6) Hebrews - We See Jesus
Notes
Transcript
“Be Reconciled to God”
Root of Fruit Sin addressed “Unbelief, Pride, Selfishness”
Gathering
Voting, welcome to the Lord’s day.
Hand Out-Catechism - Reading Plan
Call to Worship
6 Although the price of redemption was not actually paid by Christ till after his incarnation, yet the virtue, efficacy, and benefit thereof were communicated to the elect in all ages, successively from the beginning of the world, in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices wherein he was revealed, and signified to be the seed which should bruise the serpent’s head; and the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, being the same yesterday, and today and for ever. (*1Co 10:4; Heb 4:2; 1Pe 1:10-11; h Rev 13:8; i Heb 13:8)
Corporate Prayer -
Worship through Song
Scripture Reading
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” 29 God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This will be food for you, 30 for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth—everything having the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.
Worship through Song
Worship through Song
Sermon
Prayer
Introduction
Introduction
We continue to seek the will and words of God this morning. We are continuing in chapter two of the book of Hebrews. Today we are continuing the first half of the authors writings on the Superiority of Christ, Chapters 1 and 2. He starts with this great introduction and preamble to the entire book.
1 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. 2 In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 4 So he became superior to the angels, just as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs.
He establishes who Jesus Christ is and what he has accomplished and where he sits today. The remainder of chapter one is focused on correcting some false beliefs in the church relating to the position of angels and their relationship to Jesus as the Son. To establish the superiority of Jesus by demonstrating through the OT that Jesus is the better.
He then breaks into this call to respond, this invitation to action. The beginning of chapter 2 reads:
1 For this reason, we must pay attention all the more to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away. 2 For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment, 3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation had its beginning when it was spoken of by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 At the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to his will.
He speaks to people who are in the gathering of the church who are in danger of drifting away, of neglecting the salvation that is in Christ. These people had heard the message, for they must have heard the message in order to neglect it. And they must not have been saved by the message because those who are saved do not need to worry about escaping.
These are people who know the Word have been presented the Gospel and even though they may enjoy the Christian life style and may model their life around Christian beliefs, they are in danger of drifting past.
In this section he gives 3 reasons to respond to the warning. The first is to accept the message by faith because of who Christ is. Chapter 1. Secondly he warns them of the reality of letting the message slip away. That they will receive the just payment for their transgression and disobedience. Thirdly he tells them to receive the message because it was God himself who confirmed the testimony of the apostles and the eye witnesses of Jesus through signs and wonders and gifts.
the author says here is Jesus, here is who he is and now lets correct some false beliefs for your sake. and I must warn some of you that you have seen the evidence but you do not have saving faith in the good news, in the gospel, in the saving message of Jesus. And now he continues to explain the message of the Gospel.
Man’s Dominion
Man’s Dominion
5 For he has not subjected to angels the world to come that we are talking about. 6 But someone somewhere has testified: What is man that you remember him, or the son of man that you care for him? 7 You made him lower than the angels for a short time; you crowned him with glory and honor 8 and subjected everything under his feet. For in subjecting everything to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. As it is, we do not yet see everything subjected to him. 9 But we do see Jesus—made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace he might taste death for everyone—crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death. 10 For in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was entirely appropriate that God—for whom and through whom all things exist—should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 12 saying: I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters; I will sing hymns to you in the congregation. 13 Again, I will trust in him. And again, Here I am with the children God gave me. 14 Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through his death he might destroy the one holding the power of death—that is, the devil—15 and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. 16 For it is clear that he does not reach out to help angels, but to help Abraham’s offspring. 17 Therefore, he had to be like his brothers and sisters in every way, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 For since he himself has suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
5 For he has not subjected to angels the world to come that we are talking about.
What is the world to come that we are talking about, it refers back to verse 6 of chapter 1.
6 Again, when he brings his firstborn into the world, he says, And let all God’s angels worship him.
The same Greek word is used in both places and he is speaking of this world to come. The author uses a word that defines an inhabited world to come. A world that is not yet but will be in the future. One that we know from chapter one has Jesus seated in ultimate authority and Jesus will bring his people into it and the angels will worship him.
In this new world, contrary to the belief of many of the Jews of the time, the angels will not be the rulers of. For he has not subjected this new world to the dominion of the angels.
Why would there be confusion about the dominion of the angels? Is it not the angels who, by the will of God, have dominion of this world?
19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.
This world is subjected to the angelic beings for a time. They have no authority that has not been allowed by God but they do have a current level of dominion. But this is temporary and a result of the fall and curse of man.
He continues with:
6 But someone somewhere has testified: What is man that you remember him, or the son of man that you care for him? 7 You made him lower than the angels for a short time; you crowned him with glory and honor 8 and subjected everything under his feet. For in subjecting everything to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. As it is, we do not yet see everything subjected to him.
Here the author says that someone somewhere has testified. The author is so focus on communicating that the words of the old testament are the words of God that throughout this entire book he will not mention the person that God used to deliver his message. He is quoting the greek translation of part of Psalm 8.
For the choir director: on the Gittith. A psalm of David. 1 Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth! You have covered the heavens with your majesty. 2 From the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you have established a stronghold on account of your adversaries in order to silence the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I observe your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you set in place, 4 what is a human being that you remember him, a son of man that you look after him? 5 You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: 7 all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild, 8 the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas. 9 Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth!
You will notice that in most current English translations will translate the word in verse 5 as God. the word Elo him means a heavenly being which there are two God or angels. The Septuagint or the Greek translation of the OT translated it as angels, the CSB God, and ESV as heavenly being. The Jews of the time took it to be angels and in this verse in Hebrews the ambiguity has been taken away as the author used the word angelos which is angel.
David is looking out into the heavens and seeing all that God has done and he asked who is man to you. You great and Holy God, what is man that you would even care for him. The word for care was used to describe a doctors visit. David sits and sees God and then looks out at man and says how is it that you care, that you have concern, that you remember him.
The son of man here has been argued that this is a reference to Christ as the son of man but it was also used as to describe humanity. And that is the more likely translation.
It is believed that David and the author of Hebrews had Genesis 1 in mind as they recorded God’s words.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”
In the beginning man was created with glory and honor. With dominion over everything and he was only a little lower than the angels by the fact that he was physically limited. As the angels are spiritual they are not bound by some of the same limitations of man. This is not that man is less loved or cared for but he was made different than the angels. Man was also not lower in a spiritual sense. Man had fellowship and spiritual life as they walked in the garden with God.
Sin’s Consequence
Sin’s Consequence
Hebrews 2:8 (CSB)
8 … As it is, we do not yet see everything subjected to him.
But this is not the world that we live in. Man is not in control of every thing. Because of the fall of man, because of the sin of Adam all of mankind was removed from this place of glory and honor and a curse was given to them. We do not see a world where even that animals are not under mans dominion. Man has fallen to the lowest level and there was an exchange of power. Mcaurther writes
Hebrews: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Man’s Destiny Restricted by Sin)
Because all mankind fell in Adam, because he lost his kingdom and his crown, we do not now see the earth subject to man. The earth originally was subject to man, and it supplied all his needs without his having to do anything. He had only to accept and enjoy the earth as it provided for him. Then, tempted by Satan, man sinned, and his tempter usurped the crown. There you see the change in the chain of command. Man fell to the bottom, and the earth, under the evil one, now rules man.
It did not take long for the effect of the fall to deliver the fruit of evil. we see murder, hatred, lust, uncontrollable passions and by the time you get to Noah the entire world has revealed that not only has man no control over any created thing but in reality he does not even have control over himself. The is in bondage to a new master and that is the mater of sin and the great tempter Satan is running amuck with every kind of temptation.
1 John 5:19 (CSB)
19 ...the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.
From that point forward men and women have been trying to regain dominance and dominion over everything and everyone in their own power. Over the council of history we see this consistent charge forward to oppress and control anything possible.
We look out in our world today and we ask “It must be better today, right?” We have learned something since the fall. We see the fight for control and dominance everywhere. We have the battle for dominance between men and women, between the races, between social classes, political affiliations. We see it in nations, and wars, we see it in the battle for ideologies. We see the battle for dominance in the home between husbands and wives and parents and children. We see it in the work place and in the schools. We even see it especially in religious organizations as leaders dominate over the lives of their people by manipulation and power.
We live in a world that wants to control people. They try to control by manipulating information, controlling how we spend money and our time. What we see and here. We are researched and categorized and quantified for the soul attempt to make a person behave in a certain way. That is control.
Does this sound like the world we live in? It should be.
No matter how hard man tries to recover what was lost he will never be able to do so on his own power. Man has and will continue to pursue this forever because sin is present in all of it.
The curse of the fall has to be removed
The Curse Removed
The Curse Removed
9 But we do see Jesus—made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace he might taste death for everyone—crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death.
Psalm 8 has been debated as to the extent that it is focused on Christ or man and many today that David spoke of it as mankind but the author of Hebrews links Christ to the Psalm at least in the method and the author of this return to glory.
Jesus’ was incarnated in this world as a man. He did not come as an angel he came as a man as one of those that will rule in the everafter. He came as a man to be the king of kings of men and the lord of lord of men. Jesus is seated in the place of ultimate authority but men have not seen these promises come yet.
Even though we do not see the crown of glory returned to men we do see Jesus. Who was also made lower than the angel for a short time. for the expressed purpose of tasting, experiencing death for everyone. and he has received the crown because he has done this.
He is not speaking of seeing Jesus on a wall and in our presence. He is speaking of seeing Jesus through Faith. Spurgeon wrote:
Hebrews Exposition
He is not, indeed, in this text referring to any seeing of the Lord by mortal eyes at all; he is speaking of faith. He means a spiritual sight of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hebrews Exposition
Faith is the eye of the soul. It is the act of looking unto Jesus. In that act, by which we are saved, we look unto him and are saved from the very ends of the earth. We look to Him, and we find salvation.
We have the privilege to see Jesus. To see him when we wake up, to see him in our lives and in our homes. We have faith to see and what a great thing that we don’t have a king that is hidden. And those that have saving faith will get to see him from this day forward for the rest of time.
He has been crowned and established but we do not see him in this world as seated on the throne.
We see Jesus in our hope. We should long for that day. We should be in sorrow that that day has no come. That the Holy King is recognized in his place of honor.
We recognize his current place and we hope for our place to be re-established. We have been redeemed in condition but not in dominion.
We see Jesus, as we deal with our sin. As we still at times struggle to fight against lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. But we see Jesus that he has ended sin forever and that he has given us un-endending righteousness.
The ultimate penalty for the sin in the garden is death. By Adam’s actions, the human nature that was good was now corrupted with a sin nature, a fleshly nature, and the penalty for that was death. Without Satan's temptation in the garden and without Adam and Eve’s actions in disobedience to God there would be no death. No separation from God, no fall from grace.
Only Jesus who took on a second nature. A human nature but not one that was corrupted at ours is. An in that nature he lived a life of perfect obedience to the will of God and never sinned. So when he went to the cross and he died on the cross, death could not hold him because he had not occured any guilt. He did not deserve it. But all of mans sins were put on him. And e then imputes or puts on those who See Jesus in faith his righteousness.
5 For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, 7 since a person who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. 10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
We are united to Christ through faith. In being united to him we will see the dominion of man restored as we reign with Jesus.
9 And they sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slaughtered, and you purchased people for God by your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth.
We must fix our eyes our spiritual eyes our faith on Jesus continually and constantly. We must rejoice in our current position with him even if it has not been completely fulfilled.
Jesus is with us
20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Jesus is Life
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. 26 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Jesus is Family
4 When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Jesus is Love
10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Jesus in Victor
31 Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The hope we have is that this is not the final plan of God. That what was lost will be regained and more. We see scripture filled with promises of things that we do not see today.
21 “To the one who conquers I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
What do we put our faith in? What are we seeing?
Based on the state of the church I would have to argue that many are not seeing Jesus. They are impressed with their own ideas and works. Their faith is in themselves, in their organizations, in their politics or ideas. No seeing Jesus.
Hebrews The Difference Seeing Jesus Makes in Our Actions
If we see Jesus being always with us, from morning till evening, in life and in death, what noble Christians it will make us! Now we shall not get angry with each other so quickly. We shall see Jesus, and we cannot be angry when that dear loving face is in view. And when we have been affronted, we shall be very ready to forgive when we see Jesus. Who can hate his brother when he sees that face, that tender face, more marred than that of any man? May we each one of us have this, and may it be the expression of our life—“We see Jesus.” And then we shall be able to go farther and say, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21).
Prayer
Communion
19 And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Prayer
Song
Closing
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heav'nly hosts
Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost
Amen
Blessing/Benediction
20 Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 equip you with everything good to do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.