Thoughts From Hebrews - Day 3

                                           Hebrews 1:10-13


For to which of the angels did God ever say,

“You are my Son;
    today I have become your Father”? *a

Or again,

“I will be his Father,
    and he will be my Son”? *b

⁶ And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,

“Let all God’s angels worship him.”*c

⁷ In speaking of the angels he says,

“He makes his angels spirits,
    and his servants flames of fire.”*d

⁸ But about the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;
    a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
⁹ You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
    therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
    by anointing you with the oil of joy.”*e

¹⁰ He also says,

“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
¹¹ They will perish, but you remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
¹² You will roll them up like a robe;
    like a garment they will be changed.
But you remain the same,
    and your years will never end.”*f

¹³ To which of the angels did God ever say,

“Sit at my right hand
    until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet”?*g

 

 

*a Psalm 2:7

*b 2 Samuel 7:14; 1 Chron. 17:13

*c Deut. 32:43 (see Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint)

*d Psalm 104:4

*e Psalm 45:6,7

*f Psalm 102:25-27

*g Psalm 110:1

       Although I just talked about verses 5-9, I felt like I had to include them because otherwise verse 10 just starts out "He also says..." and you don't know who the "He" is without the context. Who is that "He"? It is none other than God. God is credited with saying six different things and I listed their references all of which are in the Old Testament because they didn't have the New Testament to quote when Hebrews was being written. The interesting thing is that the writer of Hebrews is attributing these quotes to God even though they were written by David, the sons of Korah, anonymous writers, Moses and possibly Ezra or Nathan. The writer of Hebrews is attributing the Old Testament writings to God. He is in effect saying that even though men wrote it, God was telling them what to say. The Old Testament is the Word of God! And then we discussed that the new words of the prophets are no longer needed because we have the Words of Jesus which validates the gospels to be 100% true (see day 1) Therefore, if the writer of Hebrews can be trusted, we have all but 23 books validated as the inerrant Word of God. We will work on those later.

       So what is he telling us in these verses? First of all that Jesus created the Heavens and the Earth. As I have been wrestling with how to incorporate the gospel into the corn maze that our church is putting on, I keep coming back to the fact that life is a maze. There are many paths saying "this is the way to go", but only one is the correct one. Sure, in a maze it's fun to hit dead ends and turn around, but in real life, the Bible says "There is a path that seems right unto man, but the end is destruction." Picture each of those dead ends as lakes of fire. Suddenly, being on the only right path is a matter of utmost importance. But how do you find that path? What if there was a book that claimed to be 100% true that told which path to take? That might bear some looking into. But even more so, what if the maker of the corn maze, who has also been to the end and come back, would meet you in the maze and say follow me, I know the way. You would be inclined to take His hand and follow Him. All the other paths in life have dead "prophets" who are no help. They have writings that claim to tell the truth but don't claim to be the truth.

       Secondly Jesus is outside of time. As the Earth, which He existed beforehand in order to create it, passes away, He remains. All other founders of religions, all other idols that we live for will pass away but Jesus will live forever. Do you want to live for something that isn't eternal if you have an option to live for someone who gives eternal life and is eternal life?

       Lastly, did you realize Jesus has enemies? You don't think of that because Jesus is meek and mild and loves everyone. But no, it says Jesus' enemies will finally be defeated some day. Who are those enemies? I would say it is everyone that is leading you down the wrong path, every wrong path, and the destruction at the end of those wrong paths. Jesus loves you so much that He came to earth and died for you because He wants you at the end of the maze with Him. That's why He hates every wrong path. Will you by faith take His hand and let Him lead you to eternal life?