Sermon Tone Analysis

Overall tone of the sermon

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God’s Promise To Man
THIS BROKEN WORLD IS BEING REPLACED
God’s Plan / Purpose, Is Right on Course
the world to come The expectation of a future, ideal world closely parallels references to the Israelites expecting a heavenly country (Heb 11:14–16) and something better (11:40).
Christ’s work inaugurates the presence of the world to come (2 Cor 5:17).
The author mentioned this “world” in 1:6 (and in the larger topic of Jesus’ exaltation to heaven as the Davidic royal Messiah in 1:5–14).
It is a “world to come,” a realm subjected to the Son already in heaven but yet to come on earth (cf.
vv.
8–9; 6:5; 13:14).
The early Jewish and Christian view was that the Messiah’s future reign is already established in heaven but will come to earth in the end times (see notes on 11:10, 16; 12:22–24; 13:14).
MEANTIME, TROUBLE CONTINUES HERE
Jesus Said There Would Continue To Be Opposition
With the increasing persecution, some of the Jewish Christians became discouraged.
They began to doubt whether Christianity really was God’s new and victorious way to the eternal kingdom.
In their view, Judaism appeared to be as firm as ever, whereas Christianity appeared to be heading for disaster.
Some had stopped attending Christian meetings and even given up their Christian faith and gone back to Judaism (Heb 10:25–31).
The letter to the Hebrews was written to reassure the Jewish believers and prevent them from slipping back to their former religious practices (Heb 2:1–3).
21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”
FAITH WAITS WITH EXPECTANT HOPE
The author is discussing this new order introduced by Christ which makes obsolete the old dispensation of rites and symbols.
God did not put this new order in charge of angels.
During the reign of Nero (AD 54–68), persecution of Christians increased considerably.
This caused some Jewish Christians to wonder if they had done right in giving up their Jewish religion and becoming Christians.
They had believed, as Jesus and his followers taught, that the Jewish religion no longer served God’s purposes, that the priesthood and the sacrifices would come to an end, and that the temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed.
Yet, thirty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the temple was still standing and the Jewish religion was still functioning.
11 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
THE WRITER CHALLENGES US TO LIVE BY FAITH, NOT FEELINGS
God’s Problem With Man
This quotation from Ps. 8:4–6 (cf.
Heb.
4:4) displays God’s exalted care for the human race generally in his creation
The passage asks why God would ever bother with man.
What is man.
The Hebrew interrogation, מָה what, what kind of, implies “how small or insignificant” compared with the array of the heavenly bodies; not “how great is man.”
The words “What is man?” do not as the Hebrew text implies, mean, “how great is man?” but “what kind of” that is, “how small or insignificant is man?”
HIS IMAGE BEARERS
HIS IMAGE BEARERS
Psalm 8 contains descriptions of humanity that probably represent interpretations of Gen 1:26–28, where God creates His image-bearers and entrusts them with stewardship of creation.
HIS IMAGE BEARERS
The psalmist looks back to Gen 1:26–28 and marvels at God’s grace in forming humans in his image (“made them a little lower than the angels,” v. 7) as the glory of his creative work (“crowned them with glory and honor,” v. 7) and giving them dominion over the rest of creation (“put everything under their feet,” v. 8a).
THE STEWARDS OF CREATION
The wording of Ps 8:5a in v. 7a follows the Septuagint (the pre-Christian Greek translation of the OT: “angels,” Greek angeloi) rather than the other possible sense of the Hebrew (“god,” Hebrew ʾĕlōhîm).
The Hebrew term ʾĕlōhîm occasionally means “heavenly beings, angels” (e.g., Ps 82:1, 6, where the NIV renders it “gods”), and the Greek translators probably chose “angels” out of reverence, i.e., to avoid speaking too familiarly of God.
To refer to heavenly beings reflects an exalted position for humans without expressing something that may seem to denigrate God himself.
The Septuagint (the pre-Christian Greek translation of the OT), however, shows more clearly the superiority of the Son to angels, the larger theme of 1:5–2:18.
In spite of the superiority of angels to mankind, God had originally placed the administration of the earth into the hands of mankind (Gen.
1:26–28).
NO LONGER MASTER OF HIMSELF
In spite of the superiority of angels to mankind, God had originally placed the administration of the earth into the hands of mankind (Gen.
1:26–28).
The words, “But now we see not yet all things put under him,” point to the fact that Adam through his fall into sin, lost the dominion he had before enjoyed.
He was no longer master of himself.
He had become a fallen creature, with a totally depraved nature.
He was a slave to sin.
The animal kingdom was subservient to him not now through affection but fear.
The ground, instead of yielding only good things, now produced also thorns, weeds, and other harmful things.
Extremes of heat and cold, poisonous reptiles, earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes, all conspired to make his life a constant battle to survive.
He had lost the dominion over all these things.
THIS ESTABLISHES THE REASON FOR OUR TROUBLE AND REMOVES ALL REASON FOR COMPLAINT
God’s Provision Of A Man
JESUS - GOD OUR SAVIOUR
But now, in the midst of this dark picture of man’s lost dominion, the writer calls our attention to a bright beam of light that pierces the surrounding gloom.
It is Jesus.
When the reader of the English translation comes to this name here, at once there flashes into his mind the Jesus of the Gospels, the Jesus of Paul, the Saviour of lost sinners.
And that is all good, so far as it goes.
But to the Jewish reader of the Greek text of this letter, the reaction would be somewhat different.
He would say to himself that the name Jesus in the Greek text is just the transliteration of the Hebrew name Jehoshua (̔εηοσηυα), the name of the God of Israel that points to His distinctive nature as the One who saves.
The idea of Deity would come to his mind.
We do not see man triumphant, but we do see Jesus, for the author is not ashamed of his human name, realizing man’s destiny, “the very one who has been made a little lower than the angels”, quoting and applying the language of the Psalm in verse 7 to Jesus (with article τον [ton] and the perfect passive participle of ἐλατταω [elattaō]).
But this is not all.
Death has defeated man, but Jesus has conquered death.
Christ is introduced as Son in the first chapter; here he is called Jesus.
By using the personal name Jesus, the author of the epistle draws attention to the historical setting of Jesus’ suffering and death.
We assume that the name was vivid in the minds of the first readers of the epistle because of the steady preaching of the gospel.
These readers were acquainted with the details of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.
HUMBLED AND EXALTED
Because of man’s disobedience in Paradise and the curse God placed upon him (), sinful man could never fully experience the state that is described in .
But, says the author of the epistle, we see Jesus.
He suffered death and gained the victory.
He wears the crown of glory and honor, and rules the universe.
In fact, even though the author does not explicitly state it, all things are subject to Christ (see ; ).
Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” ().
THE ONLY SAVIOUR
The death of Jesus was purposeful in that it provided benefits, as the author writes, “for everyone.”
This expression does not imply universal salvation, for the writer in the broader context mentions that “many sons” (not all the sons) are brought to glory (2:10) and that they are called Jesus’ brothers (2:11–12).
Jesus accomplished the redemption of his people by tasting death, so that his people may live and rule with him.
The text does not say that Jesus died, but that he tasted death for everyone.
The words to taste death are “a graphic expression of the hard and painful reality of dying which is experienced by man and which was suffered also by Jesus.”
The vision of Jesus which the writer wishes to bring to his readers is that of the Son incarnate, glorified, crowned with glory and honor, seated at the right hand of God, a position of glory and honor which the saved of the human race will share with Him in His future glory and earthly dominion.
That is the glorious ray of light which the writer brings into the dark picture of man’s present estate.
Wuest, K. S. (1997).
Wuest’s word studies from the Greek New Testament: for the English reader (Vol.
10, p. 58).
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
JESUS SAVES, IS THUS ESTABLISHED, WHATEVER MEN MAY DO
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