Sunday Night Bible Study Hebrews 1:1-14 January 2, 1994 Hebrews 1:1-14 Hebrews Introductory material Who wrote the letter? It's unknown. Many favor Paul. There are some similarities to other of Paul's writings. But: It isn't introduced like Paul's other letters, which mention him as the author. The style of Greek used in Hebrews is more polished than Paul's usage of Greek. Paul used both the Hebrew and Septuagint versions of the Old Testament when he quoted scripture, the book of Hebrews uses the Septuagint version exclusively. Other possibilities: Barnabas Paul's traveling companion during the early missionary journeys. He was considered an apostle. The ancient historian Tertullian quoted from Hebrews and said it was written by Barnabas. He was a Levite (Acts 4:36) and hence would have had good knowledge of the Jewish sacrificial system. Luke, Clement of Rome, Silvanus (Silas), Philip, Priscilla Apollos He was the one who reasoned powerfully with the Jews. ACT 18:24-28 Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. 25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; 26 and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 27 And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he helped greatly those who had believed through grace; 28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. The ancient writer Origen said, "Only God knows who wrote Hebrews". I'll probably just refer to "the writer of Hebrews..." (take the easy way out!) When was it written? Clement of Rome quotes Hebrews in A.D. 95. The book does not mention the end of the Old Testament sacrificial system which occured in A.D.70 when Jerusalem was destroyed. Timothy was apparently still alive (13:23) This suggests the book was written between A.D. 64 and 68 Who was it written to? Jewish Believers The book is filled with Judaism. It expects the readers to be well acquainted with the Jewish form of worship and sacrifice. Jewish believers who were undergoing persecution. They wanted to leave Christianity and go back to Judaism in order to escape persecution. They are exhorted to stay with Jesus! What's the main theme? Jesus is better! He's better than the prophets, the angels, Moses, the Aaronic Priesthood, and the Law. :1-4 A Magnificent Son Text HEB 1:1-4 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in {His} Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; 4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. :1 in many portions The Old Testament revelation came at different times and in various stages, a progressive revelation of God to men. :2 and in many ways God spoke to the prophets by dreams, visions, by direct voice, and by signs to different men. :2 has spoken to us Aorist indicative, a point of time, as contrasted with aorist participle in verse one suggesting a continuous action. God had been speaking, speaking, speaking, and then, BOOM, He Has Spoken (as in once and for all...) A final and full revelation of God is in Jesus. All that the prophets had been talking about was leading up to Jesus. Nine Things About Our Jesus: :2 whom He appointed heir of all things Jesus told a parable about a king sending servants to collect from the vine growers, finally sending the son. MAR 12:6 "He had one more {to send,} a beloved son; he sent him last {of all} to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' Jesus is that Son, and He has been appointed the heir of all God's creation. MAT 11:27 "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son, except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal {Him.} MAT 28:18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. God has not appointed Jesus as one of many heirs. He is THE HEIR. :2 through whom also He made the world Who is this Jesus? Is He just another guy who appeared on this earth two thousand years ago, lived a good life, said a few good things, and then died? No! Jesus happened to be around at the Creation of the world. JOH 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. GEN 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God is Elohim, plural of El, not dual. GEN 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Let Us? Does this affect my life? Just how big is your God? Who do you worship? PRO 18:10 The name of the \Lord\ is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe. If Jesus is just another nice guy, he doesn't give me much protection. PSA 46:1-3 (For the choir director. {A Psalm} of the sons of Korah, set to Alamoth. A Song.) God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; 3 Though its waters roar {and} foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah. :3 He is the radiance of His glory The greek word (apaugasma) speaks of great light (radiance), such as daylight, brightness. When you think of God's glory, God's shining-ness, think of Jesus. God dwells in unapproachable light. 1TI 6:16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see. To Him {be} honor and eternal dominion! Amen. Jesus is that light. When you think of God and His glory, You must think of Jesus. How does this affect me? JOH 3:16-21 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him. 18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 "And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil. 20 "For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 "But he who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." Because Jesus is the radiance of God's glory, when you come to Him, you are coming into bright light. Bright light exposes things. Things you don't see in dark places become evident in the light. If my son has a splinter in his finger and needs Daddy to take it out, I need to get his finger into the light so I can see to remove it. Coming to Jesus means that you're going to be having things exposed in your life, that He's going to be revealing things in your life. :3 the exact representation of His nature exact representation: "character". It was used of the engraving tool to make pictures with, but was later used to describe the picture, or, exact representation itself. nature: "hupostasis". It means support of substance, it is used of the foundation under a building. Jesus is a duplicate of God's very essence. Jesus is made of "God-stuff-ness". Any cult who wishes to say that Jesus is anything less than God is going to have a hard time with this verse, let alone this entire passage. What does this mean to me? If you want to know God, then get to know Jesus. JOH 14:6-11 Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me. 7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him." 8 Philip *said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." 9 Jesus *said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and {yet} you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 11 "Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves. If you're looking for God, then look no further. Find Jesus. If you want to know God deeper, then get to know Jesus deeper. :3 upholds all things by the word of His power Note: It's by the word of His power that He keeps things together, not the power of His word. We could get off into a tangent talking about the power of His Word, but the idea here is that just the word of His power is enough to hold all things together. COL 1:17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Scientists have been wondering for a long time what holds the nucleus of an atom together. It's really quite simple you see. I think that one day the Lord is going to "let go". 2PE 3:10-13 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. How does this apply to me? Ever feel like your life is coming apart? If Jesus can hold all things together with the word of His power, do you think He can hold your life together? Go to Jesus! :3 He had made purifications of sins katharidzo: a cleansing, purification, a "katharsis". We're going to deal with this much more in Hebrews as we go along. Jesus has paid for your sins. He's made it possible for you to be clean! :3 He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high It's the picture of a formal and dignified act. Jesus is resuming his original dignity and glory JOH 17:5 "And now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. Jesus is here pictured as King Messiah seated at the right hand of God. the right hand is the place of power and dignity. :4 having become as much better than the angels It's not that Jesus hasn't always been better than the angels. Some teach that Jesus is simply the archangel Michael from the Old Testament (JW's) It's that for a while He made himself lower than the angels. In God's economy, the order of ranking of all is: God, angels, man, animals PHI 2:3-11 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; 4 do not {merely} look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, {and} being made in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus \every knee should bow,\ of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Now that God has exalted Jesus, He's not just better than man, He's better than the angels as well. :4 He has inherited a more excellent name than they (angels) We've seen such in Phil. 2:5-11 Much more detail on this is given in verses :5-14 Application Let's Worship Him! :5-14 Better than the Angels