Hebrews, the Introduction
The Introduction
The book of Hebrews is introduced with some truly wonderful words.
Hebrews 1:1-4
1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. (NASB)
Right at the outset we see that the Hebrew scriptures, what we call the Old Testament, was God speaking. One fascinating detail here is that the writer says that He spoke in many “portions” and in many ways. That word portions is the Greek word πολυμερῶς (polumerōs). This word tells us that the things Father said was given in parts. It tells us that what was given was fragmentary. The words were also given in many different ways. Sometimes the point Father wanted to communicate was shown by example. It was lived out in the lives of people like Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joseph, and so on. In other cases it was shows in the form of visions such as “Jacob’s ladder” or Ezekiel’s vision of the wheels. In all these ways and more, Father provided shadows that showed bits and pieces of information about who He is and what His plan for rescuing mankind would provide. As we would later come to see, these shadows were cast by Jesus Christ. Jesus is the reality that casts the shadows seen in the Old Testament.
Hebrews makes note of this fact in saying that now the Word of God to us is found in His Son Jesus, the Christ. This dovetails very nicely with John’s comments in John Chapter One about Jesus being the Word who was with God from the beginning and indeed was God, and his use of light to describe the effect of Jesus on the world. He came to bring us the light of understanding so that we could see once and for all our dire situation and the salvation He was making available.
We also see here that God made the world through Jesus and that Jesus is the exact representation of Father’s nature. I really love that point. It has helped me a lot over the years. I sometimes get tempted to fall back into my old legalistic view of God the Father. My thoughts remember that I used to see Him as a harsh taskmaster up in heaven counting all my failures and punishing me for every imperfection. But passages like this remind me that Jesus is the exact representation of Father’s nature. (see also Colossians 1:15) When I think of how Jesus treated the woman caught in adultery, the woman at the well, and other sinners, I know beyond doubt that Father loves me, is kind and gentle with me, and wants the best for me.
Next, we learn that Jesus uphold all things by the word of His power. This is echoed in Colossians 1:17 where we read that, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” (NASB) This is such a comfort. With the turmoil that constantly swirls around us here in the valley of the shadow of death, it is encouraging to know that He holds everything together and He holds the future. Our lives are secure in Him and our inheritance will never be tarnished or fade away. (see 1 Peter 1:4)
All these truths about Jesus are noteworthy and give us cause for rejoicing. But Jesus went beyond even this and made purification sins. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Once and for all, the sin issue between mankind and God is resolved. By His grace, when we change our mind about our ability to be righteous and put our trust in Him alone for our right relationship with God, our every last sin we will ever commit is completely and forever forgiven. It is completely finished. Jesus declared this in His final words from the cross. (see John 19:30) As evidence of that face, Jesus sat down at the right hand of God the Father. There He rests from the work He came to earth to perform. Ephesians 1:20 also tells us this, “He [the Spirit of God] raised Him [Jesus] from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,” (NASB) Even better, there we who have the Spirit rest with Him in the heavenly realms as we read in Ephesians 2:5-6 “5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, [God] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” (NASB)
Hebrews is a book that I used to avoid. In it are found passages that some misunderstand and misuse to say that our salvation and our standing with God might be at risk. Nothing could be further from the truth. I hope that you will find Hebrews to be refreshing and confidence building. It is filled with truth that points to just how profound, real, and gracious God is toward us.
