Bible Study

It is time for Bible study. We have reached the 7.30 mark. I think our webcast is going out. Is that correct? Looks like it is. Fantastic! I'd like to welcome you all here tonight for our midweek Bible study. It's good to have you all here with us. I'd especially like to welcome all of you who are watching on the web as well. Tonight we're starting a brand new topic. We're going to be going into the book of Hebrews. We're going to launch off tonight into at least the background to the book. I'm hoping, if I don't get too long-winded, to get into at least the first chapter of the letter to the Hebrews. That's our goal for this evening. I hope that it's something that you'll find interesting. If you've got any questions, you can write those questions down. Send them in. If you're watching on the web, we have... Is it coming up on the web where it shows what address to send them to? You can send those to the email address on your screen as well. We'll see if we can get to those tonight. No promises that I can. Once I get wound up, sometimes I get going and I can't get off track or lose my frame of thought. We'll do the best we can tonight. I'm glad that you're here. Why don't we begin by asking God's blessing on our study tonight? If you're by your heads, great, loving, heavenly Father, God Almighty, thanks so much for your truth and your love and your way. We are so thankful, Father, for your Word, the Bible. Thanks for giving it to us. Thanks for the opportunity to understand deeper things about your way and your plan and your Word. Especially tonight as we begin the book of Hebrews, we pray for your inspiration. We pray for your guidance on everything that's said and help us so that we can delve deeper into your Word and gain a deeper understanding of you and your Son and, of course, your wonderful plan for us. So we thank you for the Bible study tonight. We ask your presence. We ask your guidance and blessing. And we pray it all, asking it in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen. Okay, tonight, as I mentioned, we're going into the book of Hebrews. And I won't take a lot of time with the background because you can pull out some commentaries and read a lot of those kinds of things yourself. But I thought it would be helpful to at least talk about a couple of things that we should have in the back of our minds as we go through the book itself. Things that I think are vital, at least. One thing you should know as we start out with the book of Hebrews, it's written by the author Paul. The Apostle Paul wrote the book of Hebrews. Now, can I say that 100%? No, I can't. Actually, it's probably one of the most disputed authorships in the New Testament.

So many claim that it wasn't Paul who wrote the book of Hebrews. Now, why would they say Paul didn't write the book of Hebrews? I'm just going to talk about two major things that seem to indicate that Paul did not. He did not write the book of Hebrews. One of the things that most scholars will come up with for a reason why he didn't write the book is because of the Greek itself. Of course, the letter was originally written in Greek, and because of the style of that Greek, it's very eloquent. It's maybe we call it fancy writing. It's more of a formal writing than the other letters that Paul has written. So oftentimes, scholars will point to the fact that this seems to be different than the Greek that he used as he wrote the other letters.

So that's one of the main reasons. It's kind of interesting. There's a quote from the Expositor's Bible Commentary about the type of Greek that Paul, or whoever wrote the letter at this point, wrote. And they say this. They describe this letter to the Hebrews as excellent Greek, but they described as other letters as rugged though vigorous. I like the way that's described. So they say, as other letters are rugged though vigorous. So there's a little bit of a difference in the style in this particular letter. So that's one of the things that they point to.

Now, a second aspect of why some scholars feel that Paul did not write the letter to the Hebrews is because of the quotes that are used in this letter. And these are quotes from the Old Testament. The quotes that he used here, in fact, I probably should write here, I wrote the LXX, which is standing for the Septuagint.

The Septuagint is the Old Testament written in Greek. And so scholars will point to that and say, the quotes in the book of Hebrew are from the Septuagint. Now, why is that important? Why would that point to the fact that maybe Paul didn't write the book? Well, because in his other letters, he used the Masoretic text, or the Hebrew text.

So in all the other letters, he either uses the Hebrew text or paraphrases the Hebrew text. So why would he use the Septuagint, then, the Greek Old Testament, to quote in the book of Hebrews? Well, because of that, the scholars say, well, he probably didn't write the letter. So those are the big two of why scholars feel that Paul did not write the letter to the Hebrews. All right, let's think for a moment. Why did he? Why do we think that Paul did write that letter to the Hebrews?

Well, there's a couple of amazing things when you think about the evidence as to why Paul wrote this letter. Even among churches, if you go to the Eastern Orthodox Church, they feel that Paul absolutely did write that letter. But it's the Western Church that feels, maybe he didn't. Maybe he didn't. All right, let's think for a second. Why did he? Well, is it a problem that the Greek is different in the style that it's written in? Even though the other letters were said to be rugged and vigorous, and this letter to the Hebrews is said to be eloquent, very stylized, very formal.

Is that a problem for the Apostle Paul? You think of why that wouldn't be a problem for the Apostle Paul. Well, one of the reasons is he was educated. There's no doubt he was an educated man. He was trained in Judaism, wasn't it? How do we know that? Does anyone know why we can say we know Paul was educated? We know that he was trained? He studied at the feet of Gomelia. That's right. So if you go to Acts 22, verse 3, points right to the fact that he studied with the best.

He studied with the best. So would that help him to be versed in the kind of Greek that the letter of Hebrews would be written in? I think yes. I think that does point to the fact that yes, Paul could very well have done that because he was certainly very versed in all the technical aspects of the Old Testament law.

There would have been no doubt about it. And so that points to the fact that, aha, I think Paul did write that letter. All right, now, there are other things that point to the fact that Paul wrote this letter. Think about, for just a moment, where was Paul commissioned to preach? Or could we say, to whom was Paul commissioned to preach? To the Gentiles. We know that Peter was given a commission to preach to the Hebrews, to the Jews, and Paul to the Gentiles. Now, this letter is to the Jews, or the Hebrews. They're kind of synonymous at this point. So why would Paul be writing to them? See, we probably could put on the side of maybe he didn't.

But, when you think about it a little bit, there's an interesting passage that's over in the book of 2 Peter. You want to turn there with me? 2 Peter 3 and verse 15. It gives us some interesting insight into one of the reasons why I feel that Paul did write this letter to the Hebrews. So 2 Peter 3 and verse 15. We'll kind of pick it up there. Here, Peter wrote, as he's writing to the Jews, he says, As also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you.

So here's Peter, writing to Jews, says, our brother Paul also wrote to you. So that seems to be an interesting indication that, whether that's talking about the book of Hebrews or not, we're not really sure. But it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for Paul to have written to the Hebrews or to the Jews. So that certainly seems to fall under that category that Paul could easily have written the book of Hebrews. Now, here's also an interesting little reason why it seems to be an indication that he did. Now, anyone know where the book of Hebrews falls in your Bible?

Okay, it's in the New Testament. We got that. Very good. You guys are sharp tonight. Okay, it's in the New Testament and in the inspired order. When you look at the inspired order of the New Testament and Paul's writings, guess where this letter falls?

Actually, it's right in the middle. Right in the middle. And so it's the seventh book out of 14 that Paul wrote. And in the inspired order, it's right in the center. Now, does that prove anything? No, not really. But when you think of the number seven, does God inspire the number seven? Absolutely. It's a number of completion.

There is no doubt. And so to put that book dead smack in the middle of other writings by the apostle Paul, what does that tell you? Well, he didn't write it? If he didn't write the book, why put it in the middle of the others? I think it's an important point. You may laugh about it, but I think there is some significance to that fact. All right.

Any other reasons? We could go on with 14, 16, 18 various reasons of why that. But as you look at it, right in the middle of the inspired order, we find the letter to the Hebrews. And so I think that is an aspect that we do have to take into consideration. And just this, we'll put the order as one of those reasons, and this concept of seventh out of 14 of the letters that Paul wrote. And it seems to fall right in that order. Okay. Now, is there proof that he did or he didn't? I don't think so. I ran across an interesting study that was just done this year.

And they took the letters of Paul and they analyzed them. They analyzed them and ran them through computers and all kinds of things to look at what the Greek and the way that it was written and how it all flowed together to try to see if there was any connection to other letters that Paul wrote. In fact, they did it with Peter as well. And so when they ran these things through, let's say, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, there was something like a 99% chance that Peter wrote these things. We'd expect that sort of thing. Well, they did the same thing with Paul's writings.

And what was really interesting about it, the letter to the Hebrews, in comparing those to other letters of Paul that aren't disputed in the same way that Hebrews is, you know what it came up with? It was over 90% of an indication that Paul could have written the book. So is that proof? No, it's not proof. But I think when you look, even at the analysis of the text itself, as you run it through a computer, it seems to point to the direction that the Apostle Paul certainly could have written it.

Some of the early church fathers, or some of these individuals that maybe we wouldn't consider them fathers, but other scholars do point to the tradition that they feel that Paul certainly did write the book of Hebrews. So that's a place that we can begin with. All right, so let's go on from there. So I feel that we're in pretty safe territory to say that the Apostle Paul was the author of the book. Now some traditions, it is kind of humorous when you think of some of the possibilities.

Some say that Apollos wrote it, some even think that Priscilla might have been the author of the book. But when you start comparing some of the reasons why they feel that way, it gets pretty sparse with any proof to those things. Okay, let's go on as we continue thinking about the background of the book of Hebrews. Think about the dating of this book. When was this book written? When would have this been penned by the author? Well, there's a few interesting things as we think about that because some of the indications as we read through the book of Hebrews point to the fact that the temple was still there.

The temple was still there. Expositor's Bible commentary says this, A date before 70 AD is indicated. But how much before we can't say? Some passages in the epistle gain in force if we think of a time not long before. So not long before 70 AD. What are some of the indications that that would be the case?

Well, if you turn over to Hebrews 8, look at Hebrews 8. Right at the very beginning, we see the Apostle Paul points to an interesting aspect. He says here, Now the main point of the things we are saying is we have such a high priest as a seed at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven. So if the temple were gone, why make a reference to the high priest? Now if the temple is there and still in operation, still a sacrificial system in place, he's making a comparison and contrasting the difference between the physical high priest and Jesus Christ, our spiritual high priest.

And so I think that's part of what Paul uses to make the point that he's trying to bring home to God's people. The difference between the physical and the spiritual. In fact, through the book of Hebrews, he's going to spend a lot of time doing this. In fact, just a couple of pages later in chapter 13, around verse 10 or so, he talks about the temple itself. He talks about the altar. And this is pointing to the fact that the destruction of the temple hadn't occurred. And so that destruction would have occurred about 70 AD.

And so this seems to show, wait a second, this hadn't happened yet. And it brings up part of the issue of why the book would have been written as well. There were Christians at the time who had been converted and yet were still hanging on to some of the old rituals. They were still into the ritualistic system even after conversion. So here Paul is trying to get those converted Jews to understand the connection between their old way of worship and the sacrificial system under the old covenant and what the new covenant was all about.

What is true worship all about? And so that seems to be an indication that some were still hanging on to that. In fact, in chapter 5, look at chapter 5, verse 11. In chapter 5, verse 11, all the way through the beginning of the next chapter, we see that Paul is encouraging them to really understand what's going on. He says, first of all, verse 11, there's much to say. It's hard to explain because you've become dull of hearing. He says, you ought to be teachers. You ought to be taught again the first principles of the oracles of God.

He says in verse 13, everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word. So he's pointing to the fact they're still stuck in an old perspective. They don't understand it. So by the time we get to chapter 6, he says, leave the elementary behind, which I think connects to this old covenant sacrificial system. And he says, let's go on to perfection. So I think in this section of Scripture, it points once again to the fact that, all right, the temple was still there.

It had not been destroyed yet. And even though the destruction of Jerusalem was imminent, it was going to happen. It hadn't happened yet. It hadn't happened yet. Now, we know that Paul was killed in Rome. We know that the Emperor Nero would have been the man responsible. And of course, if you look up your history of Rome and Nero, of course Nero was the guy that was fiddling while Rome burned, right?

Well, Nero committed suicide. He committed suicide in 68 AD. Now, Paul was killed under the rule of Nero, which seems then to indicate, had to be before 68 AD. And so, when you put all of these things together, before the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, under Nero was when he was beheaded, then it seems to indicate it had to be pre-68 AD, which many of the scholars will say, maybe around 67 AD or so, maybe in the spring.

Well, you can read all kinds of books and things like that. That kind of point in that direction, because of the way that Paul was imprisoned, and then released, and then back in prison again. I just don't have the time to get into all of it tonight, but I appreciate the question.

But I can give you some information on that, that you can kind of look up and maybe read some more about it as well. Okay? So maybe we can just leave it at that for the moment.

Alright, so that's pointing us to about when it was written. And of course, if you think, where does that place the book after the crucifixion of Christ? We're more than 35 years after the crucifixion of Christ. So we can keep that in mind as well as we go along. Okay, we talked about, let's see, who wrote the book, we talked about when the book was written. Maybe we can think for just a moment. Who was it written to? Who were the recipients of this letter that Paul had written? Well, it seems that, of course, it says, to the Hebrews is the official title of the book. And of course, we realize these are people that are in God's church, we could say. They're converted members of the church. And as we begin to think about that, they certainly would have been people that had a background in the Old Testament. They would have understood the sacrificial system. They would have understood the practices of that form of worship. And so it certainly points to that direction. But where exactly were they? Who was it written? Well, we know it was Jewish converted people. It seems traditionally it points to Palestine, to the area of the Mideast there. Rather than a specific congregation like Philippi, rather than Ephesus, rather than a specific congregation, it seems to point to a general group. A general group in Palestine seems to be who the letter was most intended for. And it is interesting as we get toward the end of the book, we'll see that Paul knew these people. He knew them. It wasn't like he had never met them before or was unfamiliar with them. We'll see the way that he addresses them in a very personal way as we get through the letter. So we could say, probably pretty confidently, that the letter would have been written to God's people who were in the area of Palestine.

Let's think for a moment as well. I think an important aspect of not only who and where and when this letter was written, but I think maybe even more importantly, maybe I'll go ahead and raise this and give us a little more room to write with.

I think to have a good concept as we get into this letter of what is being written in the context of the writing itself is to try to answer the question, why? Why was this letter written? What was the purpose in writing this general letter to the Hebrews?

What would be the purpose for writing the letter? If we look to the book itself, look to what was actually written here, I think it will give us a pretty good indication of the purpose of why it was written. Because if we put ourselves in this timeframe, we talked about 70 AD being an important date, because what was happening? The pressure on Judea from Rome was mounting more and more and more. The destruction of not only the Temple, but Jerusalem was coming.

The Jews had been revolting. This idea of a nationalism and this patriotism for the Jews in that area of Judea was gaining. They were strong, and they were going to oppose Rome. But Rome was this overwhelming, tremendous military force. They were going to come in there and just crush them. That was basically just on the horizon.

So before these Roman armies come and just wiped them out, they were very strong, very patriotic. Yet at the same time, those that were converted, those Christians, had to be encouraged because Paul saw this coming. Maybe that was part of the inspiration for the writing itself. Paul realized this could not continue. Certainly under the inspiration of God, he realized that this Levitical system was not going to last. Whether he realized that the Romans were on their way and that was going to be the ultimate end, very possible.

In a way, the handwriting was on the wall, even at this time. And so as he warns them, he tells them. One of the things that's important here is in Hebrews 2, right at the very beginning of the chapter, chapter 2, we'll see, I think, one of the reasons why Paul did write this letter. Notice Hebrews 2 at the very beginning of the chapter here. He says, Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we've heard, lest we drift away.

I'm going to come back to this in a moment. But Hebrews 2 is encouraging. So part of the purpose here is he's going to encourage them, don't give up. Don't abandon the faith. We can't abandon, we can't give up. We can't give up no matter what's going to happen. We can't abandon the faith. So he's encouraging them. He's helping to support them, keep the faith. Keep the faith is what he's reminding them to do. Now, a couple chapters later, I think we'll see another example of why he wrote this book.

Look at Hebrews 6. We touched on it just a moment ago. Hebrews 6 at the beginning of that chapter. What did he tell them? He encouraged them to what? We just read it, right? To go on. Go on to perfection or maturity. Go on to spiritual maturity. Don't give up. Keep going. No matter what the political scene is like, go on to perfection.

Don't abandon the faith. Keep going. Those are notions that will keep coming up over and over again throughout the book. Now, another aspect that we will get into quite a bit, if I can make it to the first chapter here, is the fact that he points to Jesus Christ over and over and over again. He makes special note of this, especially the supremacy of Christ. Christ is supreme. Look at beginning of chapter 8 in Hebrews. We'll see just one quick example, and then we'll notice it coming up throughout chapter 1 as we get started here.

Let's just notice chapter 8 at the very beginning here. Chapter 8, this is the main point. We read a little bit of this earlier. We have such a high priest at the right hand of the throne of majesty in the heavens. How does he indicate his supremacy? He's a minister of the sanctuary, verse 2. He goes on to show, verse 6, he's obtained a more excellent ministry. And then he goes on to show how awesome a Savior we have. And so the apostle Paul continues to point this out over and over again throughout the book of Hebrews.

The supremacy of Christ. Christ is supreme. Now, if you put yourself in the position of a converted Jew of the day, and they're still clinging on to the sacrificial system, you can see why that would be important to point out, that Christ is supreme. Christ and the new covenant overrides that old sacrificial system. And so in order to show that more clearly, he keeps pointing to this fact about the work of Jesus Christ.

So those three things, I think, lead to the fourth aspect that's important. And Paul continues to point to it. In fact, just a couple of verses later, if you look at Hebrews 8-7, it points to the old covenant versus the new covenant. I'll just abbreviate it here. Because throughout the book, what Paul is going to do is compare the old covenant to the new covenant. And he'll keep bringing this concept up over and over. Comparing and contrasting, and really pointing out, through the supremacy of Christ, he's going to point out the whole spiritual intent of the law and how meaningful, in a spiritual way, the new covenant is.

And so that's going to keep coming up throughout the book of Hebrews. So these are just a couple of quick reasons why he would have written the book. He wanted to continue to encourage them because what was coming on the horizon was tough, difficult things. Go on in maturity. Keep growing. Keep building. Rely on the supremacy of Christ. And, of course, direct them to the more important aspects of the spiritual covenant that we have with God as His people.

So those are just a couple of thoughts as to why Paul would have written the book of Hebrews.

Now before we actually get into the text, I thought it might be helpful to just look at two things to kind of frame our thinking as we get into what was actually written in the book. There's two things that kind of stand out in my mind that we should note. Sometimes when you just read through it, you might miss it if you don't take it as a whole. So thinking of the book as a whole, there's a couple of things that are written as warnings.

There are several warnings that are given in the book of Hebrews. In fact, you probably can come up with more than just this, but I've just labeled them for my own thinking. The seven Ds throughout the book of Hebrews. And I just put them in order so we can flip through them as we write them. We already read one of those passages of the seven Ds, and that's in Hebrews 2.

And it's right at the very beginning of the chapter. Remember what it talked about?

It talked about drifting. Don't drift. Make your calling and election sure. Don't drift. That was one of those things that he points to, one of the seven Ds. Now if you turn over to Hebrews 3.

We'll just go right down the line here. In verse 12.

Let's see if we can pick that up in Hebrews 3. And in verse 12, he warns, Beware, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, departing from the living God.

So here he ties the warning into, Stay close to God. Don't depart from the faith.

And so he makes that point as a warning for all of us. Now if you turn the page over to Hebrews 4.

We'll see a third example. Over in verse 11.

And in Hebrews 4, verse 11, he makes the point very clear here. That we have to be very careful, because we don't want to fall into disobedience.

So he reminds us to hold the faith. Don't drift, don't depart, don't disobey. Don't disobey. Continue to follow God no matter what.

And so he's urging them, he's warning them through these various D's, as he writes, at least in English they're in D's, as he writes to us through the Hebrews. Now, we can go on to chapter 5. Hebrews 5.

And verse 11, and you can continue on reading from there. What does he write about in Hebrews chapter 5?

And going on from verse 11, we'll see very clearly, he says, we have much to say, but it's hard to explain, since you've become dull of hearing.

And so Hebrews chapter 5 reminds us, we've got to stay sharp, we've got to stay focused. We can't let ourselves to have an outlook where we become apathetic. That is unacceptable. So throughout this section of the letter, he writes about that and warns us to keep a focus, keep a focus on God's way. Okay, we skip over to Hebrews chapter 10. We'll pick up our next warning, that is also a D word. In verse 26, we can get an idea here in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 26, a familiar section of Scripture here. He reminds us, if we sin willfully, after we receive the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. So as we read through this, we see that people are despising the truth. Anyone who has rejected the law without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses, he says, how much worse punishment do you suppose will be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, by which he was sacrificed a common thing and insulted the Spirit of grace? And so in a way, this whole section is talking about those that despise the truth. So I'm just going to summarize that one in that regard. So Paul warns us to maintain the honor and the love and the respect of God the Father and Jesus Christ and, of course, the Word of God as well. If we go on to Hebrews 12, we'll see a sixth warning. And in Hebrews 12, also down in that area of verse 25, we'll see His encouragement to us to do the right thing. So let's notice Hebrews 12. And in verse 25, Do not refuse him who speaks, for if they didn't escape who refused him who spoke on earth, how much more shall we escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven? And so as we continue to read, he says, verse 28, Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let's have grace by which we may serve God acceptably and with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire. And so he's pointing to the fact we can't disobey the disobedience that comes from this. And neglect is something that we have to be careful of. And so he points out that fact that we don't want to depart from the truth in that way. So through this section, we see continuing warning, that in order to counteract these things, maybe if we bump back just a little bit, go back to Hebrews 11, verse 6. Hebrews 11, verse 6, we see the example that Paul gives there. In Hebrews 11, we'll write that one down as well. And in chapter 11, he says, Without faith it's impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. And then he goes into the other aspects of faith. So we see here that he's warning us and reminding us that we should be diligent, that we have to continue to obey God, exercise faith, and be diligent in that faith that God gives us. So these are some of the warnings that Paul gives us throughout the book of Hebrews. And I think it's important to note those are encouraging things, even though they're negative things, if you think about them in the context of what he writes about. But he's encouraging us to understand and have that motivation to continue to follow God no matter what. So those are a couple of things that I think to keep in mind as an overview. One other thing maybe we could quickly talk about. I don't know if I'll write them all down.

But there is a word that keeps popping up throughout the book of Hebrews that I think is an important word to keep in mind as we read through it. You may not notice it because it keeps coming up throughout the whole book. But if you were to look at it as an overview, the word that keeps coming up throughout the book of Hebrews is better. Better keeps coming up over and over and over again. Related to the supremacy of Christ, we have Christ is better than the angels. We're going to read a little bit about that right away in this first chapter. We, as God's people, have a better hope. Hebrews talks about that as well. Christ is the mediator of a better covenant. Also, established on better promises. Christ's sacrifice is a better sacrifice than the animals. We have a better possession. And of course, that's eternal life. We have a better country than just a physical land. We have the kingdom of God. And of course, that reminds us that we also have a better resurrection.

As we read through the book of Hebrews, let's try to keep that in mind. That the word better is going to continue to keep coming up over and over and over again. So we'll notice that as we go. Okay, with that, let's see if we can go ahead in the few minutes we have left. Let's see if we can get into the first chapter of the book of Hebrews. First chapter in the book of Hebrews. Let's see if we can pick it up. Write in chapter 1, verse 1. It starts out, God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets. Hard to tell here, but this is part of this beautiful, powerful, very intricate Greek that was written that is just very, very expressive.

So he says there are various times, various ways. In other words, he's saying there are many, many ways. Did God reveal everything to us all at once? No, of course not. And so here we have the Word of God written over a thousand years or more. It took to put all of this together. Revelation wasn't given all at once. And so Paul makes this point, and that he's done it in various ways. Can you think of different ways that God's Word has been revealed? Well, we've got the prophet, prophets, laws, we have Psalms, we have songs, we have parables, we have Proverbs, we have fingers writing in stone, we have visions, we have angels. We have all kinds of different ways, various ways, that God has revealed Himself. And so Paul's pointing that. Why would he say that? Why would he say the various times, various ways? Well, if you remember our audience, it's a Jewish audience again, writing to the Hebrews. The Hebrews had a feeling that after Ezra, Nehemiah, God no longer revealed things. God's revelation was complete. It was done. But see Paul saying, wait a second. No, that's not the case. That's not the case. Because the Jews would say, well, if it didn't come through a prophet, then forget it. It must not be inspired. But see, Paul is reminding them that God has revealed things, His plan, His will, in many ways, at many different times. And it wasn't limited to just one thing, just one way, not one method. And so regardless of the way, God was still the source of the revealing. It didn't have to just come through a prophet. God was not limited in the way that He reveals Himself and how He reveals His plan. And so that's an important point as Paul begins writing. And so he said, why would that be important? Because to an average Jew, pre-conversion, was Christ a prophet? He might have been a good rabbi, but He certainly wouldn't have been seen as that. So now Paul is going to make this connection. All right? God talked in various ways. He revealed Himself in so many different ways at different times. Now, verse 2, in these last days, He spoke unto us by His Son, whom He has appointed, heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.

There's another revealing, in other words. Christ reveals through His Son. And this is important because this Son, Jesus Christ, is superior to all of the other prophets. To all of the other prophets, Christ is supreme. He's superior. He's over all. And so Paul begins his letter by pointing out the supremacy of Christ. In a way, he's saying, well, the prophets might have known God. Maybe they were kind of friends with God. But Jesus, He's the Son of God. These prophets might have understood a little bit about God's mind, but who was Jesus Christ? He embodied the mind of God. He embodied the mind of God. And so He's making this connection between them and how superior Christ is. The prophets may have expressed maybe just a little bit, a fragment of the truth of God. But who was Christ? When you think about who Jesus Christ was, He was different than the prophets. He was the whole truth. He was the embodiment of the truth of God. Where God didn't just display a part of Himself, but all of Himself.

I think that's an important aspect as we see the importance of the Son of God. And how that's going to relate, then, to this concept of the sacrificial system. So that's going to come a little bit later. So we'll see how that comes up in just a bit. Okay, so we go back to verse 3, then. Oh, maybe we should talk for just a second about this world, where He says that He also made the world. That doesn't mean there are other worlds out here with other humans and all that sort of thing. But He's talking about the times and the ages. The ages. The worlds. The ages. Not just limited to the physical universe, but the ages. He's responsible for all of these things. And He points back to Christ in verse 3. He says, "...who, being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high." So here is Christ, the brightness of His glory. Not sure whether that means radiating His glory or a source of that glory. That word can actually mean both of those things. But either way, the glory of God was seen in Jesus Christ. And He points to how that happens. He says, "...the express image of His person." How was Christ the express image of His person? What that points to is what's written in the Greek. So I'm really not misspelling this, but the transliteration is the image or the character. So we have the express image, or the Greek character, of His person. And as you think about this Greek word for character, it was used as a seal. If you were to send a letter, they would put an image as they sealed that letter. And this was the word that they would use, a character. And so the seal would have certainly been part of that, as well as the impression that that seal would have made normally in the wax. And so if you've got the seal itself that's stamping the letter, and you have the impression that it makes, how do they look? They look the same. They look the same. And so Paul uses that analogy that the Son is the express image of God, an exact reproduction. He is God. So when you look at the impression, it looks exactly like the seal. And so that's the aspect that he's talking about. God's glory, His image, His character is Jesus Christ. Christ and God the Father are exactly alike. In fact, he kind of gives us a little more insight into it, where he says, upholding all things by the word of His power, and then he says that he sat down with God. And so we have this image, and in fact he uses the word person in the New King James, the express image of His person.

This is a fancy Greek word called hypostasios, which really focuses on the foundation, or really the essence of what God is. And so can you say that Christ is not God? See, that's what he's pointing to here. The fact that Christ is God. He is the essence of God.

He is the substance of God. Christ is God. And one of the things he does is he upholds all things by the word of His power. So he's making a connection here to how supreme is Christ. Well, Christ is God. Christ is God. And He's upholding all things.

Of course, some of the gods in Greece would immediately think, who is upholding the world in the pagan system of the Greek gods? Atlas was carrying the world on his back, right? But he's not saying Christ is like Atlas. In fact, he's saying just the opposite here. When he says upholding, it doesn't mean just carrying it or holding it in place. But it means to move it from one place to another. So he's upholding all things, which carries the connotation of bringing it along to the goal. Carrying all things to the ultimate goal. So what does Christ carry to the ultimate goal?

Well, the ultimate goal is the Kingdom of God, isn't it? The Kingdom of God, when ultimately the Father will dwell with men. And Christ is shown here as carrying all things to that ultimate point. To that ultimate goal that God has established in His plan. And so we see that as part of the essence of what He's getting at in verse 2.

That it's not just sustaining things, but He's bringing it for that very purpose. Bringing it together for that purpose. And so He says He not only upholds all things, but it says He purges our sins. He purges us, kind of a passover kind of representation there. Because sin needs to be cleansed. And Christ did that for us. And so even though other revelations had been partial, the prophets revealed some things about the way of God and His plan. We come to Jesus Christ, and what do we have in Christ? Partial representation? You know, partial revelation? No. We have the full revelation of the Father. And so Christ is supreme. And He goes through at least these three or four or five things right here in these first couple of verses. That the Father is fully revealed in Christ. He reveals the Father's glory. We just read about that. We see the character is revealed. In other words, Christ translated or represented the character of God, His express image in human form. And so He shows that. Jesus Christ as well sustains all things. He upholds all things. He carries them to the ultimate purpose. In fact, it shows He was the only one possible to do that. The only one capable to do that. And so He paid the penalty for our sins. And now, ultimately, seated at the right hand of the Father. And so He's been given authority because of that. And so in some perspective that the Hebrews would have had, we see how much more supreme Christ is. So no wonder He says that in verse 4, "...having become so much better than the angels, He has by an inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." So here's that first occurrence of the word better. What's better? Christ is so much better than the angels. And so by inheritance He's obtained it. He had a right to it. It was His. And so it says He's obtained a more excellent name. Name not just meaning the name of Jesus Christ, but meaning everything that He is. What sums Him up in all that He is. That's the name that He's referring to here. Well, an angel's name is honorable. That's an amazing thing. But the Son, Jesus Christ, more honorable, more glorious. It's of a different name. And so I think that's an important aspect of what Paul begins to show how supreme Christ really is. In fact, these next verses, from here to the end of the first chapter, He's going to focus in on seven quotes from the Old Testament. There are seven quotes from the Old Testament that are going to be listed here.

And as He goes through these various quotations, why would He use those quotations? Why bother quoting the Old Testament? Why would you want to do that?

Well, He's writing to Jews. He's writing to those that know the Word. And He's going to quote those things to show them the deeper spiritual meaning that they may have missed.

And so Paul's going to quote these things seven times from here to the end of the chapter. And he's going to point out how supreme Christ is by using the Old Testament and showing a deeper relationship for them. So notice here in verse 5, to which of the angels did He ever say, quote, You are my Son, today I've begotten you. And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to me a Son. First quote there is from Psalm 2, verse 7. If you've got a Bible that has a margin reference, that should be there. Psalm 2, verse 7, that's where it says, You are my Son, today. So He's not focusing on the idea of begetting, I've begotten you. That's not the point. He's pointing to His position as Son. Jesus Christ was fully the Son of God in a way that never applied to the angels. Even though they might be called the Sons of God, Christ in a way that never referred to angels. What is it pointing out? I think it points out something so very important here. In the fact that we have the chief relationship between God and Jesus. So how would you define that chief relationship? We have a family relationship. He points that out so clearly out of the Old Testament. This probably wouldn't have been the first thing on the Hebrews mind. That Jesus Christ is the Son. God is the Father. That's the primary relationship that we have between them. Paul is going to focus on them. So he says, you are my Son. And then he quotes from 2 Samuel 7, verse 14. This is the second passage quoted from the Old Testament where he points out very clearly that Christ is the Son. God is the Father. Defining that relationship, that family relationship of Son to a Father. Then in verse 6 he says when he again brings the firstborn into the world, he says, here's our third quote, let all the angels of God worship Him. Psalm 97.7. Psalm 97.7 in verse 6, he's not just talking about the birth order. Being firstborn, even though he was firstborn, spiritually speaking, the more important point he's emphasizing, the legal rights and the leadership position that he has here. Because the angels worship God. They worship Jesus Christ. Christ is superior to the angels. If the angels worship Him, He has to be superior to the angels. And so Paul draws that out very clearly here. Then in verse 7 he says, and of the angels, he says, who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. That's the fourth quote from Psalm 104 verse 4. Some of the translations say, the winds are his messengers, the ministers, the servants are the flames of fire. Some of the commentators say the angels are like mighty winds, and his ministers are like flaming fire. It doesn't really matter which way you want to take that particular quotation. They mean the same thing in the sense of what Paul is pointing out. He's pointing out that Jesus Christ as our Savior, once again, superior to the angels. That's so important because as he goes on, he points out this connection once again, this family relationship in how the Father and His Christ are both God. Notice verse 8. To the Son he says, you, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. That's a quote from Psalm 45, verses 6 and verse 7. Like we said with this concept of the firstborn, he's emphasizing leadership, isn't he? Do you notice the connection there? And how it references leadership? Just in that one particular passage, it becomes really clear because he focuses on how Christ is leader. Do you notice how he says this? He says, your throne, that's one aspect. We have a throne of leadership. Then he also refers to here in verse 8. We have the scepter. And then there's the third aspect in leadership is the kingdom.

And so we have a reference to all three of those. In the leadership of Jesus Christ, he calls Him God. First of all, he says, your throne, O God. So Christ is clearly called God. Who's calling Him God here? Not only Paul, but back in the Psalms. Psalms is referring to Christ as God. And that idea of rulership is emphasized over and over again. So we have the rod of authority symbolizing that authority. We have the dignity, the power that is behind the throne, the royalty, you might say.

And then in the kingdom we have the dominion. We have the territory. We have the rule. And so all of those things are pointed to through Jesus Christ. And he's saying, look at this. This was prophesied. This was recognized in the Old Testament. And so he continues to point that out through the end of the chapter. Notice verse 9. Continuing that quote from Psalm 45. It says, you have loved righteousness, hated lawlessness.

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you. Your God, the Father, has anointed you, Jesus Christ, with the oil of gladness, more than your companions. And so we see that clearly pointing to Christ. Christ is the anointed one. He is the Messiah. This anointed one and this anointing is not one that's for healing. This anointing is connected to the anointing of a king. This is the anointing that a king would have. One of rulership, one of rejoicing, one of excitement, one of anticipation of a new king to rule over.

And so, of course, he's ruling over the kingdom of God. And so Paul is making that connection here to Christ. And then once again, verse 10, "...you, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands." Who's that talking about? The Father? No. If you thought it was the Father before, Paul makes it very clear.

This is Psalm 102, verse 25. That's the sixth reference to the Old Testament. And in the Psalms, these words were addressed to God, the Father, in a sense. Now, where's Paul applying them? To Christ. So the only logical connection here then that you can come to is that the Son is the God that's addressed here in the Psalms. That's Jesus Christ. And so Paul draws that connection. It says, "...they all perish, you'll remain, they all grow old like a garment." So just like the earth, he says, he laid the foundations, but you know what?

It's not going to last. Even though we know this earth to be solid, we lay a foundation, you put down footers and secure your building. And yet, no matter how permanent that seems, we're showing that that's just a temporary thing. That's going to grow old just like old clothing. And so what is he pointing out then should be our foundation. You trust in the earth, you trust in your foundation, you trust in whatever it may be.

He says, that's not going to remain. That's not going to stick around. What's really going to stick around is God the Father and Jesus Christ and what their plans are all about. So he's saying our foundation has to be in God. Our foundation cannot be in any physical thing. So he points back to Christ as that foundation. So he says in verse 12, like a cloak, you'll fold them up, like an old old clothes. They'll be changed. But you're the same and your years will not fail. So just like we throw away old worn out clothing, or we give it away, he says, it's going to be folded up.

That's what's going to happen to the universe. The universe is going to be folded up just like old clothes. And in fact, then he goes on in verse 13, That's the seventh quote as we get to the end of the chapter from the Old Testament, Psalm 110, verse 1. Who does it apply to? Jesus Christ. And once again, he draws in that family relationship of a father and a son. In fact, he uses the qualifier there, doesn't he? But to which of the angels? To what angel? He qualifies it. In other words, by saying, there is no angel that rises to that level. He qualifies that. No angel could possibly fulfill that statement that was made in the Psalms.

And so it can only apply to Jesus Christ. And then he kind of concludes this section by talking about angels. Verse 14, So the angels are called to be servants. They serve us. They're ministering spirits. Yeah, they have a lot of different duties. But whether they're ministering, protecting, serving, maybe delivering a message, whatever it may be, ultimately their ultimate purpose is to assist God in carrying out His plan for man.

And so they are ministering spirits. And it's also interesting, as we point to Christ and His supremacy, He uses all the angels, all the ministering spirits here in verse 15, saying there's no exceptions. There's no exceptions. So Christ is all in all. And I know we've gone just a couple of minutes overtime, but I want to maybe draw your attention to one other thing here at the end of the chapter. He also points out in verse 13, verse 14 here, this concept of an inheritance. And that's really important because you can read through almost all the commentaries. And they have a problem with that.

They have a problem with an inheritance because they want to only apply it to property or possessions. But Paul has set this up so well that it's hard to miss the point. When you talk about an inheritance, what do you find in this relationship? You see, the inheritance really isn't a physical thing. It's not a possession in that way. You can't substitute the word possession for inheritance, which is the way most commentaries like to understand this. The only way you can understand this after everything that Paul has written in this first chapter is he's pointing to the fact that God has a plan. And that plan is a family plan. And Christ as the Son is the forerunner to that plan. And so when you realize the inheritance then for you and I means we have the opportunity to be children in the family of God. That makes sense. That fits with this whole concept of an inheritance. Not just being a possession, not just being a thing, but ultimately the possession of being a true child of God in His family, in the kingdom forever. And that's where Paul is going to lead us as we go on from here. Okay, we did have one question come in, but I'm going to ignore it for the moment because we will be able to answer that as we get into some other things a little bit farther down the line. Question here. Well, we're cutting it a little short trying something a little bit different tonight. So since I finished the chapter, I think I'll leave it at that because I know I won't get through chapter 2. And it'll be easier for the next time out to pick it up at chapter 2. Yes. Did I miss one? Okay, I'll have to look. Oh, okay. What was the... let's see... 1225. Is that where it was? Oh, the denial! Yes, there it is. Right. Okay, you got it. Okay, I didn't write it down. Was that like right about here? Okay, denied. Okay, we'll put that in right here. How's that? All right, good. Thank you. I appreciate that. If I didn't have 7, it would be incomplete. I just got done making that point about 7. So I definitely want to be completed with that. All right, well, we'll leave it at that for now. Thank you for tuning in. We'll look forward to two weeks from tonight. We'll pick it up in chapter 2 in the book of Hebrews. Have a good evening.