Two questions

1. How could Jesus be superior to angels if He became man?
2. How could Jesus be superior to angels if He died?
In the remainder of Hebrews 2 the author uses various Scripture references to show that He was superior. In particular he quotes Psalm 8. He shows how Jesus though He was made lower than the angels He was crowned with glory and honour. He goes on to show that it was necessary that He died so that we could be redeemed.

Jesus Superior to All.

In this section the author shows us that Jesus is superior to the angels because He is God. He has a superior relationship because He is the Son of God. He is superior because He is worshipped by the angels and you only worship One who is greater. He is superior because He is the creator and the angels are created beings. But He is also greater than the angels in His destiny. There never was or never will be an angel to whom God will say what He said to His Son, “Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

To prove his argument the author quotes from the Old Testament. Most of the quotations are from the Psalms but he also quotes from the prophet Isaiah. His use of Scripture proves that the Old Testament is relevant and authoritative and that it applies to Christians. It also proves that the words of the Old Testament are not merely human utterances but that they are the very words of God. Finally, it shows that we can see in the Old Testament, as we study it in the light of the New Testament, a meaning and significance in its references to Christ that could not have been understood by the readers before the time of Christ.

Today we have many people who claim that they have a further word from the Lord for today. Though it is difficult to argue against these people there is one thing that we can do, we can search the Scriptures to see if their message is in line with Scripture. When Jesus Christ came He was God’s final word to man. We do not need any further revelation but what we do need is more of Jesus. When Paul went to Berea the people heard his message and they went home and checked it out with Scripture. We need to follow their example. The reason why so many people are misled today is because they don’t know their Bibles.

Better than angels

Have you ever encountered an angel? Sometimes I think we do but they are in disguise. For example, once when I was driving to Toronto on a Sunday evening the power steering quit on the car. I opened the hood and saw that the belt was off so I grabbed a wrench and put it back on. A few minutes later it was off again. As I stood looking at the car an old Ford pickup pulled in behind me. The driver said he could help me and took me to a service centre where he called a friend of his who had a garage and a tow truck. In short the friend was able to fix my car but before I was on my way the other man phoned to see if I was okay and said that he could help me by finding me a place to stay that night if I needed one. He didn't look like an angel but he acted like one. We often think of angels as being very powerful and awesome but there is one who is greater than any angel and that is the Son, Jesus Christ.

Revelation not Communication

Oswald Chambers says, "The Bible is not a book containing communications from God; it is God's revelation of Himself , in the interests of grace, God's giving of Himself in the limitations of words." He goes on to say, "The Bible does not test experience, it tests truth."

Mom and Angels

One day about 25 years ago our Pastor and I went to see mom who had just been admitted to the hospital. As we talked to her she asked us if we had seen the two little children that had been to visit her. When we told her that we hadn't she said that they had left just before we arrived. Children were not allowed in that part of the hospital. We questioned mom some more about the children and she told us that they had just sat in the chair together and never said anything. Pastor Bob asked her if they made her upset and she said "Oh no, they were there to comfort me." It was then we realized that they were angels sent to bring a frightened and sick but godly lady comfort in her time of need.
As great as angel may be there is one that is greater and that is the Son. The writer of Hebrews takes time to show that the Son is superior to angels in every way.

Our Superlative Saviour

As you read the book of Hebrews you cannot help but notice that this is an epistle of “better things”. In the first chapter we see Jesus as the better messenger; in chapters one and two we see that Jesus is better than the angels; in chapter 3 we see Jesus as better than Moses; and so the epistle continues showing Jesus as better than Judaism in every way. One thing we must notice though is that Jesus did not provide a better salvation for He is the only salvation. When Abraham was justified he was justified in the same way we are justified today. He was justified by the grace of God. Salvation is and has always been by grace alone.

As one approaches the book of Hebrews one cannot help but think of Moses as he approached the burning bush and we feel that we should take the shoes off our feet for the place where we are standing is holy ground.

Take time to read through the first nine chapters of Hebrews and take note of how the author shows that Jesus is “better”.

It is here

I have put together a study booklet for the book of Hebrews. Many people have helped with this book and my prayer is that it will be useful in our study of the Epistle to the Hebrews. I will add more about it later. Inside there are stories, prayers, background material and questions. It even includes a wonderful but heart breaking story from a fellow believer who suffered real persecution for his faith. I want to say thank you to all who helped put this together.

Incomplete

Someone once said that the New Testament was in the Old Testament concealed while the Old Testament was in the New Testament revealed. While that is true the one fact is that the Old Testament is incomplete without the New Testament. The Old Testament is about Jesus Christ but He is not revealed until the New Testament. What is the point of the Old Testament without Jesus Christ being revealed.

The Race Set Before Us.

I have just finished reading Thomas Schriener's and Ardel Canaday's book called The Race Set Before Us. This book was recommended to me by my son when we were talking about the warnings in the book of Hebrews. It certainly helped me understand the warnings better. I knew that the warnings were written to Christians but I found it hard to understand how these warnings fit with the reality that God will keep those who are His. This book answers that question.

Losing Faith

Do people really lose faith in God? Many people who lose faith do so because they had faith in faith rather than in God and then they lose their belief in their beliefs. The book of Hebrews will challenge our belief in our beliefs but if we trust the Scriptures then we can grow in our faith in God.

The Son

The first verses of Hebrews talks about the Son. It reveals a great deal about Him. He is the heir of all things, He is the creator of everything, He is the revealer of God, He is the sustainer of all things, He is the redeemer, He is the ruler and He is supreme. The book of Hebrews is about Jesus Christ. In fact all Scripture is about Him. The writer of Hebrews will make that clear in his opening arguments as he quotes Scripture to show that Jesus is supreme.

Discovering God

I just did a google search using the words "discovering God" and it turned up over a million hits. One I looked at the writer said that he had recently discovered God. He said it was no revelation or epiphany but he just figured things out. Then he went on to say that "God is a creature of the human imagination". Other sights talked about science discovering God or philosophy or ...
God cannot be discovered. He reveals Himself. You cannot do a scientific experiment and find God. You cannot find God by reason. God reveals Himself. Hebrews 1:1 says that God spoke to the prophets. They didn't discover God or God's will for the people, God revealed His will and Himself to them.

No Proof Needed

Hebrews, like Genesis, begins with the fact that God exists. No where in Scripture is there any attempt to prove the existence of God. The existence of God is like knowing the sun has risen. Even when we cannot see the sun we know that it has risen because we can see by it. Even when we cannot see God we know He exists because He enlightens our hearts and our minds. I don't have to see the sun to know that it exists. I don't have to have proof of God to know He exists. The evidence is clear.

Consistent to what?

What are you consistent to, your convictions or to Christ. If we are consistent to our convictions we may try to bring others to those same convictions. You cannot persuade people to believe in God but you may be able to make them believe in God's standard. What good is that? They may be better people, living a better life but they are still far from God. Have you ever wondered why some people can come to church, hear the Gospel and never make a commitment? We need to pray that God the Holy Spirit would convict them.

Let us ...

One of the key phrases used in the book of Hebrews is "Let us..." The theme seems to be "let us go on" but it might be better translated "let us be carried on." A safeguard against degeneration, isolation and consequential failure is to keep on. Does that sound like works righteousness? Why is it that we need to keep pressing on or we will drift? How quickly we lose our zeal if we do not do all things with diligence. Let me make one observation. Those that keep pressing on do it because they have a heart for God. It is not to earn righteous standing but because they understand the righteous standing that they press on. Those that drift often lack the commitment that they are called to.

Ask the right question

I was a teacher of Mathematics and I learned very quickly to move the lesson to the right conclusion you had to ask the right questions. Many teachers have been sidetracked because they asked the wrong question.
When it comes to the study of Hebrews it is important to ask the right question. Though the question, "Were the recipients of the letter Christians or non-Christians?" is an important question it is not the right question for interpretation of the difficult passages. I think the right question should be, "What is the author's intention?" We may not like the answer we get when we ask the right question but it avoids the problems I talked about yesterday.

Exegesis or Eisegesis

Two Greek words that are important in the study of any book of the Bible and are especially important for the book of Hebrews.
Exegesis means "to lead out" while eisegesis means "to read into". When we read and study the book of Hebrews it is easy for us to read into the text what we believe rather than allowing the Scripture to say what it means.
Exegesis is an attempt to discover the meaning of the text objectively, starting with the text and moving out from there. Eisegesis is to import as subjective, preconceived meaning into the text. I think this is why there is so much confusion around the warnings in the book of Hebrews. We want it to say what we believe but whatever you believe it challenges your beliefs.

Who Wrote Hebrews?

Who wrote the book of Hebrews? Many people have tried to answer that question but as Origen said, “Who wrote the book of Hebrews? Only God knows.” Many names have been suggested including Paul, Appolos, Luke, Priscilla, Barnabas, Silas and many others. Some have suggested that Paul wrote the letter in Hebrew and Luke translated it into Greek. Whoever wrote it was an educated person as it is written in excellent Greek. He was not an immediate disciple of the Lord but was well versed in the Old Testament scriptures. The author was most likely a Jew and a personal friend of Timothy. Though we don’t know for certain who wrote this epistle the original readers certainly knew who had written this letter to them. God the Holy Spirit has not chosen to reveal to us the author and though we don’t know why we can say one thing; the Holy Spirit wants us to turn our eyes away from any earthly minister and turn to “the Author and Finisher of our faith.” As we read this letter we should see Jesus.

Many people have believed that Paul was the author and some of their arguments are very convincing. I would like to give you some of the arguments that they present but before I do that I would like to give you some of the arguments against a Pauline authorship.

If this letter was written by Paul then it is the only letter that he wrote anonymously. That was not characteristic of Paul. In all of his letters that we know are his, he identifies himself as the author as well as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Another argument is that many Pauline characteristics are missing in this letter and the language is different.

These arguments can easily be discredited. This letter was written anonymously because of the people to whom it was written. They were Jews rather than Gentiles and Paul certainly would take a different approach in writing to those who were more likely to be opposed to his ministry. As for the argument that Paul’s writing was entirely different in language, one could argue that the way we write often changes as we change or the audience changes. The same argument is used against the Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles.

So what are some of the arguments for the Pauline authorship of Hebrews? First, when Peter wrote to the Jewish Christians he referred to Paul’s writings as Scripture. What writings was he referring to? I would think that it would be the only letter that Paul wrote to the same people as Peter was writing to. If that was the case then Paul would have had to have written a letter to Jewish Christians.

The second argument is that this letter along with Romans and Galatians for a trilogy based upon the test from Habakkuk 2:4, “The just shall live by faith.” In Romans the emphasis is on the “just”; in Galatians the emphasis is on “live”; and in Hebrews the emphasis is on “faith”.

Harry Ironside says that Paul put his secret mark upon this letter. He points out that Paul is the only writer in the New Testament that closes his letters with “grace”. The book of Hebrews also closes with “grace”.

Who wrote Hebrews? Only God knows but we do know that the author wants us to see Jesus rather than some earthly author. He reminds us to “look unto Jesus.”

Starting soon

In two weeks from yesterday I will start a new series for Sundays at Six at our church on the book of Hebrews. Why the book of Hebrews? I do believe it is often neglected, except for some favourite passages such as Hebrews 11 and 12. Many have difficulty in explaining the warnings in the book. Over this next week I would like to blog about some introductory thoughts on the book of Hebrews.

Fruit or Gifts

The Bible talks about both the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. The fruit is singular and all Christians are to have the fruit. The reason that it is singular is that Jesus is my love, joy, peace, etc.
The gifts on the other hand are plural as there are many gifts but one Giver. The fruit is given to glorify Christ in the life of the believer while the gits are given to build up the church. Though all Christians have at least one gift many times they are not obvious to others.

There are some very gifted people who do not display the fruit of the Spirit. They become arrogant and proud, they are unloving and impatient. However, because they are lacking in the fruit of the Spirit they bring glory to themselves and not to Christ.
Many times churches are looking for a pastor who is gifted but they need to concentrate on the one who shows the fruit of the Spirit in their lives.

Wild fire or controlled fire

Mike has been teaching about the Holy Spirit and there are many people who would like the fire of the Holy Spirit in their lives but they want Him as a controlled fire. The Holy Spirit is a fire but He is a wild fire that cannot be contained.

Report Card

Mike told us yesterday that Dr. Luke gave a progress report about the church and the work of the Holy Spirit throughout the book of Acts. Check these out in Acts: 6:7; 9:31; 12:24; 16:6; 19:20; and 28:30 - 31.
So how were they doing? They did well as they depended upon the guidance of the Holy Spirit and not on man's plans or visions.

The Gospel and Culture

On Wednesday of this week we had the Ontario Regional Meeting for the Bibles for Missions stores of Ontario. Henk shared from the Bible League of Canada and he told us of China and India, The Philippines and Indonesia, Burma and Korea, South America and Africa. Each of those places is so different and the culture so diverse yet the Gospel reaches everyone. The Gospel isn't bound by culture but transcends culture. When we try and tie the Gospel to culture the both fall short. The Gospel transcends culture because the Gospel is a person, Jesus Christ.

Help please.

As a Christian I can understand suffering in the world but how do you explain suffering to a non-Christian? Certainly suffering seems to be evidence for God, how many people who see suffering and want there to be a God Who is able to deal with it or at least is responsible for it. Help me explain to a non-Christian how suffering points to God.