 'Naintsy' instead of 'Nancy."
Talking like this does not make you a Southerner; it shows that you are one.


So I think Hebrews 3:6 teaches that "if we hold fast our confidence and
the boast of our hope firm to the end, we show that we are God's house."
This is what defines the household of God: God's people hope in God. God's people
are confident in God. They hold fast to God as their boast. That's the human
trait and evidence of belonging God's household. If you want to be assured
that you are of God's household test to see if you hope in God and have confidence
in God and look to God for the security and happiness of your future and the
satisfaction of your heart.


Here is another support for this: in verse 1 the readers are called "partakers
of a heavenly calling." It says, "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers
of a heavenly calling . . ." So the writer is assuming that his
readers are already partakers of God's heavenly call. They are heaven-bound.
They are not just hearers of the call; they are partakers of -- sharers in --
the call. So when he puts a big "if" on this in verse 6 -- if you
hold fast to your confidence in God -- he means: you are partakers of the call,
you are the household of God, and the evidence of this is your persevering
confidence and hope in God to the end.


Now jump ahead to verse 14 to confirm that this is the way the writer is thinking.
In verse 14 we have an "if" statement very much like the one in verse
6: "We have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of
our assurance firm until the end." Being "partakers of Christ"
in verse 14 is virtually the same as being "partakers of the heavenly calling"
in verse 1. And both are the same as "being God's house" in verse
6.


But notice the wording carefully here in verse 14, because it is a strong confirmation
that we are on the right track. It says, "We have become partakers of Christ,
if we hold our assurance to the end." The condition is future: "If
we hold fast assurance to the end." But the effect of the condition relates
to the past: "We have become partakers of Christ." So it's clear that
the point here is not: hold fast to your assurance in order to become in the
future a partaker of Christ. The point is: hold fast to your assurance
in order to show (prove, evidence, demonstrate) that you are a partaker of Christ.


Salvation Can't be Lost


Now this is utterly crucial because it shows that this writer does not believe
that you can truly partake of Christ, share in his heavenly calling and be a
part of his house and then lose that salvation. This is tremendously important
because, Lord willing, we are going to see other parts of this book that could
easily be taken to mean that we can lose our salvation.


But ask yourself this question: If verse 14 says, "We have become partakers
of Christ (in the past), if we (in the future) hold fast our assurance,"
then what conclusion should we draw if we do not hold fast our assurance (in
the past)? I believe the answer is: Then we have not become partakers of Christ.
It would be wrong to say, "If we do not hold fast our assurance, then even
though we were once partakers of Christ, nevertheless now we lose our part in
Christ." That is the opposite of what this verse says. It says, We have
become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast our assurance to the end; and if
we do not hold fast to our assurance to the end, then we have not become a partaker
of Christ. Not holding fast to our assurance does not make us lose our
salvation; it shows that we were not truly saved.


Maintaining Assurance


Everything in chapter three (and I would argue that everything in this book)
is written to encourage and empower you to be earnest and vigilant and
focused in the fight to maintain strong assurance in Christ. Let me
show you this so that you get a feel for how important this is to the writer
to the Hebrews. Over and over again the writer urges us to persevere in our
hope and not to throw away our confidence, because this is the living evidence
that we truly have become partakers of Christ. For example:


Hebrews 2:1 -- For this reason we must pay much
closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.


Hebrews 3:6 -- We are his house, if we
hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.


Hebrews 3:14 -- For we have become partakers of Christ,
if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end .
. .


Hebrews 6:11-12 -- And we desire that each one of you
show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the
end, that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who
through faith and patience inherit the promises.


Hebrews 10:23 -- Let us hold fast the
confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised
is faithful . .


Hebrews 10:35 -- Therefore, do not throw away
your confidence, which has a great reward.


Hebrews 12:1 -- Therefore, since we have so great a cloud
of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance,
and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance
the race that is set before us.


The Strength to Persevere is God's


And as we come to the end of the book he delights to bless us and remind us
that the strength to persevere to the end is not our own, but God's. This is
the point of Hebrews 13:21:


[Now the God of peace] . . . equip you in every good thing to do His will,
working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to
whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.


The surety of believers lies not in the absence of conditions in the promises
of power.


But the way we experience the power of God through Christ to work this persevering
grace in us is through the warnings and promises of the word of God. That's
why the book was written. God doesn't work in us the endurance apart from the
word. He works by the word. Our great salvation and our great Savior
(which is what this book is about) are the inspiration the Spirit uses to hold
us fast. So we must consider Jesus (3:1) and not neglect our great salvation
(2:3). That's what this book is written to help us do.


What then would be the conclusion if we do not hold fast to our assurance?
The answer is not that you stop being a partaker of Christ, but that you had
never become a partaker of Christ. Read it carefully: "We have become partakers
of Christ if we hold fast to our assurance." And so "If we do not
hold fast to our confession then we have not become partakers of Christ."


On the basis of this text I said last week that this book teaches eternal security.
That is, it teaches that if you have truly become a partaker of Christ,
you will always be one. He will work in you to preserve your faith
and hope. Another way to say it is that if you are a child of God you
cannot cease to be a child of God. But we all know that there are many
people who make a start in the Christian life and then fall away and forsake
the Lord. That kind of person is very much on this writer's mind. He knows that
happens and he deals with it in this text and how to keep it from happening.
But when it happens his explanation is not that the person really was a partaker
of Christ, but that he never had become a true partaker of Christ. If we hold
fast to our assurance we have become a partaker of Christ; if we do not, then
we have not become a partaker of Christ.


In other words persevering in faith and hope, holding fast to your
confidence in God is not a way to keep from losing your standing in Christ;
it is a way of showing that you have a standing in Christ. That standing can
never be lost, because you have it by the free grace of God, and because
Christ has promised with a covenant and an oath (Hebrews 6:17-19) to keep those
who are his (Hebrews 13:5; 20-21). In other words, my security and assurance
is not a decision or a prayer that I remember doing in the past; my
security and assurance is the faithfulness and power of God to keep me hoping
in him in the future. My security is that "he who began a good work in
me will complete it to the day of Christ" (Philippians 1:6).


How Can We Be Assured of Our Eternal Security?


So the second question is: What shall we do? How shall we know and enjoy and
be assured of our eternal security? Verses 12 and 13 give two answers: one more
general and the other more specific.


First the general answer in verse 12: "Take care, brethren,
lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling
away from the living God." The general answer is, "Take care!"
or "Take heed!" or "Look!" In other words, don't be careless
or nonchalant or inattentive about the condition of your heart. Look at it.
As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:5, test yourselves to see if you
are in the faith. Or like Peter says in 2 Peter 1:10, "Be
diligent to confirm your election and your calling." Don't
coast or drift and take your perseverance in faith for granted. All kinds of
alternative passions are making war on your soul every day to steal your faith
and replace Christ with other treasures. Take care! Be on the look out! Be earnest!
Be watchful over your heart. As Proverbs 4:23 says, "Watch over your
heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life." That's
the answer of verse 12. Take heed!


Someone may ask, "Well, if I am a true partaker of Christ, as I believe
I am, why do I have to take heed and be so vigilant, when you have said that
I am eternally secure and can't lose my standing in Christ?" I think the
question assumes something that the New Testament says is not true. It assumes
that God's way for his chosen ones to get to heaven is without vigilance and
watchfulness and self-assessment and diligent use of means. But in fact Jesus
says, in Luke 13:24. "Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many,
I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able." And Peter says,
"Be sober, be watchful, your adversary the devil prowls around like
a roaring lion seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). The truth
is not that true Christians don't have to be vigilant and watchful over their
hearts; but that you can know you are a true Christian if you are vigilant
and watchful over your heart.


It's the cavalier Christians who need to be worried about their standing.
It's those who were baptized and walked an aisle or prayed a prayer and took
communion and came to church, but do not love Jesus or count him their dearest
treasure or bank their hope on him and look forward to seeing him and can say,
"To live is Christ and to die is gain." These are the self-assured
ones who need to feel insecure (see Deuteronomy 29:19). They are people, often
in the church, who treat their salvation like a vaccination. They got the vaccination
years ago and assume all is well without giving any thought to the dangers of
unbelief around them. They say, "I got inoculated against hell when I was
eight days old -- or six years old." And so getting to heaven is not a
matter of vigilance over their heart to keep it from becoming hard and unbelieving.
It's simply a matter of making sure that the inoculation happened. These are
the ones that are in tremendous danger.


That's the first answer to how we stay assured of our eternal security: Take
heed to your heart. Guard against unbelief. That is, be vigilant to maintain
your confidence and hope in Christ against all competing treasures.


The second answer is more specific in verse 13: "But encourage (or exhort)
one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today,"
lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. The second answer
is that eternal security is a community project. What shall we do at Bethlehem
to avoid an "evil heart of unbelief" and not be hardened by the deceitfulness
of the sins that tempt us every day to treasure them more than we treasure Jesus?


The Strength to Persevere is God's And as we come to the end
of the book he delights to bless us and remind us that the strength to persevere
to the end is not our own, but God's. This is the point of Hebrews 13:21. [Now
the God of peace] . . . equip you in every good thing to do His will, working
in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be
the glory forever and ever. Amen. The surety of believers lies not in the absence
of conditions in the promises of power. But the way we experience the power
of God through Christ to work this persevering grace in us is through the warnings
and promises of the word of God. That's why the book was written. God doesn't
work in us the endurance apart from the word. He works by the word. Our great
salvation and our great Savior (which is what this book is about) are the inspiration
the Spirit uses to hold us fast. So we must consider Jesus (3:1) and not neglect
our great salvation (2:3). That's what this book is written to help us do. But
it didn't last. And that is why this example is so important to the writer of
Hebrews. He wants the professing Christians to last, to persevere. Because that's
the only way they will prove they are truly God's house and truly share in Christ's
salvation. So he says look at Israel and don't be like them. Pick it up at verse
8: Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me [or perhaps better, "as
in the embitterment"], as in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 where
your fathers tried me by testing me, and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore
I was angry with this generation, and said, "They always go astray in their
heart; and they did not know my ways;" 11 as I swore in my wrath, "They
shall not enter my rest." In other words they had seen God's gracious works;
they had seen signs and wonders and miracles of mercy, they had tasted the heavenly
gift, but instead of being softened to trust God in the day of trial when things
were difficult, they became hard and unbelieving and did not trust God's goodness,
but murmured. The result was that God was angry and cut them off from the promised
land. Now the point is that this is what will happen to us, if -- the big "if"
of verse 6 and 14 --If we harden our hearts in the day of trial and murmur against
him and throw away our confidence and hope in God. The story of Israel is an
example for the professing church. Do not treat the grace of God with contempt
-- presuming to receive it as an escape from the Egypt of misery, but not being
satisfied with it as guidance and provision in the wilderness of this life.
O how many professing Christians want the mercy of forgiveness so that they
won't go to hell, but have hard hearts toward the Lord when it comes to daily
fellowship with him!


Piper, John, Pastor, Bethlehem Baptist Church. "Do Not Harden
Your Heart in the Day of Trial" [Online] Available www.soundofgrace.com/piper96/08-11-96.htm
August 11, 1996



   How can we be sure that we're really of His house? Hebrews
3:6 gives the answer: "If we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing
of the hope firm unto the end." Some people have misunderstood that verse--they
have thought it is saying we must keep ourselves saved, that we could lose our
salvation. But since we couldn't save ourselves to begin with, how could
we keep ourselves saved? What this verse is saying is that perseverance
is proof of salvation. Those who are truly part of the house of God
will not depart from the faith. Whoever leaves proves he never belonged in the
first place (1 John 2:19). That truth is repeatedly emphasized in Hebrews because
the Jews the writer was addressing were in danger of falling away. And those
who fall away give evidence that they never did receive Christ. True saints
persevere.


John 8:31: Jesus said to the people who believed in him,
“You are truly my disciples if you remain
faithful to my teachings. The word translated "truly" (Greek,
al[ma]ethos) means "genuine" or "real."


(7) That is why the Holy Spirit says, “Today
when you hear his voice,


(8) don’t harden your hearts
as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested me in the wilderness.


   Using the example of the wilderness wonderings, Paul applies
the example to Jews who have heard the Gospel, but refuse to commit
to Christ. Israel after being delivered from Egyptian slavery by the
plagues on Egypt, was led through the Red Sea, by “the Cloud” (Exodus
14). The “Cloud” contained the “Presence” of the Lord.
The armies of Egypt pursued Israel, through the Red Sea and drowned as the Sea
collapsed on them after the last Israelite crossed. Israel witnessed these events
and God’s deliverance. God also provided and spoke to Israel; the bitter
waters of the wilderness were made sweet (Exodus 15), providing water to a thirsty
nation, bread (Manna) came down from Heaven (Exodus 16), and water came from
the Rock (Exodus 17). The Lord appeared in glory on Mt. Sinai, and spoke to
the nation that they would fear Him (Exodus 19-20). Moses at the request of
the people, because of their fear, of the Lord, went to meet with the Lord.
While Moses was on Mt. Sinai, Israel rebelled and made a “Golden Calf”
to lead them back to Egypt. Moses in a rage returns and smashes the 10 commandments,
the Lord was about to destroy Israel, but Moses then intercedes and God spares
the nation, and renews the covenant (Exodus 34). Finally, after the numerous
miracles and deliverances, Israel refuses to enter the Promised Land. Ten of
the twelve spies who entered gave negative report and the people refused to
take the land promised by God, because they did not believe God could deliver
the land to them. Only Joshua and Caleb urged Israel to take the land. God punished
Israel for their unbelief, those 20 years and older, except for Joshua and Caleb,
would wander the wilderness of Sinai for 40 years until the generation died
off. Their children would enter the land, along with Joshua and Caleb and Joshua
would replace Moses as leader of Israel (Numbers 13-14).


Exodus 16:1-3: Then the whole community of Israel set
out from Elim and journeyed into the wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Mount
Sinai. They arrived there on the fifteenth day of the second month, one month
after leaving the land of Egypt. There, too, the whole community of
Israel complained about Moses and Aaron. “If only the Lord had
killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we
sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you
have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”


Exodus 17:2-7: So once more the people complained
against Moses. “Give us water to drink!” they demanded.
“Quiet!” Moses replied. “Why are you complaining against me?
And why are you testing the Lord?” But tormented by thirst, they continued
to argue with Moses. “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Are you trying
to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst? ”Then Moses cried
out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? They are ready to
stone me!” The Lord said to Moses, “Walk out in front of the people.
Take your staff, the one you used when you struck the water of the Nile, and
call some of the elders of Israel to join you. I will stand before you on the
rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come gushing out. Then
the people will be able to drink.” So Moses struck the rock as he was
told, and water gushed out as the elders looked on Moses named the place
Massah (which means “test”) and Meribah (which means “arguing”)
because the people of Israel argued with Moses and tested the Lord by saying,
“Is the Lord here with us or not?”


Numbers 14:10-12,20-25,29-37: But the whole community
began to talk about stoning Joshua and Caleb. Then the glorious presence of
the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the Tabernacle. And the Lord said
to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they
never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them?
I will disown them and destroy them with a plague. Then I will make you into
a nation greater and mightier than they are!” ... Then the Lord said,
“I will pardon them as you have requested. But as surely as I live, and
as surely as the earth is filled with the Lord’s glory, not one
of these people will ever enter that land. They have all seen my glorious
presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness,
but again and again they have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice. They
will never even see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None
of those who have treated me with contempt will ever see it. But my
servant Caleb has a different attitude than the others have. He has
remained loyal to me, so I will bring him into the land he explored. His descendants
will possess their full share of that land. Now turn around, and don’t
go on toward the land where the Amalekites and Canaanites live. Tomorrow
you must set out for the wilderness in the direction of the
Red Sea. ... You will all drop dead in this wilderness! Because
you complained against me, every one of you who is twenty years old
or older and was included in the registration will die. You will not
enter and occupy the land I swore to give you. The only exceptions will
be Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. “‘You
said your children would be carried off as plunder. Well, I will bring them
safely into the land, and they will enjoy what you have despised. But as for
you, you will drop dead in this wilderness. And your children
will be like shepherds, wandering in the wilderness for forty years.
In this way, they will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies
dead in the wilderness. Because your men explored the land for forty days, you
must wander in the wilderness for forty years—a year for each day, suffering
the consequences of your sins. Then you will discover what it is like to have
me for an enemy.’ I, the Lord, have spoken! I will certainly do these
things to every member of the community who has conspired against me. They will
be destroyed here in this wilderness, and here they will die!” The ten
men Moses had sent to explore the land—the ones who incited rebellion
against the Lord with their bad report— were struck dead with a plague
before the Lord. Of the twelve who had explored the land, only Joshua and Caleb
remained alive.


1 Corinthians 10:10-13: And don’t grumble as
some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. These things
happened to them as examples for us. They were written down
to warn us who live at the end of the age. If you think you
are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are
no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow
the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will
show you a way out so that you can endure.


Philippians 2:14: Do everything without complaining and
arguing


(9) There your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw my miracles for forty years.


(10) So I was angry with them, and I said,
‘Their hearts always *turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’


*hearts always turn away from me: Greek they are wandering
in the heart.


(11) So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”


Psalm 95:7-11: for he is our God. We are the people he
watches over, the flock under his care. If only you would listen to his voice
today! The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel
did at Meribah, as they did at Massah in the wilderness. For there your ancestors
tested and tried my patience, even though they saw everything I did. For forty
years I was angry with them, and I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts
turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’ So in my anger
I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”

Psalm 95 was central to synagogue worship and engraved into the memory of every
Jew.


(12) Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters.
Make sure that your own hearts are not *evil and **unbelieving, *** turning
you away from the ****living God.


   Don’t be like the generation that perished in the wilderness!


*evil: The Greek word here is a strong one denoting not passive
but positive and active evil.


**unbelieving: “Unbelief is not inability to understand,
but unwillingness to trust. One can truly believe God, yet
be occasionally troubled by doubts. Unbelief isn’t weakness of
faith; it sets itself in opposition to faith.


***turning you away: The Greek word is the
one from which we get the word apostasy.


****living God: The phrase ‘living God’ is popular
with the writer (9:14; 10:31; 12:22) and emphasizes the character of God. Among
other things, it draws attention to His awareness of, and living presence among,
men, and His active interest and concern. It reveals Him as One Who is there
to act, and is indeed acting on behalf of His own, but also, in warning, as
One ready if necessary also to bring judgment on men. It shows Him as One intimately
concerned with world affairs, in contrast with dead idols. To fall away from
Him is not to reject an absent landlord, but to spurn a present Friend and Guide.


(13) You must warn each other every day, while
it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by
sin and hardened against God.


   It is a reminder that while time exists we must ever be on
our guard. There can never be a let up in the battle against sin. And we therefore
need to ‘encourage and strengthen’ one another


(14) For if we are
*faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first
believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.


*faithful: The main point is that since Jesus was FAITHFUL
just as Moses was FAITHFUL as told in verse 2, then the readers are to also
be FAITHFUL! True faithfulness manifests itself most clearly in an endurance
all the way to the end of the path that God has laid out for us - our
faith is strengthened and proven when we go through our trials.


(15) Remember what it says: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.”


(16) And who was it who rebelled against God,
even though they heard his voice? Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt?


   The majority can be wrong! It was not a small minority who
provoked God, but the vast majority - nearly all of them.


(17) And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness?


(18) And to whom was God speaking when he took
an oath that they would never enter his *rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed
him?


*rest: 11 times in Hebrews chapters 3 and 4, Hebrews speaks
of entering rest. That rest will be deeply detailed in the next chapter. But
here, the key to entering rest is revealed: belief.


(19) So we see that because of their
unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.


   Paul is now urging his readers to urgently (today)
examine themselves if they are truly in the faith. Why? Because,
the great trial of their faith is coming very soon - the Roman persecution.
Unbelief is to take up a position exactly the opposite of that of Jesus and
Moses who were faithful (verse 2). So, we should test ourselves to see whether
our hearts are remaining true to Jesus Christ, or whether some interest, or
pleasure, or temptation, or emphasis, is causing a barrier between Him and us.


2 Corinthians 13:5 : Examine yourselves to
see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves.
Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you (in you); if not, you
have failed the test of genuine faith.

 Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone who calls out to
me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who
actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.


   Note the sequence. They provoked (verse
16), they sinned (verse 17), they were disobedient (verse 18), they were guilty
of unbelief (verse 19). Their hearts became harder and harder. And thus they
could not enter into God’s rest. To enter God’s rest was to be settled
in the land and delivered from surrounding enemies.


   So the lessons up to this point are on (1) the danger of
being entrapped by sin and allowing it to develop within, (2) the danger of
assuming that the majority is always right, (3) the danger of disobedience and
unbelief and (4) the danger of turning away from God’s appointed deliverer;
all of which in Israel’s case had resulted in God’s judgment. All
these will cause us to fail to enter into His rest, a rest obtained by becoming
partakers in Christ.


   When the apostle Paul related some of the same experiences
of Israel in the wilderness, he wrote These things happened to them as examples
for us. They were written down to warn us who live
at the end of the age. (1 Corinthians 10:11). As a result of the many counterfeit
professions and the false Christianity the potential of falling short of promised
rest is just as much a reality as it proved to be for the Israelites in the
wilderness.


   Persistent sin in the face of God's mercy is a sign
of unbelief. Yes, the people were embittered because of God's testing
them (verse 8); yes, they sinned (verse 17); but beneath all that was
the root problem: they didn't believe God, that is, they didn't trust
his goodness -- to lead and protect and provide and satisfy. Even though they
saw the waters of the Red Sea divide and they walked over on dry ground, the
moment they got thirsty, they did not trust him to take care of them. They cried
out against him and said that life in Egypt was better.


   That is what this book is written to prevent.
Many professing Christians make a start with God. They hear that their sins
can be forgiven and that they can go to heaven. And they say: what have I got
to lose, I'll believe. But then, sooner or later, the test comes - a lost job,
retirement, a sick or dying child, a failed marriage, failed health, a ruined
career, a dying loved parent, money problems - the list goes on and on.


   Our goal as we approach the end of our lives
should be to say with Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7: I
have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.




Bibliography/Works Cited:


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Sunday, December 23, 2007

Hebrews 2

By way of reminder, Hebrews is an epistle addressed to three different groups of Jews residing in one particular community. One group was Jewish non-Christians who didn't believe anything about the gospel. A second group was Jewish Christians who were still hanging on to the rituals of Judaism. The third group was Jewish non-Christians who were intellectually convinced about the truths of the gospel, but who had never committed their lives to Christ. The writer of Hebrews had one purpose: To show all three groups that Jesus Christ brought a New Covenant that is better than the old one. He wanted to prove to the Jews that the Old Covenant was not wrong but incomplete, for Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant. To prove that the New Covenant is better, this, the writer of Hebrews discusses the important characters of the Old Covenant and shows Christ to be better than all of them. In Hebrews 1:1-3 we saw that Christ is better than everyone and everything. Then in verses 4-14 the writer dealt specifically with Christ's superiority over angels. - The Superiority of Christ - The Tragedy of Neglecting Salvation: www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/sg1604.htm

(1) *So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may **drift away from it.

*So ="Therefore" - Because of the superiority of Jesus to the angels, we must give heed to Jesus.

**drift away: The figure is that of a boat drifting along at an almost imperceptible pace being carried along in the wrong direction by a subtle current. What this current is that may cause us to drift becomes obvious throughout Hebrews - a movement back to Judaism and the law - leaving salvation by grace and going back to an attempt at salvation by works. But, this movement happens in such small stages that the change is not noticed until it's too late.

There are two key Greek words in Hebrews 2:1: prosecho, which means "listen carefully" or "to moor a ship" and pararheomen, which means "to let slip" or "drift away." Pararheomen can be used of a ship that has been carelessly allowed to drift past the harbor because the sailor forgot to attend to the steerage or chart the wind, tides, and current. Verse 1 could be translated this way: "Therefore, we must diligently anchor our lives to the things we have been taught lest the ship of life drift past the harbor of salvation and be lost forever." That is a graphic picture of what happens.

What does "drifting away" mean? The primary application is for people who are in danger of dismissing the gospel despite exposure to it. In a secondary sense, there is application for those who have received the gospel but are in danger of dismissing it as one interest among many. The writer has a very simple word of exhortation to guard against drifting away. It is this: "Pay attention!" It is a message that will reappear several more times in this great book. This simplifies things, doesn't it? Paying attention may not be the easiest thing to do, but at least we know what we have to do. We must seek to scrutinize Jesus, to be engaged by him, to have our hearts penetrated and our minds transformed. When all else fails, beg God to show you Jesus, the true Jesus who is that treasure, that pearl of great price. The Holy Spirit, who is called the Spirit of truth, has been given to help us pay attention, to fasten our minds on the truth, to call Jesus Christ to our attention (John 16:7-14). Knowing that paying attention is difficult, the writer gives us two compelling reasons to do so. The first reason for paying attention to the gospel is that the consequences for disregarding it are tragic. The second reason for paying attention is that the benefits for embracing it are staggering. - Hebrews: www.pbc.org/books/Hebrews

One of the modern causes of "drifting away" is the theory of evolution. Bombarded by secular humanism, false religions and even plastic counterfeit “Christianity” offered as “truth,” it is hard to maintain a true course if one is not founded in the WORD that directs life. You don’t have to do anything to simply drift away; most Christian regress comes from a slow drifting, not from a sudden departure.

When we live and grow up in churches where we are accustomed to hearing the gospel message, all of us get to the point where we tend from time to time to slip into a mode where amazing grace is not amazing any more. In fact, it’s down right boring and routine. It’s expected. And that is a danger for everyone, especially those who grow up and are blessed in churches where the gospel is preached regularly. You become complacent about the gospel message. And the author of Hebrews here seems to be more concerned about those who are not going to outright reject the gospel, but those who might drift away from it. Look at his words. “So that we do not drift away from it.” He’s concerned about apathy or indifference to the truth. He’s not so concerned about people who are going to stand up in the middle of the sermon and say I don’t believe the gospel; that’s a bunch of rubbish. And we don’t have too many people around here that would stand up and do that. I wouldn’t guess that there would be many Baptist churches in town where folks would stand up in the middle of the preacher’s sermon and say, “We just don’t believe this gospel stuff; it’s a bunch of rubbish.” But I bet there are a lot of people that are in danger of neglecting the gospel or drifting away right in our midst. And the author of Hebrews is speaking right to that situation. In the face of that temptation what he wants us to remember is the seriousness of the gospel. - Hebrews: www.fpcjackson.org/resources/sermons/hebrews/Vol%201.htm/

(2) For the message God delivered through *angels has always stood firm, and every **violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished.

*angels:
Acts 7:53: You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.”
Galatians 3:19: Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people.

The concept that angels mediated the Law is found in Deuteronomy 33:2, Acts 7:53, Galatians 3:19 and Josephus, Antiquities, 15.53. "Angels" occurs 13 times in Hebrews.

**violation of the law and every act of disobedience: speak of a conscious rejection of God's will; i.e., an unwillingness to listen to God's voice.

The author is calling his readers to personal commitment and responsibility. Yes, God has saved and kept us by faith through grace, but He expects us to respond to His grace.

(3) So what makes us think we can escape if we *ignore this **great ***salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?

*ignore: Greek amelesantes means to neglect through apathy or make light of or not to care about something as in 1 Timothy 4:14: Do not neglect the spiritual gift you received through the prophecy spoken over you when the elders of the church laid their hands on you. Amelesantes is used in Matthew 22:5 (ignored them) of those who disregarded the invitation to the marriage supper. It means to have the opportunity, but to ignore or disregard it.

The danger is that some people will 'ignore' (literally 'be careless' about) this salvation. Matthew 22 illustrates the meaning of this phrase. In this chapter, Jesus is explaining the parable of the wedding feast as a picture of the kingdom of heaven. The feast has been prepared for all those who wish to come, but the invitation is continually rejected by those who are invited (verse 3). Again the king sends out slaves with the invitation to come to the feast. But note verse 5; 'But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business.' The phrase 'paid no attention' is the word 'neglect' that is used in Hebrews 2:3. Those in Matthew 22 were not interested in the wedding feast. They 'ignored' their invitation.

**great : This is a great salvation because the destiny we are saved for is great: we will one day break free from cancer and paralysis and arthritis and blindness and depression and corruption and futility and inherit the glory of the risen Son of God. He has been crowned with glory and honor (2:9); and that is where he is leading us. And it is a great salvation because the Savior is great: This is the Son of God who came, not an angel, not a mere human being, but the Son of God, who is God -- worshipped and revered forever. No one less than God has come to lead us to glory. So this is a great salvation because the Forerunner is great and because the goal is great. The Forerunner is the Son of God and the goal is glory of God.

***salvation: What is this salvation, which the writer describes as "so great a salvation"? Although salvation has past, present and future aspects, the writer here speaks of salvation as in the future. He speaks of those who "will inherit salvation" (Hebrews 1:14), and he speaks of "the world to come" (Hebrews 2:5). It is the future and eternal reign of Jesus Christ over God's new creation. Salvation, then, in the writer's mind, is entering into the kingdom to come (Hebrews 12:28). What makes it great? It is great because of the greatness of "the author of salvation" (Hebrews 2:10). Up until this point, the writer has done little else but describe the greatness the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Salvation is great because the Savior is great. The writer then proceeds to tell us that there is ample evidence to believe the gospel. It was first spoken through the Lord, namely, Jesus. The title "Lord" implies that the message is one that should be heeded. Immediately after going public, Jesus began "preaching the gospel of God," inviting people to be part of "the kingdom of God" (Mark 1:14-15). The gospel heralded by the Lord was "confirmed" by those who heard it: the apostles and other contemporaries who became followers of Jesus. That confirmation comes to us in the New Testament, the apostolic witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we read the gospel of John, for example, we have an eyewitness account of one who walked with Jesus, heard and saw what he did, and even leaned on his breast (John 21:20-24). The words concerning Jesus in the New Testament are "what we have heard," and we should pay close attention to them. - Hebrews: www.pbc.org/books/Hebrews

This is a word to believers, not to the unsaved. The danger described isn’t rejecting salvation (though the principle certainly applies), but neglecting salvation Remember that Hebrews was written not primarily as an evangelistic tract, but as an encouragement and warning to discouraged Christians, those who neglected an abiding walk with Jesus.

The warning in Hebrews 2:1-4 is the first of five great warnings interjected throughout the book of Hebrews. Each one occurs in the middle of a treatise on the superiority of Christ. It's as if the writer can teach only so much before he has to confront his audience about their response. You can know all the truth there is to know about Jesus Christ and still go to hell if you never do anything about it. To whom is the warning directed? To Hebrew non-Christians who are intellectually convinced about the gospel, but have never committed their life to Christ. You have probably met people like that who say, "I believe, but I'm not ready to make a commitment." They go to church and hear the Word of God. They know it's true, but they are not willing to commit themselves to Jesus Christ. They are like the man who believes a boat can hold him but never gets in. I believe the warning is directed to the intellectually convinced--those who have heard the gospel and know the facts about Jesus Christ, but are not willing to receive Christ as Savior. That's the most tragic category of people in existence. The warning could not be to Christians because they are never in danger of neglecting salvation since they already have it. They might neglect growth and discipleship, but they could never neglect salvation. The warning can't be directed to people who've never heard the gospel because they can't neglect what they don't know exists. The only group left is those non-Christians who are intellectually convinced of the gospel but not committed to it. - The Superiority of Christ - The Tragedy of Neglecting Salvation: www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/sg1604.htm

(4) And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose.

Acts 2:43: A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders.

In addition to the words being spoke by the Lord, and being confirmed by eyewitnesses, God Himself testified about Christ with signs and wonders. People were raised from the dead, (Matthew 9:24, John 11:39), the blind were healed (Matthew 9:27, Matthew 20:30), the lame walked (Matthew 15:30). The Holy Spirit gave gifts to those believed; prophecy, healing, tongues, etc. The miracles of scripture, also testifies about Him, telling of his death and rejection by his people. (Isaiah 52:12-53:13), The exact time of his death (Daniel 9:24-27 Daniel’s 70 weeks), about his return (Zechariah 12:10).

The Son is superior to the angels.

(5) And furthermore, it is not angels who will control the future world we are talking about.

(6) For in one place the Scriptures say, “What are mere mortals that you should think about them, or a *son of man that you should care for him?

*son of man: Jesus himself used the title "Son of Man" for himself, a title that took on a broader concept than the one contained in Psalm 8 with the prophet Daniel, who envisioned the Son of Man receiving "dominion, glory and a kingdom" (Daniel 7:13). It is possible that the author understands "son of man" to be a title for Christ. Jesus' favorite title for himself was "son of man" according to the gospels. More importantly, the author of Hebrews understood "son of man" to express the concept of Christ as Second (or Last) Adam. Paul gives the fullest treatment of Jesus as Second Adam in Romans 5:12-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 45-49. Christ as Second Adam reversed the Fall. By First Adam's disobedience, sin and death entered the world. By Second Adam's (Christ's) obedience the possibility of righteousness and life became available. It is likely that the author of Hebrews wanted to include Psalm 8:4 in his quotation so that his readers would recognize the concept of Christ as Second Adam in the phrase son of man.

(7) Yet you made *them only a little lower than the angels and crowned *them with glory and honor.

*them: or him

Some manuscripts add You gave them (or him) charge of everything you made.

It is Scripturally wrong to think of Jesus as merely God or merely man. It is wrong to think of Him as 50% God, 50% man (or any other percentage split). It is wrong to think of Him as “man on the outside” and “God on the inside.” The Bible teaches Jesus is fully God and fully man, that a human nature was added to His divine nature, and both natures existed in one Person, Jesus Christ. Significantly, the first false teaching about Jesus arising in the church was not that He wasn’t God, but that He wasn’t really human and He only seemed to be human. The heresy was called Docetism, coming from the Greek word to seem, and was taught by Cerinthus, who opposed the apostle John in the city of Ephesus, and whose teaching is probably the focus of 1 John 4:2 and 5:6.

(8) You gave *them authority over all things.” Now when it says “all things,” it means nothing is left out. But we have not yet seen all things put under their authority.

*them: or him; their: or his

Psalm 8:4-6: what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority

(9) What we do see is *Jesus, who was given a position “a **little lower than the angels”; and because he suffered death for us, he is now “crowned with glory and honor.” Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone.

*Jesus: The writer uses the Lord's human name here, Jesus, to emphasize his humanity. He was made like us. He became a man. He came in the flesh, and on the cross he who knew no sin became sin on our behalf (2 Corinthians 5:21), becoming less than the angels.

**little: for a short time

(10) God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his *suffering, a **perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.

*suffering: Through suffering, Jesus completed the work necessary for our own salvation. Our suffering can make us more sensitive servants of God. People who have known pain are able to reach out with compassion to others who hurt. If you have suffered, ask God how your experience can be used to help others.
2 Corinthians 1:4: He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

**perfect: "Perfect" is from teleioo which also means "to be complete". Not perfect in that He was imperfect before death, but rather the idea of being completed, finished. Has to do with the idea of fully completing a course, making it to the end of God's plan.

NIV: In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the *author of their salvation perfect through suffering. *author = Greek archegon = author, trailblazer, guide or champion. Hercules was called the archegon (champion) and soter (savior). Hebrews 12:2: We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Why does God sometimes not answer our prayers for healing, relief from problems etc.?

The Son's Solidarity with the "Sons"

(11) So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.

(12) For he said to God, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among your assembled people.”

Psalm 22:22: I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among your assembled people. Remember, this psalm is Messianic, starting with My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?:

Psalm 22:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent. Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him." Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me. I am poured out like water,and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you. You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows. The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the LORD will praise him— may your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn— for he has done it.

As pioneer on the perfection trail there is a true sense in which Jesus is also the one who perfects us. Shifting to the language of priestly consecration, the author states in verse 11 that the one who sanctifies - that is Jesus - and those who are sanctified - that will be all of us who will follow Christ on the trail to fellowship and obedience to God - have one Father. In other words, life on the trail between fallen humanity and a holy God is a family life, a community life. It is the family formed by shared obedience and being made perfect by suffering. Thus Jesus is not ashamed to call them [us] brothers and sisters. - Hebrews 2:5-3:6 by Roger Hahn: www.crivoice.org/biblestudy/bbheb3.html

(13) He also said, “I will put my trust in him,” that is, “I and the children God has given me.”

Isaiah 8:17-18: I will wait for the Lord, who has turned away from the descendants of Jacob. I will put my hope in him. I and the children the Lord has given me serve as signs and warnings to Israel from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies who dwells in his Temple on Mount Zion.

The reasons for the incarnation.

(14) Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he *die, and only by dying could he **break the power of the devil, who ***had the power of death.

*die: Suffering of death is a recurring theme in Hebrews (5:7-10, 9:26-28, 12:1-3).

**break: Greek katargeo - means to render inoperative or ineffective.

***had - or has

John 1:14: So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
Romans 8:3: The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.
1 Corinthians 15:21-22,26, 53-56: So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.
Hebrews 10:5-7: That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer. You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin. Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God— as is written about me in the Scriptures.’”
Hebrews 12:2: We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
Philippians 2:7-8: Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
1 Timothy 3:16: Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith: Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit. He was seen by angels and announced to the nations. He was believed in throughout the world and taken to heaven in glory.
Revelation 20:14: Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death.

The only way Jesus could break the power of Satan and of death was to die; and the only way He could die was by becoming human.

(15) Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the *fear of dying.

*fear of dying: We're not set free from dying, but from the fear of dying.

Why did the Father will the death of his only beloved Son, and in so painful and shameful a form? Because the Father had laid on him the sins of us all (Isaiah 53:6). Jesus’ death was vicarious (undergone in our place) and atoning (securing remission of sins for us and reconciliation to God). It was a sacrificial death, fulfilling the principle of atonement taught in connection with the Old Testament sacrifices: “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22; Leviticus 17:11). As the “last Adam,” the second man in history to act on mankind’s behalf, Jesus died a representative death. As a sacrificial victim who put away our sins by undergoing the death penalty that was our due, Jesus died as our substitute. By removing God’s wrath against us for sin, his death was an act of propitiation (Romans 3:25; 1 John 2:2; 4:10 —“expiation,” signifying that which puts away sin, is only half the meaning). By saving us from slavery to ungodliness and divine retribution for sin, Jesus’ death was an act of redemption (Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19). By mediating and making peace between us and God, it was an act of reconciliation (Romans 5:10-11). It opened the door to our justification (pardon and acceptance) and our adoption (becoming God’s sons and heirs—Romans 5:1,9; Galatians 4:4-5). This happy relationship with our Maker, based on and sealed by blood atonement, is the “New Covenant” of which Jesus spoke in the Upper Room (1 Corinthians 11:25; Matthew 26:28). - A Sacrificial Death: www.bible.org/illus.php?topic_id=366

(16) We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the *descendants of Abraham.

*descendants of Abraham: That is, the Jewish people.

This verse is rendered in the King James version as For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

(17) Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High *Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.

*Priest: The Son had to become human because high priests are taken from among human beings and He had to become a high priest in order to offer the ultimate sacrifice for sins. This theme of Jesus as the high priest is expanded upon in chapters 4 & 5 and then fully covered in chapter 7 where we learn that Jesus is a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 4:14 : So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.

Hebrews 5:1-2: Every high priest is a man chosen to represent other people in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sins. And he is able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same weaknesses.

(18) Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.

Jesus, both human and divine, is the bridge between us and God.


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On-Line Sources:

A Sacrificial Death: www.bible.org/illus.php?topic_id=366
A Study in the Book of Hebrews: By Dr. David L. Cooper: www.biblicalresearch.info/page425.html
Angels, God’s Ministering Spirits: www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=711
Bible Explained: Hebrews: www.bibleexplained.com/epistles-o/hebr/heb.htm
BibleGateway: www.bible.org/netbible/
Bible History: www.bible-history.com
Bible Tools: bibletools.org/
Blue Letter Bible: www.blueletterbible.org
Books of the Bible - Hebrews: www.pbc.org/books/Hebrews
Chuck Missler - Exodus: www.blueletterbible.org
Clarke's Commentary: www.godrules.net/library/clarke/clarkeheb2.htm
Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews by Dr Peter Pett: uk.geocities.com/jonpartin/hebrewsa.html
Commentary on Hebrews, by John Gill: www.pbministries.org/Landmark_Baptist/Seminary/Bible_Study_Courses/Hebrews/hebrews_chap02.htm
Crosswalk: Hebrews: bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/DarbysSynopsisofNewTestament/dby.cgi?book=heb
David Guzik's Commentaries on Hebrews: www.enduringword.com/commentaries/58.html
First Presbyterian Church of Jackson: Hebrews: www.fpcjackson.org/resources/sermons/hebrews/Vol%201.htm/
Hebrews 2:5-3:6 by Roger Hahn: www.crivoice.org/biblestudy/bbheb3.html
Net Bible: http://www.bible.org/netbible/index.htm
Our Captain Made Perfect Through Suffering: www.soundofgrace.com/piper96/06-02-96.htm
PB Ministries: Pink's Exposition of Hebrews: www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Hebrews/hebrews.htm
Perfection or Perdition: www.levendwater.org/books/perfection_or_perdition/index.htm
Studies in Hebrews: www.bible.org/passage.php?passage_id=58
Study Guide for Hebrews by Chuck Smith: www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/chuck_smith/sg/hebrews.html
The Book of Hebrews: www.truthnet.org/Christianity/Hebrews/Introduction/
The Epistle To The Hebrews: rapturealert.blogspot.com/2007/11/epistle-to-hebrews.html
The Epistle To The Hebrews Part 1: http://www.gracethrufaith.com/selah/spiritual-life/the-epistle-to-the-hebrews-part-1
The Five Warnings of Hebrews: www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=50
The Superiority of Christ - The Tragedy of Neglecting Salvation: www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/sg1604.htm
Off-Line Sources:

"Archaeological Study Bible", NIV Version - Zondervan Publishing House
"Cruden's Complete Concordance" - Zondervan Publishing House
Exploring Hebrews - John Phillips - Kregel Publications
"Life Application Study Bible" - New Living Translation version - Tyndale House Publishers
"The Companion Bible" by E. W. Bullinger - Zondervan Publishing House
"The Defender's Study Bible" -World Bible Publishers
The NIV Application Commentary - Hebrews - George H. Guthrie - Zondervan Publishing House
"Unger's Bible Dictionary" - Merrill F. Unger - Thomas Nelson Publishers
Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary - W. E. Vine - Thomas Nelson Publishers
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Sunday, December 2, 2007

Hebrews 1

  The intention of this epistle being to demonstrate the superior excellency of the Gospel revelation to the legal one, the apostle begins with the divine author of it, in which they both agree, and observes that in other things they differ. The revelation under the law was made in times past, the Gospel revelation in these last days; the former was made top the Jewish fathers that were of old, the latter to the then present apostles; the one was made at sundry times, and in divers manners, the other was made at once, and in one way; the one was made by the prophets of the Lord, the other by his own son (vv. 1,b2), and therefore the latter must be the more excellent; in proof of which the author enlarges on the character of the son of God, with respect to his person, office, and glory; showing that he is heir of all things, the Maker of the worlds, of the same nature and glory with his father; is omnipotent, and upholds all things by the word of his power; is the High-priest of his people, who has made satisfaction for their sins, and purged them from them, and is now at the right had of God (vv. 2, 3). He goes on to prove that he is more excellent than the angels, by a variety of arguments, and these supported by testimonies from the Scriptures; as that he has a more excellent name than any of them, being called the Son of God (vv. 4,5), which is proved from Psalm 2:7; 2 Samuel 7:12-16. that he is the object of the worship of angels (v. 6), which is required of them, Psalm 97:7. that he is their Maker and creator (v. 7), which appears from Psalm 104:4. that he has an everlasting kingdom, is a righteous king, and is richly anointed above his fellows (vv. 8, 9), which is the sense of some passages in Psalm 14:6,7, and that he is the founder and former of the heavens, and of the earth, and will endure when they shall not (vv. 10, 11, 12), which is confirmed by testimonies out of Psalm 102:25, 26, 27, that he sits at the right hand of God, where none of the angels were ever admitted, (v. 13), as is clear from Psalm 110. and besides, the angels, as they are ministers made by him, they are sent out from him to wait on his people, the heirs of salvation, and minister to them, and therefore he must be greater than they are (v. 14). - Commentary on Hebrews, by John Gill: www.pbministries.org/Landmark_Baptist/Seminary/Bible_Study_Courses/Hebrews/hebrews_chap01.htm


(1) Long ago *God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the **prophets.


*God: In the original Greek, the first word in Hebrews is "God" (Theos) as "Paul" is the first word in most of Paul's epistles.


**prophets: Acts 10:43: He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.”


   Notice how Hebrews starts as a sermon rather than a letter or epistle.


   Because of man’s limited ability to comprehend, God has chosen to reveal himself to humanity, little by little. He disclosed himself at times through the Law, and then again through Prophecy, Types, Shadows, Sacrifices, Visions, Dreams, Audible Voice, and Angels.


   God walked with Adam, but following Adam’s sin God’s communication with man was distant and sporadic. God would communicate with man, through representatives, who would make his will known. Abraham, Moses, and Joshua saw God appear in Human form. Daniel received messages through Gabriel, by dreams and visions. The method of revelation varied, some more direct then others. On Mt. Sinai, at the request of the children of Israel, God chose to speak through prophets, rather then direct to the people. Man’s sin broke the relationship between man and God. A sacrificial system was put in place to atone for sins, and to point to the ultimate fulfillment of sacrifice, the death of Messiah (Daniel 9:26, Isaiah 53. )


Deuteronomy 18:16,18: For this is what you yourselves requested of the Lord your God when you were assembled at Mount Sinai. You said, ‘Don’t let us hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore or see this blazing fire, for we will die.’ I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell the people everything I command him.


(2) And now in these *final days, he has spoken to us through ***his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an ***inheritance, and through the Son ****he created the universe.


*final days: Literally, “at the end of these days,” which may be understood to mean either:



  1. The closing of the Jewish period or age

  2. The period of the Messiah…this denotes the final phase of history, brought on by the first coming of Christ, continuing until his second coming and the consummation of all things.


Hebrews 9:26: If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.

1 Peter 1:20: God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.

1 Corinthians 10:11: These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.


**his Son: “Son of Elohim” is a title for the incumbent ruler of Israel in the royal line of Davidic kings. (Psalm 2:7; 1 Chronicles 22:10). God has sent His Son to speak for Him…as wonderful as the prophets were, how can they compare to God’s own Son?

Matthew 21:37: “Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’

Mark 9:7: Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son. Listen to him.”

John 1:14: So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

Galatians 4:4: But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.


***inheritance: The words of Calvin are important here: “If Christ is the heir of all good things, then we must be in Christ to receive an inheritance.” If we want to receive what God has desired for those children that He has created, we must be in saving relationship to Christ and that means trusting Him for our salvation. It means all the claims that He makes about Himself. It means believing on Him as our Lord and Savior and being brought into a walk of fellowship with Him whereby He saves us by grace. If we are in Him like that, then we are fellow heirs, Paul says in Ephesians. He says He becomes our brother, as if we along with Him become co-inheritors of the mansions in glory which God has been preparing from the foundations of the world. When there is only one son, there is only one heir. Christ is the heir of all things precisely because God has one Son and only one heir.


****he created the universe:

John 1:1-3: In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.

1 Corinthians 8:6: But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we live for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.

Colossians 1:16: for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.


(3) The Son *radiates God’s own **glory and expresses the ***very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our ****sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the *****right hand of the majestic God in heaven.


  According to oriental customs no monarch, seated on his throne, would invite anyone other than a fellow sovereign to sit at his right hand. God used this current language, with which the people were familiar, to convey the thought that the man Jesus of Nazareth was His equal.


*radiates God’s own glory: Literally, "Who being (existing as) the radiance of his glory". This radiance was perhaps reflected in Christ most fully before men on the mount of transfiguration. The active meaning has the idea of emitting brightness and the meaning is that shekinah glory of God radiated from Christ. Glory (doxa) refers to the brilliant radiancy from the person of God. Jesus is the very radiance of God’s glory.



* *glory:

Luke 9:32: Peter and the others had fallen asleep. When they woke up, they saw Jesus’ glory and the two men standing with him.

 John 1:14: So the Word became human (became flesh) and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

John 2:11: This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

 John 17:5: Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.

 Thessalonians 2:14: He called you to salvation when we told you the Good News; now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.


***very character: Greek charaktêr comes from charassô, to cut, to scratch, to mark. It was first used of the tool that did the marking, then of the mark or impress which it made, the exact reproduction. It was used of the ‘stamped out image’ on coins, and of the impression that was reproduced by seals and dies. It thus indicates an exact representation. No law or set of laws, no fasts, feasts or sacrifices, no prophet, no angel, not even Moses could be the exact image of God, except Christ. Literally, "the exact representation of his being". The very character and attributes of God’s existence were visibly, audibly, and physically expressed in the person of Jesus Christ, so that Jesus declared, “I and my Father are one,” one in nature and essence being and existence. The Son of God is, then, the revelation of the person of God.

An example is Joseph, to whom Pharaoh gave all power in the land of Egypt, with the single exception of the throne. Joseph was all-powerful. He had complete dominion over all of Egypt. The throne, that is the kingship, was the only thing kept from him. He could do anything Pharaoh could do with the one exception that he was not the king. He was Pharaoh's right hand man. Joseph is a type of Christ. He was anointed by the king of all of Egypt to be the governor of all the land.

This type is a picture of Christ, who sits upon the throne at the right hand of the Father. He is given all things and has all the power of the Father. He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent just as is the Father. The Son is the Second Person of the Godhead. There will always be the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. They will always be separate Persons, but One God. This is similar to Joseph, who had all the power of the king, but would never be the king. Jesus is always the Son and not the Father. But again, He is the exact Image of the Father. The Father is all powerful as is the Son

John 14:7,9: If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?

Colossians 1:15: Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,


****sins: Greek hamartia - failing to hit the mark.


*****right hand: To be seated at the right hand of a ruler or host meant occupying a place of high honor. The position itself was considered an indicator of the power and authority of the one holding it. Someone who sat at the king's right hand was the king's "right-hand man", as Joseph was to Pharaoh, as the one acting as the principal agent of the king's authority, through whom he carried out his most important work. In addition, sitting at the right hand was a statement of fellowship and favor between the central figure and the individual so honored.

Psalm 110:1: The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.”

Ephesians 1:19-20: ...the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.

 1 Peter 3:22: Now Christ has gone to heaven. He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers accept his authority.

Revelation 3:21: Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne.

Philippians 2:6: Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.


(4) This shows that the Son is far greater than the *angels, just as the **name God gave him is greater than their names.


*angels: Occurs 13 times in Hebrews. In Hebrew the angels are called, b'nai haElohim, which is translated sons of God. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God.


**name: The more excellent name is the “Son of God.”.

Isaiah 9:6: For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.


   Angels had an important place among both orthodox (e.g. the Pharisees) and unorthodox (the Essenes, etc.) Jews, as well as in the Gentile world (Colossians 2.18). They were seen as intermediaries and mediators, maintaining the separation of the awesome holiness of God from men. They were those through Whom God acted because He Himself was unapproachable. Others considered that there were hierarchies of them between God as pure spirit, and man as unworthy flesh, a descending order with a gradual lessening of deity as the lower ‘angels’ became less spirit-like. Through them men received ‘knowledge’ about God. Their mediation was seen as essential so that they had even been introduced into the idea of God’s dealings with Moses. In their view it had to be so. Thus the thought that Jesus as the Christ (Messiah) was in direct touch with God and reigned with Him as representative Man was awesome. It was a revelation of the fact that even in His Manhood He was superior to the angels. Who then, the writer will ask, could sensibly and rightly seek to come to God through angels, when a greater than the angels, Who is directly approachable, is here?


The Son Is Greater Than the Angels - He is the Son, they are ministers or messengers


(5) For God never said to any angel what he said to Jesus:

“You are my Son.

Today *I have become your Father.”

God also said,

“I will be his Father,

and he will be my Son.”


*I have become your Father: Or Today I reveal you as my Son.

Psalm 2:7: The king proclaims the Lord’s decree: “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son. Today I have become your Father.

Matthew 22:42-45: “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They replied, “He is the son of David.” Jesus responded, “Then why does David, speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit, call the Messiah ‘my Lord’? For David said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies beneath your feet. ’Since David called the Messiah ‘my Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?”

 Acts 13:33: and God has now fulfilled it for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus. This is what the second psalm says about Jesus: ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.

Romans 1:4: and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.


   God was speaking to David about Solomon, but the writer shows that the Messianic Son of David is in view, not just his biological son.


(6) And when he brought his firstborn Son into the world, God said,

“Let all of God’s *angels worship him.”


Deuteronomy 32:43: “Rejoice with him, you heavens, and let all of God’s angels worship him. Rejoice with his people, you nations, and let all the angels be strengthened in him. For he will avenge the blood of his servants; he will take revenge against his enemies. He will repay those who hate him and cleanse the land for his people.”


*angels: According to some Jewish writings, four archangels (Michael, Raphael, Gabriel and Phanuel) are always present before the throne of God. This means that Satan, as one of God's angels, was instructed to worship the Son.


(7) Regarding the angels, he says,

“He sends his angels like the winds,

his servants like flames of fire.”


Psalm 104:4: The winds are your messengers; flames of fire are your servants.


(8) But to the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever.

You rule with a scepter of justice.


Psalm 45:6-7: Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of justice. You love justice and hate evil. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.


John 18:36: Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”


(9) You love justice and hate evil.

Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you,

pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.”


Psalm 45:6-7: Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of justice. You love justice and hate evil. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.

 Acts 10:38: And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.


(10) He also says to the Son,

“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth

and made the heavens with your hands.


Psalm 102:25: Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands.

 John 1:3: God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.

Acts 17:22-24: So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.“He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples,

Colossians 1:16: for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.

 1 Corinthians 8:6: But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we live for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.


(11) They will perish, but you remain forever.

They will wear out like old clothing.


(12) You will fold them up like a cloak

and discard them like old clothing.

But you are always the same;

you will live forever.”


Psalm 102:25-27: Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands. They will perish, but you remain forever; they will wear out like old clothing. You will change them like a garment and discard them. But you are always the same; you will live forever.


(13) And God never said to any of the angels,

“Sit in the place of honor at my right hand

until I humble your *enemies,

making them a footstool under your feet.”


*enemies: Who are these enemies of God?


Ps 110:1: The Lord (YHWH), said to my Lord (Adonai), “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.”

 Matthew 22:44: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies beneath your feet.’

Matthew 26:64: Jesus replied, “You have said it. And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Romans 8:34: Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

 Revelation 5:13: And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: “Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever."


(14) Therefore, angels are only servants - spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.


Psalm 91:11-12: For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.

Mark 13:26-27: Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and glory. And he will send out his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the world—from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.

Galatians 3:19: Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people.

Galatians 1:8: Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you.

 Ephesians 1:19-21: ...the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come.

Colossians 2:18: Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud,

1 Peter 3:22: Now Christ has gone to heaven. He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers accept his authority.


   The notion that Jesus was an angel, as early gnosticism held and as the Jehovah's Witnesses still teach, is clearly refuted. While angels exist to minister to God's people, Jesus is the visible image of God. He was with God in the beginning and He is God. He became flesh and dwelt among us. God in human form. In a very forceful manner, the “writer” to the Hebrews has shown Jesus’ superiority to the angels. He has done so by showing Jesus to be the “Son” and not the angels. Jesus is the “firstborn” who receives worship; He is “God” enthroned and anointed; He “Lord” (Yahweh) who is the eternal Creator whereas angels are created spirits; and Jesus is “Sovereign,” reigning at God’s right hand. All of these things are attributed to Jesus and not to angels. While angels certainly have a special place in God’s plan for redeeming man, they are not the object of worship or adoration; only Jesus is worthy of such worship and adoration.


Revelation 5:11-12:
Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered— to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”



Angels are spiritual beings created by God to serve Him, though created higher than man. Some, the good angels, have remained obedient to Him and carry out His will, while others, fallen angels, disobeyed, fell from their holy position, and now stand in active opposition to the work and plan of God.



Angels are created beings.
The fact of their creation is brought out in Psalm 148. There the psalmist calls upon all in the celestial heavens, including the angels, to praise God. The reason given is, “For He commanded and they were created” (Ps. 148:1-5).
The time of their creation is never stated, however, we know they were created before the creation of the world. From the book of Job we are told that they were present when the earth was created (Job 38:4-7) so their creation was prior to the creation of the earth as described in Genesis one.
The agent of their creation is specifically stated to be Christ as the One who created all things (cf. John 1:1-3 with Col. 1:16).
They are nevertheless an innumerable host created before the creation of the earth (cf. Job. 38:7; Neh. 9:6; Ps 148:2, 5; Heb 12:22; Dan 7:10; Matt 26:53; Rev. 5:11; with Matt. 22:28-30; Luke 20:20-36).

Though at times they have been given the ability to reveal themselves in the form of human bodies as in Genesis 18:3, they are described as “spirits” in Hebrews 1:14. This suggests they do not have material bodies as we do. Hence, they do not function as human beings in terms of marriage and procreation (Mark 12:25) nor are they subject to death (Luke 20:36). Mankind, including our incarnate Lord, is “lower than the angels” (Heb. 2:7). Angels are not subject to the limitations of man, especially since they are incapable of death (Luke 20:36). Angels have greater wisdom than man (2 Sam. 14:20), yet it is limited (Matt. 24:36). Angels have greater power than man (Matt. 28:2; Acts 5:19; 2 Pet. 2:11), yet they are limited in power (Dan. 10:13).


Angels, however, have limitations compared to man, particularly in future relationships. Angels are not created in the image of God, therefore, they do not share man’s glorious destiny of redemption in Christ. At the consummation of the age, redeemed man will be exalted above angels (1 Cor. 6:3).8 This also means they are not omnipresent. They cannot be everywhere at once.


Originally all angelic creatures were created holy. God pronounced His creation good (Gen. 1:31), and, of course, He could not create sin. Even after sin entered the world, God’s good angels, who did not rebel against Him, are called holy (Mark 8:38). These are the elect angels (1 Tim. 5:21) in contrast to the evil angels who followed Satan in his rebellion against God (Matt. 25:41).9


They are not divine and are not to be worshipped (see Rev. 19:10; 22:9). As a separate order of creatures, they are both distinct from human beings and higher than humans with powers far beyond our abilities in this present age (1 Cor. 6:3; Heb. 1:14; 2:7). But as creatures they are limited in their powers, knowledge, and activities (1 Peter 1:11-12; Rev. 7:1). Like all of creation, angels are under God’s authority and subject to His judgment (1 Cor. 6:3; Matt. 25:41).


While all the angels were originally created holy and without sin, there was a rebellion by Satan, who, being lifted up by his own beauty, sought to exalt himself above God and rebelled. In his rebellion, he took with him one-third of the angels (Rev. 12:4). This rebellion and fall is probably described for us in Isaiah 14:12-14 and Ezekiel 28:15 embodied in the kings of Babylon and Tyre.


Prophesying of a future angelic conflict that will occur in the middle of the Tribulation, John wrote, “And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. And the dragon and his angels waged war” (Rev. 12:7). In other words, there are good angels and there are evil angels.


As is clear from Revelation 12:7 and many other passages, the leader of these fallen angels (or demons as they are also called) is Satan (cf. Matt. 12:25-27). Satan, the leader of unholy angels, is a liar, a murderer, and a thief (John 10:10). As God’s great antagonist, He hates God and God’s people. Scripture teaches us that he prowls about like a roaring lion in search of those whom he may devour by his nefarious schemes (1 Peter 5:8). As an angelic being, Satan, along with his demon-like angels who operate under his authority, is supernaturally powerful and brilliant, and he uses all his powers against humanity. Not only is he a liar, a thief, and a distorer, but that which characterizes him above all else is deception. John describes him as the one “who deceives the whole world” (John 12:9). In his cunning, he disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). So, in view of this, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness . . .” (2 Cor. 11:15).


The good and loyal angels are the mighty servants of God who constantly serve him always doing His will. The Psalmist described them as, “Bless the LORD, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word! Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, You who serve Him, doing His will” (Ps. 103:20-21). It is no wonder, then, that the author of Hebrews, in showing the superiority of Christ to even the mighty angels, asked (the question here demands a positive answer both in the Greek text and contextually), “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?” (Heb. 1:14). The answer is “Yes!” Though God can always act independently without the use of agents, He has chosen to use both angelic and human instruments to accomplish His will. In keeping with this, over and over again in the Bible, we find angels acting as God’s servants involved in variegated ministry to people.


That they are ministering spirits who minister to the saints is presented as a general truth of the Bible and should not be restricted to Bible times. Also, Scripture suggests that Michael, the archangel, is particularly involved in ministry to Israel. Concerning the reference to Michael in Daniel 10:13, Ryrie writes: Michael, which means “who is like God?” (v. 21; 12:1; Jude 9; Rev. 12:7), is the special guardian of the affairs of Israel (12:1) and is designated the archangel (Jude 9). One of the chief princes shows a hierarchy among the angels (cf. Eph. 1:21). I had been left there with the kings of Persia. The good angel (cf. vv. 5-6), with Michael’s help, was left in a place of preeminence in influencing Persia. But the battle between good and evil angels over the control of nations continues (see v. 20 and Rev. 20:3).


Throughout the Bible we find angels involved in communicating God’s truth or message as the Spirit of God directed them.This is, of course, is very much in keeping with the basic meaning of the word angel. Both the Hebrew word for angel (mal`ak,) and the Greek word (aggelos, pronounced angelos) mean “messenger.” In a number of passages we are told that angels were instruments God used to reveal His Word (cf. Acts 7:38, 53; Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2). But that is only half the story. Numbers of times they appeared to announce an important message. They announced the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus (Luke 1:11f, 26f; Matt. 1:20f). In the Tribulation, God will use them to announce key events (cf. Rev. 14:6). Today, however, God’s canon of Scripture, the Bible, is complete. Beware, therefore, of anyone claiming to have new revelation as given by an angel or of anyone claiming to be an angel with new revelation. Remember, Satan is a deceiver with his own angels of deceit promoting false doctrine (2 Cor. 11:1-4, 12-13; 1 Tim. 4:1).



- Angels, God’s Ministering Spirits: www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=711 - I suggest you go to this site and read several interesting stories where angels have indeed appeared to and assisted Christians.



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