Congregational Bible Experience Day#71: Hebrews 1-3

Congregational Bible Experience Day #71
Bible Reading: Hebrews 1-3

Introduction: Writing at the end of the 19th Century, missionary-Pastor Andrew Murray wrote:
"It is as if nothing could be written more exactly suited to the state of the whole Church of Christ in the present day. The great complaint of all who have the care of souls is the lack of wholeheartedness, of steadfastness, of perseverance and progress in the Christian life. Many, of whom one cannot but hope that they are true Christians, come to a standstill and do not advance beyond the rudiments of Christian life and practice. Many more do not even remain stationary, but turn back to a life of worldliness, of formality, of indifference. And the question is continually being asked: what is lacking in our religion that, in so many cases, it gives no power to stand, to advance, to press onto perfection? And what is the teaching that is needed to give that health and vigour to the Christian life that, through all adverse circumstances, it may be able to hold firm from beginning to end? The teaching of this epistle is the divine answer to these questions."
Welcome to Hebrews.

There's a lot about 'Hebrews' that remains unknown.  What is it - is it a letter, or possibly a sermon? It clearly lacks the style of the other letters in the New Testament, which is why it may be an example of a 1st Century sermon (13:22). Who wrote it? Tradition says Paul, but the language and approach seem very different to Paul's other writings; the author is therefore unknown. Where was it written, and with which particular group of Jewish Christians in mind? No idea, no real clues.  But when we ask, what's it about? Then we are on firmer ground. The recipients of this document were showing unhealthy signs of a failure to grow as Christian disciples.

The Hebrews had certainly begun well in their response to Christ and the Gospel (see 10:32-34), but all too quickly they had cooled down in their love for Jesus and were becoming sluggish or dulled (5:21) in their relationship with God.  They were ignoring and disregarding God's Word in their lives. They were clearly immature (5:11-14), capable of feeding only on the milk (of God's Word) and not solid spiritual food - at any level. As a result, the strength of their faith was weakening, they were becoming weary and faint-hearted; some were indicating their desire to turn back from Christ which, according to our anonymous writer/preacher, will expose them to God's terrifying judgement.

It's also strongly probable that, as converted Jewish people (hence the book's title), many of them were becoming deeply disappointed and disillusioned with Christianity. The promised messianic Kingdom of blessing and joy and victory over the enemies of God people which Christ had promised and which they were expecting had not materialised as they understood it to happen. Most of their fellow Jews had decisively rejected Jesus as the promised Messiah, so maybe it was they themselves who had made the mistake. Furthermore, to profess Jesus as Lord was to invite antagonism and opposition from the surrounding Roman culture, whereas the Jews were largely left alone. The incentives to abandon their Christian faith and return to Judaism were clearly there and certainly attractive to some. In contemplating walking away from Jesus, they were on the brink of possible spiritual disaster. So how does our unknown preacher seek to bring these faltering disciples back from the edge?

In a complicated argument throughout the book (so don't be overly concerned if you can't follow his train of thought) he begins by reminding his readers that, down the generations, God has spoken to His people through His written Word (1:1), but now - fully, perfectly and finally - God has revealed Himself to us in and by His Son, Jesus (v2), the greatest of all the prophets - so we must listen to Him. Ezekiel had portrayed the glory of God (Ezek 1:28) but Jesus Himself reflected it (1:3); Isaiah had expounded the holiness, righteousness and mercy of God (Isaiah 1:4,18; 6:1-8), but Jesus displayed it (1:3); Jeremiah had described the power of God (Jer 1:18-19), but Jesus demonstrated it (1:3). Jesus surpassed these giant, Old Testament prophetic voices, so we cannot - must not - ignore Him, for He is God's ultimate prophetic voice.  Do we listen to Jesus' words as we should?

In addition, Jesus is God's Son (1:2), God's appointed heir (v2), God's creative agent (v2), God's personified glory (v3), God's perfect image (v3), God's sustaining sovereign (v3) and God's unique sacrifice (v3). Our writing preacher is trying to recapture his readers' hearts and minds with a renewed and expanded vision of who Jesus is, that they might once again bow before Him in adoring worship and praise. This is the primary theme in the early part of this book. They have stopped listening to Jesus and taking Him as seriously as they should because He has shrunk in their estimation: their Jesus is too small. As one writer says, 'The opening sentences of this letter are designed to bring them and us to our knees; only then can we hope to stand on our feet.' Is the Jesus we think of - our great, big God?

His (complex and difficult) argument continues:  in many ways, Jesus is far more superior to the angels (1:4-14),  therefore (2:1-4) we must hold onto His Gospel. Outside of this Gospel, we have no hope of salvation because there is no other hope. His superiority over the angels is seen in who He is and in what He came to do (2:5-13), for He is the "author ('pioneer') of our salvation" (v10): fully becoming human and experiencing humanity's pains (v6-9); rescuing us from shame to bring us to glory by His death (v10); securing our future eternity with God as our Father (v11-13) by overcoming and so freeing us from our enemies of sin (v17), death (v15) and the devil (v14). No angel could ever accomplish this.

 Jesus is also greater than the revered Law giver, Moses (3:1-6):  Moses was faithful as a 'servant' in God's house (v5), but Jesus is faithful as a 'Son' over God's House (v6). The preacher says: Reader, Jesus was faithful to God; will you be faithful to Him?  And underlines the importance of this by reminding everyone of the tragic hardness of heart of the Children of Israel in not listening to and heeding God's Word in unbelief (v7-19). This was that generation's downfall. Because of their unbelief, they died in the wilderness and so were barred from entering God's land of promise. The application? Let us not be similarly guilty of disregarding God's Word and repeat their mistake.