ALL ROADS LEAD TO CHRIST
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST
HEBREWS 1 STUDY GUIDE & BREAKDOWN
God’s Supreme Revelation
1 God, who [a]at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the [b]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 [c]by Himself [d]purged [e]our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
The Son Exalted Above Angels
5 For to which of the angels did He ever say:
“You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”?
And again:
“I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son”?
6 But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says:
“Let all the angels of God worship Him.”
7 And of the angels He says:
“Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire.”
8 But to the Son He says:
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A [f]scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”
10 And:
“You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. 11 They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment; 12 Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail.”
13 But to which of the angels has He ever said:
“Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”?
14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?
NOTES HEBREWS 1 – (vv. 1-4, vv. 5-14, v. 5, v. 6, and v. 8, vv. 10-12; and v. 14)
1:1-4: These verses provide an introductory summary to 1:1- 10:18 … The new covenant is superior to the old, for the old is incomplete and preparatory whereas the new is complete and final … In the new man enters the heavenly realm through Christ is glorified – (see Philippians 2:5-11, for a close parallel) …
Philippians 2:5-11: 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it [a]robbery to be equal with God, 7 but [b]made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name, which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
-This passage is pondering the humility of Christ is what it is calling us to do, this is a truth necessary for suffering Christians to understand and live out … (v. 7) – Christ is He who, BEING IN THE FORM OF GOD, is also in the FORM OF A BONDSERVANT, in our likeness - (see also Genesis 1:26), and is voluntarily subject to death … He who has died, God has exalted and given the name LORD – (v. 11), a name God the Son shares with the God the Father from all eternity …
Genesis 1:26: 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over [a]all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
1:1-2: IN TIME PAST and TO THE FATHERS – (v. 1) are contrasted with IN THESE LAST DAYS and TO US – (v. 2) … In OT times God spoke constantly through the Holy Spirit in the LAW AND THE PROPHETS, leading His people into greater truth … Now He speaks directly, through His own Incarnate Son … The fathers are the leaders of Israel and representative of all spiritual ancestors of New Israel …
1:2-3: THROUGH WHOM ALSO HE MADE THE WORLDS – (v. 2; see also John 1:3) and UPHOLDING ALL THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER – (v. 3; see also Colossians 1:16-17): These two phrases reveal the Son as God acting in the world … The Lord Jesus Christ is (1): THE ONE WHO CREATED the universe, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and is therefore (2): THE ONE WHO SUSTAINS THE CREATION and has absolute authority over it … It is natural, then, that the Son, as both God and Man, is HEIR OF ALL THINGS – (v. 2) … If the sons of Abraham hoped to be heirs of the promised land, the sons of Christ can hope to be heirs of the whole universe …
JOHN 1:3: 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
COLOSSIANS 1:16-17: 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or [a]principalities or [b]powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
- The first half of v. 3 is quoted in the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great … THE BRIGHTNESS OF HIS GLORY expresses the Son’s nature, His origin from and identity of nature with the Father … He is the Father’s brightness because He is begotten from the Father beyond time without change … The Nicene Creed speaks of “Light of Light” … As the sun does not exist without radiating light, so the Father does not exist without His Son …
- The Son reflects His Father’s glory in this world … The unapproachable light of divinity, the divine energy – (1 Timothy 6:16; 1 Peter 2:9; 1 John 1:7), is approachable only in the Incarnate Christ – (John 12:36) … God’s brightness, though it had been experienced at the burning bush – (Exodus 3:2-4), known by Israel – (EXODUS 10:23; AND 13:21), and spoken of by the prophets – (Psalm 35: 10 or 36:10; 103:2 or 104:2; Isaiah 9:1; 10:17; and Hab 3:4), is especially revealed in Christ’s birth – (Luke 1:79; 2:32; John 1:4-9), the Transfiguration – (Matthew 17:2) and the Resurrection …
1TIMOHY 6:16: 16 who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
1PETER 2:9: 9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
1JOHN 1:7: 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
JOHN 12:36: 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.
EXODUS 3:2-4: 2 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So, he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”
4 So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
EXODUS 10:23: 23 They did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.
EXODUS 13:21: 21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.
PSALM 35 (36):10 – For with YOU is the fountain of life; in YOUR light we shall see light …
PSALM 103 (104):2- Who cover YOURSELF with light as with a garment, Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain;
ISAIAH 9:1: WILL READ FROM MY BIBLE IT’S DIFFERENT THAN OTHER VERSIONS …
ISAIAH 10:17: 17 And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;
HABAKKUK 3:4: His brightness was like the light; He had rays flashing from His hand, And there His power was hidden.
LUKE 1:79: 79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”
LUKE 2:32: 32 A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.”
JOHN 1:4-9: 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not [a]comprehend it.
John’s Witness: The True Light
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That[b] was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
MATTHEW 17:2: 2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.
- THE EXPRESS IMAGE OF HIS PERSON – (Greek … hypostasis) express the Son’s Person as being distinct from the Father … The Son is the perfect and eternal “icon” of the Father … The personal distinction of God as Trinity is known only through Him – (see also John 14:9) … No one knows the Father but through the Son
- Having conquered sin and death, the Son SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE MAJESTY ON HIGH, a reference to the Father, showing Christ’s exaltation as Man …
JOHN 14:9: 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
1:4: HAVING BECOME SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE ANGELS, regarding their role in the old covenant, refers to Christ’s human nature, not to His divine nature … THE NAME inherited is an open declaration that this Man is the Son of God … In Hebrews this name is “SON”; in Philippians 2:11 it is ‘LORD” …
1:5-14: Much of first century Judaism believed angels were present at creation and had meditated the old covenant … By using rabbinic method of demonstration, Hebrews proves to lovers of Judaism that even the OT argues for the superiority of the Son …
1:5: Christ is superior to the angels … They are, in some Judaic thought, only “the sons of God”, whereas Christ is the Son of God … - (The LXX my Orthodox Study Bible at Deuteronomy 32:43, which is Hebrews paraphrases in v. 6, literally reads “sons of God”, “not angels of God”, some other Bibles like the Protestant one it reads way differently, we will also look at the Dead Sea Scrolls to see, which is accurate) … Christ is recognized as God’s eternal Son at His Baptism and the Transfiguration, it is His enthronement in Heaven that settles the matter – (v. 4; see also Romans 1:4) … BEGOTTEN is a reference to the Son in His divine, and eternal nature … The Nicene Creed states He is” begotten, not made, begotten from the Father before all time” … TODAY is eternity … There never was a time when God the Son did not exist …
Romans 1:4: 4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
1:6: Christ is THE FIRSTBORN (1): OF GOD, in that He is His One and only Eternal Son; (2): OF ALL CREATION, in that He is the image (ICON) by which creation was made and toward which creation is to move; and (3): OF MAN, in that Christ Incarnate is the model for man’s creation and the goal of man’s existence … THE ANGELS … WORSHIP HIM because He is God …
1:8: PSALM 44 (45) (vv. 7-8) – QUOTED in Hebrews 1:8-9 – celebrates a ROYAL ENTHRONEMENT AND WEDDING … The groom is a king who has conquered for righteousness and is called “god” (Elohim), though the king is distinct from God … This celebration is fulfilled with the messianic enthronement and wedding in the KINGDOM OF GOD … The OT gives the title “god” to Moses, Samuel, descendants of David, and angels, but is primarily the Messiah who embodies this title … Here, God the Father calls THE SON “GOD” …
PSALM 44 (45): 7-8: Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, Your royal scepter is a scepter of uprightness. You loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions …
1:10-12: In this quotation is from (Psalm 101 (102):26-28, God the Father – (v. 9) is addressing Another as “LORD”, THAT IS, AS GOD …
PSALM 101 (102):26-28: WILL READ FROM MY BIBLE
1:14: The role of angels is TO MINISTER FOR THOSE WHO WILL INHERIT SALVATION … During the NT ERA, many Jews believed angels mediated the old covenant … Certainly they served the ANGEL OF THE LORD, THE SON OF GOD … In the new covenant, they serve Him in His humanity … Instead of ruling over man, angels are partners in service with us, our guardian angels …