Hebrews 1:1-3
It’s New
Outline:
I. \\#1:1-3\\ Meet the New Speaker
II. \\#1:4-8:6\\ The New Is Better
A. \\#1:4-14\\ Than the Angels
Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in
divers manners spake in time past unto the
fathers by the prophets,
Last week, we began to look at the book of Hebrews. I spent a good
deal of time introducing the Book, then presented you with the first
point of the message. I’ll pick up on that same point. It was just
two words.
I. \\#1\\ God Spake
A. Concerning "God."
1. I spent a few minutes introducing God for we will have to
have understanding of who God is upfront, or we will fall
into confusion if not false complete doctrine.
2. I remind you of a phrase I gave: "One God, three Persons,
All equal, None the same."
a. I will not take the time to explain that phrase again,
but I will remind of your a few things:
(1) There is only one God, but He manifests Himself
in three Persons.
(2) I believe the Father is the One that is being
referred in the first word of this Book.
(3) He is the Architect and Author.
(4) As the Architect, the Father "designs and
assigns."
(5) The Father has even designed and assigned the
roles of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
(6) That will become evident not only in the next few
minutes, but throughout this whole Book.
b. I do not say that I understand that but I do say that I
do not have to.
c. I just have to believe that.
d. So God: One God, three Persons, All equal, None the
same."
B. Concerning "spake:"
1. God is the Author.
a. God is the Author of all things.
(1) Not just of the Bible but all things.
(2) Nothing exists that He did not begin.
b. Concerning this Book, we may not know who the human
penman was, but we know who the Author is, GOD.
2. This Book is then the inspired, preserved, Word of God—a
book to be held to by faith for understanding with
obedience.
C. The Phrase; "unto the fathers by the prophets"
1. The "fathers" - Again, we do not know who the penman is but
he is Jewish. We can tell that by the fact that he refers
to the Old Testament Jews as his fathers.
2. God spake "by the prophets." That was not the only way God
spoke in the Old Testament, but it was His primary way of
speaking to the nation.
II. \\#1:2\\ Jesus Is Speaking
A. God is introducing the new Spokesman, His Son.
Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us
by his Son…
1. What an introduction!
a. God did not introduce Him by a mere human name but by
His relationship the Father.
b. He is God’s Son.
2. Much more will be said about the Son in the next verse,
but let’s notice some things fire.
a. Jesus is the new Spokesman, but He is not a new god.
(1) I have to harp on this because false doctrines
arise out of note accepting the truth: "One God,
three Person, All equal, None the same."
(2) The Old Testament told us Messiah would come, but
it did not tell us that Messiah would be God’s
Son or that God’s Son was God.
(3) However, that doesn’t mean God had to go out and
find a Son.
(4) The Son is God and is eternal.
b. With that introduction, the Book shifts from talking
about the first Member of the Godhead, the Father, to
talking about the second Member, the Son.
(1) The rest of this Book is about the Son.
(2) God’s Son came to the Jews in a Jewish body.
(3) The Son was not formally introduced in the Old
Testament so the Jews—as well as some Gentles—
have had a hard time accepting Him, but God did
and does want the Jews to know Him.
(4) This Book was largely written to that end.
c. Jesus, THE SPOKESMAN, "hath in these last days spoken
unto us…."
(1) Us means them and us means us.
(2) Jesus came to earth to bring to mankind the
message of God.
(3) The message Jesus brought was at least NEWISH if
not outright NEW message in some ways.
(a) Some of Jesus’ message Jesus gave.
(b) Some the apostles gave.
(c) Some Paul gave.
(d) And some the writer of this book of Hebrews
is giving.
i. I am beginning to think this book was
one the last written.
ii. I told you last week that it was
probably written between around 50 to
90 AD, when the temple was destroyed.
iii. Since there is no reference to Jesus’
miracles, apostolic miracles, or
Apostolic authority, I am beginning
to think these readers may not have
seen Jesus and none of the apostles
(except John) were still around.
iv. While we have no direct record, it is
generally believed all the apostles
had been killed by 80 AD, except
John.
http://www.byronsworld.org/the_mark_monitor/articles/
Apostles_Time_Line.pdf
v. Outside of the Revelation, this writer
may have been given some of the last
explanations of Jesus’ message.
B. What was "NEW" or "NEWISH" about Jesus’ message?
1. The message officially introduced Jesus as the Son of God.
That was new.
a. Until Jesus came, the people new Messiah would come
and that God used the plural pronoun to speak of
Himself.
b. But they did not know Messiah would be God or that God
was manifested in three Persons.
2. The message revealed that the Old Covenant was
insufficient. That was new.
Ro 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it
was weak through the flesh, God sending his own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh:
Ro 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there
shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by
the law is the knowledge of sin.
3. The message revealed that the Old was now past. That was
new.
a. In Jesus’ parable \\#Matt 9:14-17\\, Jesus told the
people that the new was not to be a patch for the
old.
b. That meant the new was to replace the old.
c. That aspect of Jesus’ message was still not clearly
understood even when the book of Hebrews was being
penned, else the people would have known that there
was no Old Covenant to go back to.
(1) The book of Hebrews will hammer that truth.
(2) The New Covenant has REPLACED the Old Covenant.
(3) That part of the message would be a lot easier to
understand once the temple was destroyed.
4. The message revealed that salvation had arrived. That was
new.
a. The Old Testament Jews had a covering for their sins,
but they had never had SALIVATION—at least not like
we have it.
b. But SALVATION has now arrived.
Ac 13:39 And by him all that believe are
justified from all things, from which ye could
not be justified by the law of Moses.
Ro 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
5. The message clearly revealed that the means of salvation
was faith and repentance.
a. That was NEWISH.
b. Although true for the Old Testament as well, the many
works required by the Old Testament to worship God
clouded that message.
c. The books of Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews make it
much plainer.
C. No proof is given.
1. Not that God is a Trinity;
a. not that Jesus is God;
b. and not that the message Jesus bought is true.
2. The people this Book was written to—like ourselves—are
free to believe it or not, but we are not free of the
consequences of believing or not.
a. Accept the Son and enjoy the glorious consequences.
b. Reject the Son and suffer the damnable consequences.
III. Jesus Is Spoken about
Hebrews 1:2 …whom he hath appointed heir of all
things, by whom also he made the worlds;
3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the
express image of his person, and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by
himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high;
A. How is the Son introduced to these readers?
B. Seven short, unexplained statements are made about the Son.
1. \\#2\\ He is the appointed heir of all things.
a. "appointed" - That bothers some.
(1) But God the Father is the One who designs and
assigns.
(2) He could have appointed another to be heir of all
things, but He appointed Himself.
(3) That does not make Jesus any less God.
(4) In fact, if God has appointed someone else heir
of all things, it would not have made the Son
any less God.
(5) Neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit were
appointed heir of all things, but they are still
God.
(6) We do not have to understand it.
(7) We do have to believe it.
b. So God the Son will receive "all things."
c. However, Paul went on to tell us what the Son will do
with all things once He has received them.
1Cor 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued
unto him, then shall the Son also himself be
subject unto him that put all things under him,
that God may be all in all.
d. It appears the Father has been and will be the
preeminent One.
(1) Does that make Jesus any less God?
(2) Does the fact that the Son is the preeminent One
now make the Father or the Holy Ghost any less
God?
Col 1:18 And he (Jesus) is the head of the body,
the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead; that in all things he might have
the preeminence.
(3) Of course not!
2. He is the One by whom God made the worlds.
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him
all things consist.
3. \\#3\\ He is the brightness of glory. There is nothing
brighter than the SON!
4. He is the exact image of God.
a. Like press prints out a perfect duplicate so the Son
is the exact image of the Father.
b. But Jesus Himself told us that.
John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so
long time with you, and yet hast thou not known
me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the
Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the
Father?
5. He is the One who upholds all things by His power.
a. He not only made all things, but He holds them all
together.
b. But then again, Paul told us that:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him
all things consist.
6. He is the One who purged our sins.
a. Many of the Bible writers gave us this truth using
words like:
"Christ forgave you" \\#Col 3:13\\
"delivered us" \\#2Cor 1:10\\
"washed" \\#1Cor 6:11\\
"cleanse" \\#1John 1:9\\
b. However, I do like this word purged.
7. And when the Son did, He sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty who is on high.
a. The "Majesty on high" is the Father.
b. Again, that places the Father as the preeminent One.
(1) The Son is the Preeminent One now.
(2) The Father will be the Preeminent One for all
eternity.
(3) It doesn’t look like the Holy Ghost will ever be
the Preeminent One!
(4) Yet, all three are individual Persons of the Same
God.
Do I understand that? No, but already you can see the reason why we
must believe it anyway. We have only looked at the first three
verses and without accepting it, some would be confused and some
would be convinced that there are three gods! No, I do not
understand the nature of God, but I will believe what the Bible says.
"One God, three Persons, All equal, None the same." I hope you will
too.
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