Epistle to Hebrews #7
CHAPTER ONE
God had spoken in various past times and in different ways
to the ancient Israelites, by the prophets of old. As we read
through the Old Testament, we can clearly see the truth of what
Paul stated in the opening verse of the epistle to the Hebrews.
The many and diverse ways God's spoke to the Israelites gives us
the clear picture that the Almighty does work in different and
wonderful ways His work on this earth, as He carries out His
overall plan of salvation for the world and for the peoples of
Israel.
Then in verse two Paul says God "Hath, in THESE LAST DAYS,
spoken unto US, by His Son....." Did you catch it? "These LAST
DAYS." Jesus had come in "these last days" and spoken the words
of God the Father. Ah, so the phrase "last days" or "end times"
CAN mean the last 2,000 years since the time Jesus walked this
earth in the flesh, and preached the good news of the gospel. In
1 JOHN 2:18, we can also see that John understood "the last time"
to mean the very time he was living in. There is a broader span
of time that can be meant by the phrase "last time" or "end time"
than JUST the last few years of this age before Jesus returns to
earth to set up the Kingdom of God on earth.
With this in mind, we need to be careful about narrowing
down the phrase "last time" or "end time" - people often today
say, "We are living in the end time." Well, true enough, but
"end time" or "last days" can mean the last 2,000 years. Hence we
really do NOT have much idea as to when Jesus will return. It
could still be decades away or even a hundred years or so. All we
can do is watch the signs of the times .... WATCH, as Jesus said
we were to do. Time for God is not anywhere near time for us.
What seems like a long time to us, is but a blink of the eye to
God. How long the Father will allow the events of prophecy to
manifest themselves and come to pass, is entirely up to Him. He
can lengthen them out or shorten them up, as He sees fit.
Certainly there is MUCH in prophecy to yet take place, so we
watch, and we watch. And through it all we must remember that
Christ's coming is as close for us as our death. Will He return
in the life time of you who are reading these studies? Maybe, but
it is a maybe, for it maybe not. I'm sure many of the apostles of
the first century Church of God, thought Jesus' return would
never be at least 2,000 years away.
The "last days" can be way longer than many would like to
think it is. The main thing is to remain faithful to the way of
the Lord, to grow in grace and knowledge, and to endure to the
end of whatever physical life has been, or will be given to us.
God has spoken to us through His Son in these last days, and
the Son was appointed heir of all things, nothing NOT being given
Him,and Paul plainly tells us that it was the Son who MADE THE
WORLDS. He also told us the same truth in his epistle to the
Colossians, chapter 1, verses 15-18. Jesus, was the CREATOR of
all that IS, in this physical world and in the unseen "spirit"
world.
Jesus was also the very brightness of God's glory. No doubt
a double meaning here. He was the brightness of God's character
and nature, and He is in the very literal brightness today in
glory as we can see from the vision the apostle John had, as
recorded in the first chapter of the book of Revelation, where we
are given the picture of what Jesus looks like today in the
heaven of God's throne.
Jesus was the EXPRESS IMAGE of the Father's person. You may
remember that one of the twelve asked Jesus to show them all,
plainly, the Father. Jesus replied that they who had seen Him had
seen the Father also.
Jesus also upholds ALL THINGS by the very power of His word.
He and the Father are indeed ONE! They are two individual
persons, but in ALL respects they are the same. The only
difference is that, after Jesus had purged our sins on the cross,
he went back to heaven and is sitting on the Father's RIGHT HAND.
He is not sitting on top of the Father. He did not push the
Father off the heavenly throne, and take His place. The NT
Scriptures make it very clear that Jesus is AT the Father's RIGHT
HAND. The images of the throne room as given in the book of
revelation, show the Father to be on the heavenly throne, and
Jesus at His RIGHT HAND. The Father is the MAJESTY ON HIGH. The
Father is SUPREME in AUTHORITY. The Father is HEAD of Christ.
That truth is given in 1 Corinthians 11:3. I maintain that a
child reading the NT will come to see very clearly that the
Father is head of Christ. I came to see this when I was
about 9 years old. I came to see, just by reading the NT, that
there is no such doctrine as the "Trinity." God is NOT three in
one, or one in three.
The Trinity doctrine is very complicated by the way some
teach it, so much so that many just throw up their hands and say,
"It's just not possible to understand God." It is a mystery they
will tell you. Nothing could be further from the TRUTH!! God has
over and over again made it clear in His word, concerning Himself
and His Son. I have many in-depth studies on this Website that
make clear to you WHAT God is like, and what the "Godhead" is all
about.
Jesus sits at the RIGHT HAND of the Father, the Majesty on
High (verses 1-3).
Paul now goes on to prove that the Son of God is way, way
more superior than the angels. He has first of all inherited and
obtained a more excellent name than what angels have. Jesus has
the name of SON of God. From Psalm 2:7 we learn that God had
foretold, "You are my SON, this day I have begotten you." No
angel was ever called the begotten son of God. Certainly not in
the way it was fulfilled in Christ Jesus. Jesus was UNIQUE in
birth. It was a MIRACULOUS and mind-numbing event, that no angel
has ever come close to having duplicated on themselves.
Paul then takes a verse from 2 Samuel 7:14, and applies it
to the nature of the birth of Jesus the Christ. "I will be unto
him a Father, and He shall be to me a Son."
Very interesting, in the nature of prophecy, is this
example. The context of it not suggesting at all that this would
be a prophecy of the relationship of the heavenly Father to His
Son Christ Jesus. The context of 2 Samuel 7 is the context of
David, the King of Israel. But as given here in Hebrews it is
applied to God the Father having a Son, in a very special way,
which none of the angels were ever destined to have happen to
them.
And once more, using the Greek Septuagint version, Paul
renders Deut.32:43, as a prophecy of the first begotten of the
Father (Jesus the Christ) coming into the world and for the
angels of God to WORSHIP Him!
Amazing, so it will be to some. Deut.32:43 in the Hebrew and
hence in the KJV is not close to the rendition of the LXX or
Greek Septuagint. The reader is asked to study the study on this
Website called, "Paul's Use of the Old Testament." That study is
a truth that will shock most of you, the truth of how the Greek
translations of the Old Testament were used, especially by the
apostle Paul, the mighty Hebrew scholar, taught at the feet of
the famous Gamaliel of Judea, and then by Christ Himself (as Paul
tells us in the letter to the Galatians).
The angels were to WORSHIP Christ, the Son of God the
Father. Now, angels do not worship each other, and worship is
only towards God. No other creature is worthy or holy enough to
be worshipped, only God is worthy and righteous and holy enough
to be WORSHIPPED.
Jesus was worthy and holy enough, perfect enough, godly
enough, to be worshipped. Only He was of the Godhead, made into
flesh and blood. But yet called Immanuel, by the prophet Isaiah,
which means, God with us. He was part of the Godhead from
eternity past. He did not grasp as being in the Godhead, but
emptied Himself, humbled Himself, put aside being in the very
Godhead, and came to earth as flesh and blood (all this Paul has
taught before in Philippians 2:5-11).
We shall see very shortly that Jesus is called "God" - He
has a name with the title and very name "God" attached to it - He
is Jesus Christ God. He is God the Son. The Father is God the
Father. Both bear the name "God." One is God the Father, the
other is God the Son.
It was written of the angels that they were angel spirits,
and servants who could be like a flame fire (Psalm 104:4). A
flame of fire is nothing compared to the SUN. In Revelation
chapter one, Jesus EYES are like a flame of fire, but His
countenance is like the SUN in its full strength. No angel is
anywhere near being like God in appearance or in anything that
God IS! (verses 4-7).
JESUS IS CALLED "GOD"
Verses 8 and 9, of Hebrews one, makes it as clear as the sun
shining in a cloudless day, that Jesus bears the name "God"! He
is then God the Son, or as stated before, Jesus Christ God.
The word "God" is used in various ways in the NT. It is used
as a "personal name" for God the Father, in some contexts. It is
used as a name of Jesus in some contexts. It is used as a "sur-
name" for all in the Godhead or in the very Family of God. Hence
Jesus can be rightfully called Jesus Christ God. The Father is
God, and the Son is God, both in the Godhead. Both being separate
individual persons, with spirit bodies, so God the Son can sit at
the right hand of God the Father, in the heavenly throne room. It
is quite simple really. The Godhead consists as of today, TWO
BEINGS, both bearing the name "God." The Godhead is NOT a
Trinity, in any way that Trinitarians like to teach. The Godhead
is TWO beings, personal beings, with their own personal spirit
bodies. One is the being we call God the Father, and the other is
the one that sits on His right hand, we call the Son of God, or
Jesus Christ God.
We have Paul proving from the very Scriptures of God the
Father, that Jesus, has the name "God." He quotes from Psalm
46:6,7, "Thy throne, O GOD, is for ever and ever, a sceptre of
righteousness is the sceptre of thy Kingdom. You have loved
righteousness, and hated iniquity, therefore GOD, even thy God
has anointed you with oil of gladness above your fellows."
Jesus is here called "God" and yet we also see that Jesus
has a "God" who has appointed and anointed Him in such a way (for
His love of and loyalty to righteousness) that is ABOVE any other
anywhere in the whole created universe. The rest of the NT proves
beyond any doubt that of all human flesh and blood people, of all
the angels and created beings in the unseen world, Jesus
inherited from physical life a position of glory ABOVE any one,
and is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High.
The NT declares that Jesus existed from eternity, that he
was God and was WITH God (John chapter one), that He put aside
that position in the very Godhead, to become a physical man, so
He could conquer sin and Satan, be a perfect sacrifice through
His shed blood on the cross, and so redeem mankind, and make
their salvation possible. He was so faithful and righteous (never
having any sin, no not one) to His offering Himself as the
atoning sacrifice for any and all people, that in His
resurrection, He was made again part of the very Godhead, with
the glory of the Father, and with the very name once more of
"God."
Paul's mind now returns to the Scriptures that tell us that
Jesus (before He came to earth as Jesus the Christ) was the very
person who LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, and the HEAVENS are
the very works of His hands. Jesus was the one who did the
creating of all things. It was the Father, the Majesty on High,
who desired it, and the one who became Jesus, did the actual
creating! (Psalm 102:25).
The next quote is taken from Isaiah 34:4. One day the
physical world will perish, so also the heavens in some way, they
wax old as a garment, they are running down so to speak, they
will need TO BE CHANGED! Other verses in the Scriptures also tell
us that one day there will be a new heaven and earth, and maybe
much of a new universe. BUT, in contrast to all that Jesus is and
remains the SAME, and He will never grow old. He is eternal. His
glory as given in a fashion to us in the first chapter of the
book of Revelation, will NEVER dim, and His divine character of
perfection and holiness and righteousness, will always be the
SAME, forever.
Paul ends his teaching on this matter by once more showing
from the Scriptures that the ANGELS of God, were NEVER to be in
such a high exalted position as sitting on the right hand of the
God the Father, and having their enemies made to be their foot-
stool (Psalm 110:1).
From Psalm 103:20, the angels were created to be "serving
spirits" - and to mainly serve those who would be heirs of
salvation.
In simple terms, the angels were created to have the
important, yes, job of serving human flesh and blood people, whom
would be heirs of God the Father, in the plan of salvation. The
angels do many mighty things in the universe at large, this we
can see from reading the book of Daniel, as well as other parts
of Scripture, that show us what some of the jobs are that angels
do. But here Paul makes it clear that the MAIN function for them
is to serve at various (often unknown and unseen ways) times, US
humans who are heirs of God, through Jesus Christ. We shall see
in Hebrews chapter two, that we humans, were created to RISE
ABOVE the angels and be the actual and literal bothers and
sisters of Jesus. Paul in Romans 8, says we are co-inheritors
with Jesus of the SAME glory He inherited when He was resurrected
from death. Again, many parts of the NT prove that God the Father
is REPRODUCING Himself, that He will have MANY SONS born to Him.
Jesus will always be the greatest in authority, always be at the
Father's right hand, always the greatest next to the Majesty on
High. The Godhead will expand, that is what the Father desires,
but God the Father will always be supreme in authority, with
Jesus His Son next in authority. Who will be on Christ's right
and left hand? You will remember two of the twelve wanted those
positions, Jesus said it was NOT for Him to give or decide, but
the Father would give those high positions to whomsoever He
willed and decided.
WHAT A WONDERFUL CHAPTER OF THE BIBLE!! So much great and
magnificent truths proclaimed in such relatively few verses.
Meditate on them, be inspired, be lifted up, be humbled, and
constantly PRAISE the Father for His LOVE and His wanting to
share what He IS, with us humans who can be His very children
(verses 8- 14).
...................
November 2006
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