Hebrews 1:1-3 Outline and Review Suppliment

SECTION I: A SUPERIOR PERSON – CHRIST (1-6)

 

I. CHRIST IS SUPERIOR TO THE PROPHETS 1:1-3

 

     A. God Spoke…”through the prophets”

 

1.       The first four verses are a single sentence in the Greek

 

.  Elegantly written Greek

.  The very choice of words give a since of weight and importance to the message .

 

                2. Lit. Many parts – many ways: (40 authors of the Old and New Testaments)

 

.   The message was for the period in which it was given, but not a complete picture.

                                .   Visions (Isa. 6); Dreams (Jacob Gen. 28:10-22); Object lessons (Jer. 13); through the                                          marriage of a prophet (Hosea 1-3)

                3. Amos 3:7; Matt. 13:16-17; I Peter 1:10-12

 

     B. “Last Days” (And Last Revelation or Word from God)

 

1. Lit. “last of these days” Darby “at the end of these days” American Standard 1901 “at the end of these days”

2.  First mention of last days: Gen. 49:1

               

                . Num. 24:13-14; Deut. 31:29; Jer. 23:16-20; Ezek. 38:16; Dan. 1014; Micah 3:12, 4:1

                . There is a consistency in all these verses as referring to the same period.

                . It is easy to lose the receptiveness of this term when translators are bias.

                 2. Isa. 2:1, 2 “This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:  In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3. Acts 2:14ff

                4. Matt. 24:1-3 “End of the age”

5. Heb. 9:26 “Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world.  But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

                6. Heb. 8:13 “By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is         obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

7. I Peter 1:18-20 “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that    you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but         with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”

 

     C. “spoken to us by his Son” (Lit) “a Son”

 

                1. The emphasis is on the relationship.

                2. Prophets were the friends of God – Jesus is the Son of God.

                3. Prophets had a message from the mind of God; Jesus had the mind of God.

                4.  No more in fragments – Last word would be from His Son – through spoken word and life.

5. II Cor. 4:6 “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

. NLT: “For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

 

     D. Seven Affirmations of Christ’s Deity:

 

                1. “heir of all things” Romans 8:15-17

2. “through whom he made the universe” John 1:1,2; Col. 1:15,16 (God spoke and nothing became everything.)

3. “the radiance of God’s glory” original word for radiance can mean source or reflection…Jesus     is both.  As the rays from the sun are inseparable from the Sun so is the Son from the radiance of His Father.

                4. “exact representation of his being”

                                .   Lit. “Character” the imprint made by a seal in hot wax is the exact representation.

                                .   Col. 1:15 “eikon“- exact image; John 1:18 declared in flesh what God was like; Phil.                                         2:6 “equality with God”

                5. “sustaining all things by his powerful word“.

                                .   Col. 1:17

                                .   Some translations “up holds”, but it’s not a picture like Atlas with earth on his                                                       shoulders.

                6. “provided purification for sins” This is a central message of Hebrews.

                7. “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

                                .   A view from Heaven of the ascension of Christ Dan. 7:13-14

                                .   Psalm. 110:1 The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your                                              enemies a footstool for your feet.”

 

JESUS WAS:

 

1. God sent – John 7:16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.

2. God inspired – John 8:26, 28 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is reliable, and   what I have heard from him I tell the world.”…”So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me”.

3. God empowered – Luke 11:20 “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you”.

4. God offered – John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.

5. God Raised – Heb. 13:20 “May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,”

6. God Exalted – Heb. 1:3 “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven”.  

SO WHAT?

 

1. How does believing these things about Jesus help us deal with the challenges we face in life?

2. How do the accounts of the Transfiguration and the Baptism of Jesus have a similar message?

3. How would you answer the question ask earlier “How can we make Christians believe what they believe?”

4. Does God still release divine truth?

5. Is God still in control of the world today?

 

A REVIEW: IF ME DON’T UNDERSTAND THESE FIRST THREE POWERFUL VERSES, THE CHANCES ARE GREAT WE WILL MISS THE AWESOME POWER OF THIS BOOK.

     Have you ever felt that God was silent at the very moment you most needed Him to speak? You wanted Him to speak…You needed Him to speak…But all you heard was silence…When you heard…Cancer, the baby is has Down syndrome, your mate has left, your job has been eliminated…You cried out….but only silence.

 

Have you ever felt that God was silent at the very moment you most needed Him to speak?

 

Jesus had that experience.   “My God, My God Why have you forsaken me”…no response, just silence – But God was not forever silent…THE RESSURECTION!

 

God’s silence is not indifference, a lack of compassion, but an eloquent silence. His silence sets the stage for his most eloquent and powerful speaking.

 

     For the majority of their lives these Hebrews Christians had only known persecution, lost of property and possessions, and other forms of persecutions. And they had stayed faithful…at least until now

 

Nero is now on the throne…the ultimate test us just ahead…Where is God? Does He care? Maybe we ought to go back to Judaism, the familiar, the safe………And all they heard from God was silence.

 

     And then one day a letter arrives

   

“Through the Prophets” now “through …”Son”

 

. God’s relationships with the prophets seem to vary in closeness, but the closest seems to have been with Moses and Elijah.

 

.. Deut. 34:10 “no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,”

.. Walked with God…God took him

 

                . The disciples had the opportunity to LIVE with God, in the flesh for 3 ½ years.

 

                . Transfiguration – same message

    

SEVEN AFFRIMATIONS OF THE DEITY OF CHRIST:

  1.       “appointed heir of all things”

. Col. 1:16 “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

. The universe, the animal kingdom, this planet, all mankind.

 2.       “through whom he made the universe” 

. Stephen Hawkins world renowned Cambridge Physics said:

 

.. Our galaxy is 100,000 light years in diameter. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second X 1 years of seconds = 600 trillion miles in diameter.

.. 100,000 million stars in our galaxy…and 100,000 million other galaxies, the most distant from ours is 8 billion light years away

 

. John 1:1,2a “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”

 3.       “the radiance of God’s glory” 

. Where and when was the “shekinah” glory of God seen in the O. T.?

 

                                                ..Burning Bush – Holy Ground

                                                .. Pillar of fire – lead Israel in the wilderness.

                                                .. Mt Sinai – they did not dare touch the mountain

                                                .. Tabernacle/Temple – Holy of Hollies – Ark Mercy Seat

.. Ezekiel saw a vision in which the glory of God left the temple and it never returned…that is …..

 

. John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

 

. II Cor. 3:4-6 “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

 4.       “exact representation of his being” 

. eikon = wax impression

. Col. 2:9 “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.

. Phil. 2:6 “equality with God”

5.       “sustaining all things by his powerful word” 

.

. He is intimately involved with His creation.

 

a. Sun is the perfect distance from the Sun

b. Earth’s Axis is 23 Degrees – perfect for our climate

c. Moon the exact distance from the earth to prevent flooding at high tide

d. Not like Atlas caring the world on his shoulders

 

 . Lit. “to carry forward to its appointed ends” Providence;  Col. 1:17 “in him all things hold together.”

 6.       “provided purification for sins” 

. Effects of sin = defiled, filthy, polluted

. God is Perfect Purity

. Sacrificial System – offered the same sacrifices over and over and over again.

 

.. Furniture in the Temple: Brazen alter, lamp stand, table of shew bread Holy of Hollies – Ark, et.

.. No place to sit – their work was never finished.

 

.YOU WANT TO GO BACK TO THAT??

 7.       “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” 

. Jesus could say from the Cross…”It is Finished” Once for all sacrifice

 

.. Buried, resurrected, ascended

.. SAT DOWN

 

                                . A view from Heaven of the ascension of Christ:

 

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.