Hebrews Chapter 1 Christ is Superior.....
Hebrews 1:1-2a
In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He as spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.
Verses 1-2a God’s Communication Now Is Better and Greater Than Before
He means to connect with us. There is a God who speaks that we might know him and love him and live in joyful obedience to him. Jesus not only fulfilled the prophecies foretold in the Old Testament but He is better than than everything in the Jewish system of thought and practices. God used many approaches to send His message to people. He spoke to Isaiah in visions, Jacob in dreams and Abraham and Moses personally. But most astonishing, God revealed Himself by speaking through His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the fulfillment and culmination of God's revelation through the centuries. When we know Him, we have all we need to be saved from our sin and to have a perfect relationship with God. Christ is superior because........ God has not just spoken by inspiring prophets and apostles. He has spoken by coming to us in the person of his Son. Who Jesus was, what He said, and what He accomplished by dying and rising from the dead is God’s Word (logos) to us. |
God has chosen to reveal Himself to man.
It is important to understand that if God had not chosen to reveal Himself, no one could know Him. Jesus is the LOGOS John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. |
We should not look for or expect any new revelation from God after the completion of the NT, Jesus is the fulfillment and culmination of God’s revelation through the centuries. When we know Him, we have all we need to be saved from our sin and to have a perfect relationship with God.
Our study of these areas should lead us to know Christ better and to submit more completely to Him.
- God’s revelation in the OT was progressive. All of it was true (all of it was from God) but it was incomplete….it could never bring us to ultimate revelation or else there would have been no need for His final and complete revelation in His Son.
- The picture continued to grow more clear but it was not complete until Jesus Christ was revealed to us.
- To understand the OT correctly, we must view it through the completed revelation of the NT.
- We must understand the OT to be looking forward to fulfillment in Jesus.
- The NT shows us how He is the complete and final revelation of God to us.
- The OT voices merge into one voice….the voice of the Son. The OT law is our tutor to bring us to Christ (Gal 3:24)
- Many OT prophecies point ahead to Him. All of this implies that if you do not read and study the OT, you will miss much that God is saying to you.
We should not look for or expect any new revelation from God after the completion of the NT, Jesus is the fulfillment and culmination of God’s revelation through the centuries. When we know Him, we have all we need to be saved from our sin and to have a perfect relationship with God.
Our study of these areas should lead us to know Christ better and to submit more completely to Him.
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God speaks still speaks to us today. Are you a good steward of His word? Are you careful to hear Him and listen?
Luke 8: 17-18 For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed and nothing concealed that will not be known and illuminated. Pay attention, therefore, to how you listen. Whoever has will be given more, but whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.
Luke 8: 17-18 For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed and nothing concealed that will not be known and illuminated. Pay attention, therefore, to how you listen. Whoever has will be given more, but whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.
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Hebrews 1:2b-3 “….whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory, and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word"
Jesus is the heir of ALL things!
Another way that the speaking of God in these last days is better than in the former days is that the Son in whom he speaks has been appointed heir of all things. He is looking into the future as far as the eye of man can see. The one we listen to, Jesus, the Son of God, can make good on all that he promises. Why? Because he is the heir of all things. He has at his disposal all things. When you listen to the Son of God, it is different from listening to a prophet. God will make good on the word of the prophets. But the Son will make good on His own word. |
How then is he “appointed” heir of all?
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Through whom He made the universe
All things were made through him. Christ stands as the end of the future as He is also at the beginning of the past, for He is the Creator of the worlds. |
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He is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of [God’s] nature.
The point of those words is to warn us against the mistake that other worldviews who have denied His deity. Jesus is the unique image of God’s divine glory and bears the very stamp of his divine nature. If gazing on beautiful scenery causes us to rejoice in our glorious Creator, then gazing on the Lord Jesus Christ should cause us to worship even more so. Creation reveals God’s “invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature” (Rom. 1:20). But God’s Son is “the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Heb. 1:3). How do you gaze on Jesus? (hint: Jesus is the Word. Why do satisfy ourselves by listening to others talk about the Word rather than digging into it ourselves. That is like choosing to gaze at things by looking at a reflection in a mirror (which may be distorted) rather than going to the source ourselves. This One – the Son – is He who radiates the glory of God, and yet this glory does not force men to keep their distance (as was the case in the Old Testament – referring to Moses and the glory of God); it beckons men, women and children to draw near, as so many have done.
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When the Son of God took on human flesh at His incarnation, He manifested God’s glory to men. Thus John could write:
And what glory He now displays from heaven: I turned to see whose voice was speaking to me, and when I did so, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man. He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet and he wore a wide golden belt around his chest. His head and hair were as white as wool, even as white as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His face shone like the sun shining at full strength. When I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead, but he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last, and the one who lives! I was dead, but look, now I am alive – forever and ever – and I hold the keys of death and of Hades! Therefore write what you saw, what is, and what will be after these things (Revelation 1:12-19). |
The Son upholds all things by His powerful Word.
In the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, we read the repeated statement, “Then God said, ‘Let there be . . . .’” We know that God spoke a word, calling all creation to order. What God starts, God sustains. And so it is that we know that just as our Lord was the One through whom God made the universe,so He is the One who sustains it: For all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him. He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him (Colossians 1:16-17). |
He IS bearing all things (sustaining through completion) through His word (rhema)
He can make good on his word because he is God, because he is Creator, and because he is the Triumphant Heir over all evil and misery. This is a better word than anything the prophets ever spoke in many ways in the Old Testament. |
Hebrews 1:3b “After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
word (rhema)
He provided purification for sins
The first major event after creation is the fall of mankind. Sin enters the world, along with its deadly consequences. The Old Testament law and the sacrificial system did not solve the sin problem; it merely served to put off the consequences until a permanent solution arrived. It was the Son of God who removed sin once for all |
Together verses 1 thru 3 reveal the threefold office of Christ as God’s Prophet, revealing His final word; God’s Priest, who made purification for our sins; and God’s King, who is enthroned at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Jesus is Redeemer as well as Lord over the nations in His kingdom. |
The Son sat down at the Father’s right hand.
It is only after our Lord accomplished cleansing for sins that He sat down. That is because He had finished His work of cleansing sins. But the author wants us to know more than just that the Son sat down. He wants us to take note of where the Son was seated – at the right hand of the Father. |
What is the significance of the right hand?
The right hand is the hand of power. The right hand of God is the place of access and intercession. It is at the right hand of the Father that the Son will await the Father’s indication that it is time for the Son to subdue His enemies and assume His throne. |
Hebrews 1: 4-5 “So He became as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is superior to theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my son! Today I have fathered you”? And in another place he says, “I will be his father and he will be my son.”
Superiority to the angels
Christ is superior to the angels for everything that has already been presented. As the subsequent verses attest to; the name He has inherited is “Son of God” See page 21- 23 from Harper’s study: Now the New Testament writers use the Old Testament See page 24- the superiority of Jesus over angels Make note on Roman heresy of dualism |
Hebrews 2:1-4 “Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken through angels proved to be so firm that every violation or disobedience received its just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, while God confirmed their witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”
Who is the author addressing?
Knowing if the author is addressing believers or non-believers is a significant issue to understanding the context of this verse. Based on a cursory look at commentary that considers both options as possibilities, it seems most reasonable that the author is addressing either believers in general or to the members of a particular church, a few of whom might be unsaved or whom might be very immature in their faith. It is possible that there may be an unbeliever or ore in the group, but by and large, the recipients of the letter are believers. SEE reasons for supporting this conclusion. |
Life Application Notes: (Assuming the author was addressing believers) is calling his readers to pay attention to the truth they had heard so that they wouldn't drift away into false teachings.
I think it is also possible that the author is addressing Jewish believers that are either being persecuted for not following their Jewish traditions or have found it easy to slip back into comfortable practices. This aligns most with the idea of "drifting" rather than "rejecting" which would be more abrupt. |
The danger of drifting
“Therefore” looks back to chapter 1. The author is tying this exhortation to what he has just said: “Therefore, since God has spoken finally and fully in His Son, who is vastly superior to any other being, we should listen most carefully to what He has said.” There are two reasons why this message is particularly valid and important for us to pay attention. First, the author shows the severe consequences for Israelites who disregarded the requirements of the Law of Moses. And then the author reasons that neglecting the later and fuller revelation of God in Christ is even more dangerous. ** start here and incorporate/merge notes First: In comparing to the law of Moses. It is stating that the original law had validity and those to whom it was given found that it was absolutely true in experience. The confirmation of this was the testimony of Israel’s history. Here is a race of people, the Jews, to whom the law was specifically given. There is not people on the face of the earth who show a more consistent pattern of cause and effect than this people. Wherever they have gone in obedience there has been blessing in disobedience there has been cursing. If the law (spoken by angels [see also Deut 33:2; Acts 7:38, 53; Galatians 3:19) had that effect , how much more should we value the words that come by the Son? Second, this message has been spoken by the Lord. What Jesus Christ has to say is the most authoritative word the world has ever heard. This message did not originate with the apostles, it did not come to us by means of prophets, it came through the Lord Himself. He spoke it. (R.Stedman) Also, greater revelation imposes greater responsibility. If the Jews under the Law were punished for their disobedience, how much more will we come under God's judgment if we associate with God's people, but turn our backs on the great salvation that is offered through the death of God's own Son? (S. Cole) Furthermore, the message was confirmed by
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The value of listening well!
The problem is not a new one. How many Old Testament saints failed to finish well, falling to one kind of evil or another? I believe that when the author of Hebrews warns us of the danger of “drifting,” he is speaking of the same problem. This is a danger that every Christian faces, and thus we would do well – as our text exhorts us – to listen more carefully to the message that God has for us in the person and work of His Son. As our text urges us, let us listen well to the Word of God, lest we drift into dangerous waters. (Bible Org B.D.) What does it mean to "drift away"?
Considering the initial exhortation, “Therefore, we must pay more careful attention (pointing back to chapter 1); the problem that the author calls “drifting away” must be associated with not paying sufficient attention to God’s Word, and also with “neglecting so great a salvation”. The Greek word used here is Pararreó (G3901) and it denotes gradually and slowly drifting past a destination, pushed along by a current. This word only occurs Heb 2:1 where it refers to going spiritually adrift – "sinning by slipping away" (from God's anchor) and how believers can move away from our moorings in Christ. If we aren’t careful to pay attention to Christ and His word, we are being warned that there is a powerful current that is actively working to pull us away from Him. So, the danger is that Christians may drift from their dependence upon the nourishment of His Word, and by this neglect, put themselves in danger. |
What does it mean "to neglect such a great salvation"?
In context, this seems to be referring to neglecting the message of salvation offered. To neglect means to have careless disregard. The Greek word uses means to be "without concern, unaffected. Viewing something as being without significance or perceived value". This seems to be pertaining to someone who has heard the gospel but is not affected by the message. There is no change in their lives because they either have totally disregarded the message that they have heard or has not submitted their life to the message of the cross. Sinning against the gospel is neglect of this great salvation; it shows contempt (intentional or unintentional] of the saving grace of God in Christ, making light of it, not caring for it. (Matthew Henry) [When we do not fearfully desire to seek what it is that we are to be obedient to; it seems that we, at best, take for granted the grace provided to us and, at worst, do not see the need to desire to know that which pleases God.] The author does not specify here what we would face if we neglect this salvation. This point must be held in tension as we read further throughout the letter (ie 10:28 states "if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left". One of the mistaken ideas that the author confronts is what we could call "the myth of the carnal Christian". But one problem is that it gives false assurance to the person who says "I believe in Jesus as my Savior, so I am going to heaven. But I am not submitting to Him as my Lord.". According to the author, either you are holding fast to your confession of faith in Christ and are striving against sin, or you are drifting spiritually and are in danger of frightening judgment. True believers may drift and may get entangled in sin; but when they are confronted with the truth, they will turn from their sin and pursue holiness. If they do not turn from it, they have no basis for assurance of salvation. The longer they continue in sin, the more reasons they have to question whether their profession of faith was genuine. [What is critical is not whether we can say that they weren't really saved to begin with but at that pivotal point when they are confronted with their sin....do they repent knowing that God is faithful to forgive or allow their heart to become hardened and justify their choices and behaviors]. But no one has the option of saying, "I'm just a carnal Christian. I'm living for this world now, but when I die I'll go to heaven." That option does not exist. (S. Cole). [What about having a disregard for God's word? Is ignorance an excuse? How can it be when Christ gave His life for our salvation and the Apostles gave their lives to ensure that the good news of the gospel was proclaimed. And what about the many who gave their lives also simply for ensuring that the Gospel was recorded correctly and put into the hands of the common people? How contemptuous to take something that cost so many their lives for granted simply because we cannot find or take the time to prayerfully read and meditate upon the truths revealed through Christ.] |
Why is this referred to as such a “great” salvation?
The salvation offered by Christ is indescribably great. (S. Cole) So what just are the consequences of neglecting this salvation? Some commentators suggest that this means the loss of salvation. While others disagree that salvation could not be lost and that the author must be speaking of something else. The fact is, the author does not explain the consequences so, as readers, we must hold this in tension and consider the warning in context with other scriptures. Regardless, we know that the consequences are serious and must be taken seriously for even Moses was kept from entering the promised land because of his disobedience and irreverence. Ray Stedmen had this to say: To the Christian, the writer is saying it is not enough that we know Jesus Christ. We must use the resources we have in Him. We can lose so much, even knowing Him, unless there is a day-by-day walk with Him. We lose peace and freedom and joy and achievement. We are subjected to temptation, frustration, bewilderment without Him. And if we do not go on as Christians, if we do not grow, a serious question is raised: Have we ever really begun the Christian life? Or is this but a self-deceptive fraud, attempted in order to meet outward standards but without any inward change in the heart. |