HEBREWS 1:1-3
The challenge that faced the author of the book of Hebrews is that he was writing primarily to a group of Jewish converts who were suffering hardship and persecution as a result of their conversion…there were two well-known times of persecution for Christians during the first century.
…in A.D. 49, the Roman Emperor Claudius prohibited Roman Jews from meeting in synagogues then later expelled them all together from Rome
…then around A.D. 64, Emperor Nero initiated the first systematic state-sponsored persecution of Christians.
As we read through the book of Hebrews, it becomes evident that the original audience had already faced persecution in the past, some of them were suffering in the present, and the author’s expectation was that for most of them they would suffer even more in the future.
As a result, they were under intense pressure to turn away from Christ and return to Judaism to avoid further persecution…take the easy way so to speak.
In chapter 10 we are given a brief description of the kinds of issues these Christians were experiencing:
Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insults and persecution…you sympathized with those (Christians) in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property (Hebrews 10:33-34).
This type of suffering really doesn’t resonate with us in America…because it’s nonexistent…BUT… last year worldwide:
- Over 340 million Christians are living in places where they do experience high levels of persecution and discrimination.
- 4,761 Christians were killed last year for their faith
- 13 Christians are killed for their faith every day
- 4,488 churches and other Christian buildings were attacked
- 4,277 believers were detained without trial, sentenced or imprisoned
Because of the pressure to return to Judaism, the book of Hebrews compares and contrasts the superiority of Christianity over Judaism and the superiority of Christ over angels…the Torah…Moses…the Promised Land…priests…
Melchizedek…sacrifices…and the covenant…they were offered as a fulfillment of Biblical commandments.
The late Dr. Walter Martin, writer of the best-selling book Kingdom of the Cults, states the reason for the book of Hebrews…a book written by a Hebrew to other Hebrews telling the Hebrews to stop acting like Hebrews.
Here’s another issue regarding Christians in Rome…Jewish communities in the Roman Empire were free to observe their faith…in fact in most cases when Rome occupied a new territory, they would adopt the gods of that territory as part of their gods…and because Christianity was closely identified with Judaism early on, they allowed Christians to exercise their faith.
But as time passed because of Christianity’s view regarding Judaism… Christianity’s identification as a Jewish sect began to disappear.
In Acts it’s noted that Jewish synagogues began rejecting Christians even encouraging local authorities to mistreat them…in all likelihood, this was the kind of situation facing the original audience of Hebrews.
As a result…many of the early Jewish believers were slipping back into the rituals of Judaism in order to escape the mounting persecution not only from the government but from family as well…this letter is an exhortation…an encouragement to those believers to remain in their faith and to not fall away.
The goal of Hebrews was for at least three reasons:
…ONE…for the converts to reject local Jewish teachings
…TWO…to remain faithful to Jesus as the Messiah.
…THREE…to show the supremacy of Jesus over Judaism.
The Book of Hebrews begins with no mention of the author…therefore…we don’t know who wrote the book of Hebrews…many people have been credited as the author but in reality…no one knows.
In every book Paul wrote he starts off in the first verse giving his name…in every other New Testament book expect for John’s the authors start off by giving their name…so we’re pretty confident who the authors were of most New Testament books except Hebrews.
The author, whoever that was…was a master of the Greek language…in addition he was thoroughly acquainted with the Septuagint, which he regularly quotes. there are 29 quotations and 53 allusions to the Old Testament.
As a result…the theological arguments in Hebrews are more complex than many of those found in the rest of the New Testament.
Hebrews is a book deeply rooted in the Old Testament…the author spends the first ten and a half chapters of this thirteen-chapter book (1:1 – 10:18) emphasizing the superiority of Christ and the new covenant over Moses and the old covenant…he starts off establishing Jesus’ superiority in the first 3 verses.
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
In the opening verses the author highlights the supremacy of Jesus by establishing Him as:
… the Person who created the world
…the Person who is the exact representation of God
…the only Person able to make purification for sin
…the only Person qualified to sit at the right hand of God.
People know God because God has chosen to communicate with them…God spoke through two eras…first—He spoke to our fathers the prophets—secondly—He spoke to us by His Son—that is how we separate the Old and New Testaments.
The difference can be likened to the difference between receiving a letter in the mail about a visitor coming one day…and actually receiving that visitor on your doorstep.
In the first verse the writer states…Long ago at many times and in many ways… [πολυμερως και πολυτροπως] …A key feature both of Judaism and Christianity is God’s general revelation to humans through nature.
That is why people will be without excuse on Judgment day…God has spoken to humanity at many times and many ways…the cosmic eloquence of God is deafening.
The author begins by focusing on God’s methods of communication…He spoke to the fathers by piecemeal …giving portions of revelation at different times…in different ways to different people.
BUT…no one single person received all the information
—God spoke DIRECTLY to people as he did to Abraham (Gen. 12:1) and Moses (Ex. 3:5).
—God spoke to Jacob (Gen 31:10 and Nebuchadnezzar through DREAMS (Dan. 2:1)
—God spoke to Ezekiel (8:3 / 11:24 / 40:2) and Daniel (10:8) through VISIONS
—God sent ANGELS to deliver his message (Gen. 16:10-11).
—God spoke through the PROPHETS.
—God spoke through the TORAH.
But under the New Testament…He has spoken to us by His Son…God’s message is a consistent message…God spoke through the prophets in the Old Testament but now all is done by one person…Jesus fulfilled the prophets…God now speaks through Jesus…when Christ came, all was brought to perfection.
In the next verse the author gives support for the divinity of Jesus…introducing an idea which is fundamental to the Christian faith—Jesus is God— [v. 3] He is the exact representation of God…the exact imprint of his nature.
That is a powerful statement…the word we translate as the exact representation in verse 3 is the Greek word from which we get the English word character χαρακτὴρ (khar-ak-tare’).
Here’s the importance of that word…originally that word was used for a stamp to make an impression on a coin…with each coin looking the same…here meaning…Jesus is not some created being…not some form of angel…Jesus is not another God… He doesn’t resemble any other gods…Jesus is not from God…He is The God…He is the exact imprint of the nature of God.
BUT…at the same time…Jesus is distinct from God…God the Father sent Jesus the Son and the Son now sits next to the Father…giving further evidence of the Trinity…back to John 1:1…the Word was with God and the Word was God.
After establishing Jesus as God’s exact representation and heir of all things he reveals God’s purpose in sending Jesus to earth…having made purification for sins [3].
I want to share with you the intensity of that statement…some may be saying I’m not sure what that means…I think most people can make sense of it but I want to show you what that statement means in the Greek because it is such a powerful statement.
The words ‘’having made’ or ‘had made’ depending on the translation is one word in the Greek…it is an Aorist Participle middle voice verb…if you were a first century speaking Greek you would clearly understand the significance of that word.
Here’s what that means…the aorist tense indicates a once-for-all-time completed action as suggested by Jesus’s words on the Cross ‘it is finished’ [John 19:30].
The middle voice signifies that the subject…here Jesus…indicating He both initiated the action and participated in the results of the action…when Jesus made purification of sins, He did so by Himself…He willingly of His own accord went to the cross…offering Himself as the sacrifice for sin.
Then the word ‘purification’ indicates the act of separating and removing anything which is impure… it means cleansing from physical stain or contamination.
This word would have a much deeper meaning to a Jewish audience going clear back to the time of Aaron and the cleansing ritual on the Day of Atonement.
Here’s how I would explain the phrase having made purification for sins…the work of purification was done by Jesus personally…of His own free will…not something which He designated to be done by some other agent …it is a once and for all action that never needs to be repeated.
If you notice the writer sketches out a journey…following Jesus from death making purification for sins…to His reign with God…He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…a place that is above the angels.
Notice in [v 5] the writer establishes Christ’s superiority over all created beings …he begins by showing that Jesus was superior to angels…
To which of the angels did He ever say “You are My Son”
it was necessary to show the superiority of Christ over the angels, because the Jews regarded them as the most exalted of all God’s creatures.
The worship of angels was a problem in the early church…Paul condemns it [Col. 2:18] …it’s still a problem today…we like to imagine them as appearing as cute babies or little children…but there is no description given in the Bible of what they look like in their true form.
Ezekiel attempts to give a description of angels in his vision but the use of metaphors and analogies along with some Hebrew phrases makes it difficult to translate.
But angels can and do appear at times in human form…that is the way they are most often depicted on television and in movies…in human form…my all-time personal favorite angel is Clarence.
As harmless as that may seem…they have the potential to segue into a form of idolatry…some churches have statues of angels in their church…as Southern Baptists that is why we do not have statues of any kind in our churches…they have the potential to be viewed in an inappropriate manner.
Angels are:
—part of the created order…and not the creator (Colossians 1:16).
—God’s messengers (Heb. 1:14 / Rev 1:1).
—subject to judgment for wrongdoing (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6).
—Paul says that humans will judge angels (1 Corinthians 6:3).
—they deserve respect (1 Cor. 11:10; 1 Tim. 5:21) because in the created order, people were created “a little lower than the angels” (2:7, 9) but Christ is far superior to angels (1:4-13; 1 Peter 3:22).
—To worship angels is prohibited in the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 2:3; Matthew 4:10).
That is why right up front the writer of Hebrews establishes that God…the first word in verse one…then immediately points out that Jesus is not an angel or any other created being because He has been appointed heir of all things, something God would never delegate to an angel.
That as heir He didn’t pre-exist as a spirit child as Mormons suggest…or as the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Paul’s statement in Colossians 1:15 that He is the “firstborn of all creation” means that Jesus was a created being…or that He is separate from God the Father or the Holy Spirit.
This was an especially important distinction to make because the common Jewish thought was that angels would rule the world one day.
The author of Hebrews responded to this local Jewish teaching by demonstrating from the Old Testament, and from Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, ascension, and His return in glory, that he is actually superior to the angels.
It was imperative to show that Jesus has been exalted above them both in power and authority…so he quotes from the Old Testament to give evidence to support this.
Let all the angels of God worship Him (6)
To which of the angels has He ever said sit at My right hand (13)
Jesus…the Promised One is given descriptions which cannot match any angel… in chapter 1 which is mostly made up of Old Testament quotations…he quotes from Psalm 2:7 and 2 Samuel 7:14 for two purposes:
FIRST…as evidence to prove that Jesus is above and beyond any angel or any other created thing.
SECOND…using these Old Testament verses to reveal the warning and danger of rejecting Jesus.
So, what’s the application for me…a book written to encourage Jewish Christians living 2000 years ago…how does that affect me?
For most American church goers, they see no relevance of this book to their current status… other than Jesus is God’s Son who did make purification for our sins…BUT…for those 340 million Christians around the world who are experiencing persecution and discrimination it’s very applicable.
I think if we were all honest with ourselves, we’d see Hebrews is speaking to us as well…for many Christians living in America they do have the same fears as those first century Christians…asking the same questions that relate to their life.
Do you see me Lord? …Do You know what is going on? …Do You even hear what I’m saying? …Do You care about what’s going on in my life? …Are You blind to all I’m facing? …if You do care why the silence?
On a less severe level…I doubt there’s a person in this room who at some time in their life has not asked those same questions…So…is Hebrews is applicable to me…yes it is.
This morning you may be going through a season of rejection, loss, grief, or uncertainty…there is good news…God’s faithfulness will never waver.
Things will happen in our lives that are out of our control…despite how you may feel or the circumstances that you are in we have God’s promises that:
1) God is not blind to our circumstances.
2) God has been faithful before, and He will be faithful again.