The Radiance of the Son

Introduction

Learning the song about all the books and their themes.

What do you know about the book of Hebrews? If I were to ask you questions like who wrote it and what are the themes would you be able to answer? I wonder for how many books of the Bible have we become familiar with enough so that we can draw upon them....

Today we begin a journey through the book of Hebrews. As a church we will look at every part of this book together and this is important for several reasons. First we want to teach the Bible. We want to teach the good, the challenging, and the confusing things of scripture and to promote scriptural pursuits throughout our community.

Let me introduce some of the background info. Hebrews is an intentional choice because of the context. We are post Easter, in the Easter season and have talked about the significance of the resurrection, we have talked about God revealing himself through Jesus to us even today. The book is written most likely in the late first century. Scholars debate on exact dating. We know that at the end of the first century Christian leaders have read the book because they make references to it in their writing. Most likely written around the height of first century persecution and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.

The readers were most likely believers young in their faith. The author challenges their maturity in different places. They from my best estimation are like the 3 soils of the parable of the sower:

Some seed falling on the path and the birds grab it immediately, some on rocky places where the seed sprang up quickly but was too shallow to endure the weather, others following among thorns.

Raymond Brown writes:

This magnificent letter to the Hebrews was written to a group of first-century Christians who were in danger of giving up. It is clear from even a casual reading of the letter that the times were hard for Jewish Christians especially. Many of them had been exposed to fierce persecution. They had been physically assaulted, their homes had been plundered; some had been cast into prison on account of their faith, others had been ridiculed in public because of their resolute trust in Jesus (10:32–34). Many of these Jewish Christians had accepted all this adversity joyfully. But others had ‘shrunk back’ from their earlier allegiance to Christ and became apostates. Without going that far, others were in danger of compromise. The letter appeals to all these severely tested believers to keep their faith firmly anchored to the moorings of truth, to maintain their steady confidence in Christ and to press on to mature Christian stability (2:1; 3:6; 6:1).1

1 Brown, R. (1988). The message of Hebrews: Christ above all (p. 13). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

In the middle of hardship these new Christians are finding it difficult to press on. They are measuring the losses with what they have in faith. They are likely finding their faith to be insufficient. At the very least they are getting to the end of their emotional attachment to Jesus and finding the necessity of something more.

I wonder if there is anyone here today that could be put right into that audience?

Ok, so who wrote it?

If I can be honest, for the longest time I just assumed Paul wrote it. I mean in the NT it is safe to assume Paul wrote the book you are reading and you would be right 70 percent of the time. Some do think it was Paul but that is mainly because of a reference to Paul’s confidant Timothy. However, most scholars do not believe it to be Paul as the greek is so very different than anything else he wrote and in most cases Paul identifies himself in his letters.

Arguments for Clement of Rome, a man named Silvanus, Tertullian believed strongly that it was Barnabas “the good man” mentioned in Acts. Still others like Martin Luther believe it to be Apollos, the “eloquent man” from Alexandria who was “well versed in scriptures, .

To our modern sensibilities we have a hard time not knowing who the author is. It is immediately deemed less than in our subconscious. But this need not be the case.

A book written from a Jewish expositor of the Old Testament and an authoritative and credible survey of what Christ has become in the fulfilment of God, written to a Jewish Christian audience in need of a reminder. The author is clearly known by the audience and respected.

So what does one say to a people in this experience of hardship?

In the coming months we will look at the presentation and declaration from God and through this author that the answer is to focus on Jesus. Do not drift from this focus.

Drift graphic.....Cause you know when you are in the ocean and the waves come....and then you look up and you are a mile from where you thought you were.....this is the message.

Jesus is the greatest messenger, the highest priest, the ultimate sacrifice, and He has changed everything for those in the faith

And I love that he does it not in a lecture or even a letter as in Paul’s writings, but the author writes a sermon. The book of Hebrews is a sermon and written to be spoken.

The Sermon

Our text today is the introduction to the sermon. It does not just begin with a thought or an greeting or a thesis statement as a trestise would, but it begins with the sound of the preacher’s voice. If I were able to read this in greek in a way that would give it justice, you would hear beauty and rhythm, alliteration. 5 words in the first verse are the begin with the greek P sound. Well thought out and delicately placed words of a crafty wordsmith. Though the book of Hebrews is filled with profound theological declarations, it is delivered by an expositor bringing the inspiration of God to a people in need.

So the preacher begins with a strong declarative statement about Christ. In the past God has been revealing himself to the world through messengers and in different ways....but now he has spoken to us by his son.

I just need you to hear this today....faith in Christ is not about your finding him like he is hidden. It is about God speaking and grabbing your attention.

Thomas Long:

Revelation is not human beings bringing ourselves to the place where we can see God hidden in every flower, star, and cloud, but God bringing us to the awareness that the heavens are preaching a word we could not know on our own and that flowers, stars, clouds—indeed the whole universe, as well as the entire fabric of human history—are telling a story of God’s glory beyond our imagining. Revelation is not primarily the discovery of some grand design stealthily concealed in the complex patterns of nature, awaiting a science sophisticated enough to map it, but a shout in the street crying news we could not have anticipated, news that God is at work in creation, providing and saving, reconciling and judging, nurturing and healing. God speaks.1

1 Long, T. G. (1997). Hebrews (p. 7). Louisville, KY: John Knox Press.

Then He brings these important truths right to the front....

1. The radiance of the glory of God

I wish I had time to break this verse down. There is a lot jammed into these few words. The preacher is proclaiming that Jesus is eternal, there at the beginning, not created. There was not a time when the glory of God did not exist.

2. The exact representation of his being or his nature

John 8:19 NIV

Then they asked him, “Where is your father?” “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

John 8:19

Paul: He is the image of the invisible God.

Think about this Christian....to know Jesus is to know the creator of the universe.

3. The upholder, sustainer of all things by his powerful word

(an echo of the creative word in )

Jesus there at the beginning. The declaration of .... in the beginning was the word. the word was with God and the word was God. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

4. The one who provided purification for sins

The Son of God is the one became the sacrificial lamb, the consequence of sin so that we could be restored

5. The occupant of the throne at the right hand of the majesty in heaven

5. The occupant of the throne at the right hand of the majesty in heaven

And he is King,

What an opening!

Look to Jesus

While this preacher is doing a lot here, I have one point for you today that I think we can gather from all of this. Pick your eyes off of your problems and look to Jesus.

The preacher of Hebrews chose specifically to begin this way, not with some bad preacher joke to get you laughing and forget all your issues for a minute, or some sappy story, or some movie quote intro (do you know that they make books for preachers to pull out illustrations....like made up stories and jokes?) The preacher does not even begin with describing their challenges like some would to establish empathy or develop his reason for writing....

No.

He goes straight to the point. I want you to look at Jesus.

Have you ever heard the bumper sticker line.... Stop telling God how big your problems are, start telling your problems how big your God is.

He goes further. Forget your problems for just a second, look to the sustainer and creator of all things. Look to the one who gave his life as ransom. Look to the one who is alive and on the throne.

Friends, I have a word for you today. Jesus is not a band-aid. He is not a solution to your problems. He is not your key to happiness. He is not just a healer hurts. He is life. God incarnate and He sits on the throne.

Some of you are praying for Jesus to heal your marriage, but until he becomes more than your marriage you are missing it. More than your kids, more than your job, more than the answer to your problems.

Oh man, if you press into him you will find healing and restored relationships along the way, but I want you to know the creator and sustainer of life, not just some remedy.

So the preacher preachers....

It finally stands or falls not on its irreducible logic but on its capacity to be the soil in which an event of faith grows in the imaginations of those who read it. The reader does not come to the end of Hebrews exclaiming, “Q.E.D.; that proves it!” but rather, “Amen! I hear this, I see this in the eye of faith, I believe this, I will live this!” When faith sounds in the ear, then it reverberates in the heart.1

It finally stands or falls not on its irreducible logic but on its capacity to be the soil in which an event of faith grows in the imaginations of those who read it. The reader does not come to the end of Hebrews exclaiming, “Q.E.D.; that proves it!” but rather, “Amen! I hear this, I see this in the eye of faith, I believe this, I will live this!” When faith sounds in the ear, then it reverberates in the heart.1

It finally stands or falls not on its irreducible logic but on its capacity to be the soil in which an event of faith grows in the imaginations of those who read it. The reader does not come to the end of Hebrews exclaiming, “Q.E.D.; that proves it!” but rather, “Amen! I hear this, I see this in the eye of faith, I believe this, I will live this!” When faith sounds in the ear, then it reverberates in the heart.1

1 Long, T. G. (1997). Hebrews (pp. 6–7). Louisville, KY: John Knox Press.