Hebrews Part 3
Notes
Transcript
Recap:
Recap:
Tonight we are going to start in verse 10,
and we will finish chapter 1 this week.
and get into chapter 2.
Recall our overarching theme from lesson one:
From good to better.
We now have a better prophet
a better priest
a better king
a better covenant
a better rest
a better everything
Because Christ is better.
Now, in verse 10-12 we are going to see why Jesus is better.
10 And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;
11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment,
12 like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”
Ok, so here Ps 102:25-27 is being quoted verbatim
and the writer of Hebrews,
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
Is attributing all of that to the Son.
But, if we go read Psalm 102
we do not find any hint that the author of that Psalm
is talking about the son, or the Christ, or the Holy One, or the Son of David
or any other messianic term.
Ps102 is talking about God the Father himself
and the Father alone.
And yet, here Ps102 is being applied to the SON.
So, what the writer of Hebrews is doing,
is establishing that the Son is God the Father.
He already said that he was the exact imprint of God the Father in verse 3
and that the Son holds all the power that belongs only to God the Father
And that the Son is the Creator and inheriter of all things simulataneously
Remember, John said also he was in the world, and the world was made by him
And so here in verse 10
10 And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;
He just takes the words of the Psalmist that were about God the Father
and says, God was talking about the Son here.
But how is there?
Ps 102 says zero things about the son.
It doesn’t even hint about the Messiah in my opinion.
The song is singing praises to YHWH alone.
And part of that praise is that God the Father created all things.
but then, the psalmist go onto to say that everything you created will change
but you will remain the same.
11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment,
and then in verse 12, it is repeated
12 like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”
So, here is what is happening here.
and it is easy to miss.
Number 1: The Son is God
Number 2: God never changes
So, the writer of Hebrews is now giving up permission
To read any passage in the OT that refers to YHWH
and think about Jesus
Because Jesus is not some other person
or some other God
Jesus is the Same yesterday, today, and forever
In fact, he will say these exact words as he fleshes out this argument.
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
So, when you read about God,
You are always reading about the same God
Because Jesus is that same God
That’s why we can read Ps 102
which was originally understood to be God the Father
by anyone who read that song
and know that it is the same God that was robed in flesh and dwelt among us
And God the Father did not change into the Son
No, that is modalism
But God the Father IS the Son
Because God never changes
Jesus said this in John chapter 5
39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
Here, “Scriptures” is referring to the OT
And Jesus said, when you are reading the OT
It is talking about me
Why?
Because Jesus is God manifested in the flesh
And God never changes
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever
So, this really huge here,
and I’m not sure if I’m articulating how important it is
So, let me just restate it as clear as possible
The writer of Hebrews is taking a Psalm that is 100% about God the Father
and saying, this song is about the Son
and here is why..
Because God never changes
If Jesus is God
Then Jesus is the only God there ever was
God the Father.
This is the main difference between Oneness and Trinitarianism
Oneness says that the Son is God the Father in the flesh.
Trinitarians say that the Son is God the Son in the flesh.
However, The writer of Hebrews tells us that the Son is God the Father
And gives us an interpretive rule here that Trinitarians cannot follow
And that is, whenever you read about God the Father in the OT
You are reading about the same God that is in the Son.
And that God is always the same
Everything else that he created is changing
but God remains the same.
The Lord gave me a thought on this topic one day
and I wrote it down in a note file on my phone
Holiness has to do with changing
And the reason God cannot change is because he is holy
But the reason we must change is because we need to be holy.
The Bible tells us “be holy for he is holy”.
We have to be Holy
But God IS holy.
So, God showed me this…
God can never change or he would not be holy
and we must change or we would not be holy.
It is his ability to remain the same that makes him holy forever
And if we are to be holy, we must change
13 And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?
Remember, the writer had argued that the Son is greater than the angels
and according to the created order
The only thing higher than the angels is God
So, the Son is God
and here is some more evidence
God never said this about the angels…
Sit ...
And this is a quote from Ps 110.1
1 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
We already talked about this last week when Ps 45 was quoted
But Ps 110 is the psalm that Jesus quoted
and left the Pharisees speechless
when he asked
How can David call his own son “Lord”?
They just walked away and didn’t ask Jesus any more questions.
Because that left them dumbfounded
But the only way that David can call his own Son Lord
is if his own Son is more than a natural human descendent.
Because David was taught that there is only one Lord
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
And yet, David says, the Messiah will be called Lord
14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
Here we have a rhetorical question being asked
Something Paul did often
The answer is “yes”, the angels are all spiritual servants
Ministering here means serving.
So, the contrast being drawn here is that the Son is not a servant
He is sitting at the right hand of God
which means he is in the position of power that belongs only to God the Father.
as we discussed last week at length.
So, the Son is in charge, sending out angels
and the Angels are servants, being sent out.
And now, we enter chapter 2 :)
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Let’s read verses 1-4,
and then break them down.
1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,
3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,
4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Go back to verse 1
1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
“Therefore”
This first word is “dia” in the Greek
and it literally means “by”.
However, it can also mean “because of” or “on account of”
Which is why it is translated as “therefore” here in the ESV.
The NASB says “For this reason”.
The implication is that everything stated in chapter 1
is the reason we need to pay closer attention to what we have heard.
Otherwise, we will drift away from it.
What is it?
Drift away from what?
The answer is the message of salvation from the Son
and I’ll demonstrate that as we read on,
but first let me frame the argument being made.
The Angels delivered messages
and anyone that disobey their message paid for it.
So, how can we escape judgment
if we heard our message from the Son
who, according to chapter 1, is greater than the angels?
The writer establishes that the Son is greater than the angels
and then uses a mixture of rhetorical questions
and Ah Fort-ee-ore-ee,
as you might recall is a from lessor to greater style of argumentation
So, the argument is this:
If we disobeyed angels and were punished
How much more will be punished if we disobey the Son
Since the Son is greater than the angels
in fact, the Son is God himself.
Verse 1 gives us the reason we need to pay attention to “what we have heard”
Meaning to what Jesus told us.
And that reason is because the Son is greater than the Angels
2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,
Verse 2 establishes that first part of the argument
That the angels had a reliable message
and those that transgressed it or disobeyed
received justice.
3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,
Verse 3 builds on that argument by saying that
If our father’s didn’t escape judgement by disobeying
the angels
then how will we escape judgement if we disobey God himself.
Notice, it says our message came from “The Lord”.
Not from angels
and not even from the Son
But from the Lord
Because when the Son speaks, who is speaking?
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
God the Father used to speak through prophets
They were his messengers
and that is what Angel really means
A messenger
So, if you disobey his angels
you received judgement
but..
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
Who is speaking here?
God the Father is speaking IN the Son…
So, it is the Lord Himself speaking to us.
Not a messenger
Not an angel
not a prophet
but God himself
Which is why this argument works.
God is greater than the angels
So when we heard the New Covenant
It didn’t come from prophets, messengers, or angels
it came from God himself.
3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,
“The Lord” declared it.
Now we already discussed at length in lesson one what my interpretation of this verse it.
I believe that Paul is the writer
and that Paul is saying that he heard directly from the Lord
and then what he heard was later attested or confirmed
by others who heard directly from the Lord
namely, the apostles.
However, they didn’t just hear the word.
There was also a demonstration of the Spirit.
4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
So, Paul is reminding them
This gospel is true because we heard it directly from Jesus
and Jesus is God
and God proved it was true by the miracles, signs, and wonders that we saw.
And we are still seeing those miracles, signs and wonders today.
God is still a healer
God still uses us in the gifts of the Spirit
These things confirm the gospel is real.
The Reason for the Incarnation
The Reason for the Incarnation
Ok, the author has just made the argument that the Son is higher than the angels
and that the Son is God
And therefore, we need to obey the message of salvation from the Lord.
Now, the author needs to explain how God
Who is higher than the angels
can even accomplish what Jesus accomplished in the NT
Namely, dying on the cross.
How can He die if he is really greater than the angels?
The simple answer is the incarnation.
When God was manifested in the Flesh.
God With us.
Emmanuel
And that is what is about the be presented.
The Case and reason for the Incarnation of God.
5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.
6 It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?
7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor,
8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
Here, the author is quoting David’s 8th Psalm.
And showing that God is mindful of man.
And that men are lower than the angels
but that God is “putting” everything in subjection to “the son of man”.
Remember, he is writing to Hebrews,
so, the use of the OT is powerful here
There is a masterclass being presented on how to prove that the OT
truly testifies about Jesus.
Because the readers would know this Psalm
and they would understand that men are lower than angels
but they also know that they don’t have a crown
and they don’t have all things subjected under their feet
so, what does that part of David’s prophetic Psalm mean?
Paul is about to tell us.
Because he full well knows, according to the end of verse 8…
that “we don’t have “at present” everything under subjection.”
So, David was surely talking about a future event.
but what event?
9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Paul says that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy.
He is the son of man that was crowned with Glory and Honor that David was speaking of.
It was Jesus that was made a little lower than the angels
To be made lower, he had to first be higher
which is what chapter 1 was about.
God is higher than the angels
but during the incarnation,
God, as a man, was made a little lower than the angels.
but why?
So that he could taste death for everyone.
And that is the reason for the incarnation
The only reason for it really.
God cannot die as a Spirit
but as a man, he could taste death for everyone
And that is the one thing that was not under subjection
but now, through Jesus, even death has lost its sting.
10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
Here in verse 10, we have this word “Founder”.
Other translation use:
Captain
Pioneer
Author
etc.
The word means, “one who begins something”. It is a trailblazer, or pioneer.
The author of Hebrews here,
is now making the argument that the one who initiates salvation
should do it through suffering.
He says “it is fitting”.
Why is it fitting?
The answer is found in the last verse of this chapter.
18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
In other words,
God had to become one of us
To save all of us.
He needed to “feel” the human condition of suffering
That is why he was made a little lower than the angels.
That is the reason for the incarnation.
So he could feel what you feel.
11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
He who sanctifies is the Son
Those who are sanctified are us
and the “one Source” is the Father.
11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,
11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.
The incarnation gave God a shared human expierence
He was in the world
and the world was made by him.
He was God with us.
and therefore, he was one of us.
for a little while, he was a man that was lower than the angels
and it was so that he could feel what we feel
The incarnation made us brothers of the Son of God
And simultaneously made a way for us to be Sons of God ourselves.
Pure Genius if you ask me.
Then, as per standard, the writer appeals to the OT for examples
He quotes Ps 22, and from Is 8.18 in verses 12 and 13.
12 saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
13 And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.”
So, Paul is using these OT passages to show that God had always intended on having siblings who were simultaneously children.
We are Brothers through the incarnation
and sons of God through the baptism of the Holy Spirit
14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
Here we see how Ps 8 was fulfilled through Jesus.
Death, the last enemy was defeated through the death of Christ.
by defeating the one who had the power of death, that is the devil.
15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
“All those” refers to us.
We are also delivered from the devil through the death of Christ.
16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
The angels didn’t need help. they were not suffering
It was mankind that was suffering
so, it only makes sense that God became a man save mankind
Paul is stating the obvious here.
But tying it back to Abraham
because the Hebrews are sons of Abraham
And so are we, through faith.
17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Verse 17 and 18 are reiterating the reason for the incarnation.
During the incarnation, God was like mankind in every respect.
He had to grow, eat, sleep, feel pain, rejection, ect.
He was tempted in every way, as we will read soon
and all of this was so that he would be merciful and faithful high priest on our behalf.
and save his brothers.
18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Because he suffered, he can save those who are suffering
What a beautiful story that only God could have written
that’s why we call it HIStory.
Okay, so just to sum up the first two chapters.
The son is greater than angels
because the son is in fact God himself
So, we must listen to his message of salvation
which is better than the old message of the old covenant
and in this New Covenant
God himself became lower than the angels
to taste death for us
to suffer, so that he could save those who are suffering.
