Thoughts From Hebrews - Chapter 1

             Hebrews 1:1-3

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven

          What does it mean to you that Jesus sat down? I think of my wife cooking Thanksgiving dinner and after hours of cooking - she sits down. (probably not a good illustration because she would tell me that her work is nowhere near done) When I finish a surgery, sometimes after hours of standing I go sit down. When the pastor is done with his message he sits down. To me, the implication is that Christ accomplished what He set out to do. We think of Jesus fulfilling 3 offices - prophet, priest, and King, and I think these 3 verses reveal his "sitting down" in these 3 offices.

         First as a prophet. What does a prophet do? He gives the Word of God to the people. The author of Hebrews says in verse 2 that Jesus came as the final word of God. The Old Covenant was given and completed and compiled, now Jesus came to give the New Covenant. Old wineskins could not contain Him. When He preached He would say, "You've heard it said...but I say." "Whoever doesn't listen to these words of mine is like a foolish man..." How arrogant to say your words supercede the divinely inspired words of the Old Testament unless you are God, which by the way He was (and is). He even said that the Old Testament was talking about Him in John 5. Jesus was even referred to as the Word of God in John 1 and 1 John 1. He also said to hear Him was to hear God in John 12:50. The writings we see in the New Testament are His words which were carried to the churches by eyewitnesses who heard these teachings, recorded them without error (God saw to that) and their veracity was confirmed by signs, wonders, miracles performed by those recording those words.  Therefore Jesus completed the Bible and sat down.

        Secondly as a priest. What did a priest do? If a prophet took God to the people, a priest took the people to God. Thats why the daily job of the priest was to offer sacrifices so that the people's sins would be atoned so they could be to a very limited sense in the presence of God. That being said, they could only enter so far into the temple, they couldn't go near the mountain, and they had to do sacrifices over and over on a daily basis so I tend to think of it rather than enabling them to be in the presence of God it allowed them to be in the neighberhood without being incinerated. But then comes Jesus who offered Himself as an atoning sacrifice once and for all on the cross and His last words were "It is finished". Now the veil is torn, our sins are washed away and we can boldly enter His presence. He sat down!

        Lastly as a King. Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, the place of might - the place of authority - the place of a Prince. In Joshua 10:23-25 we see the symbolism of the enemies being placed under Jesus' feet.

    So they brought the five kings out of the cave—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon. 24 When they had brought these kings to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the army commanders who had come with him, “Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came forward and placed their feet on their necks.25 Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous. This is what the Lord will do to all the enemies you are going to fight.”

       All enemies have been placed under Jesus' feet. He is standing on the neck of sin, the devil, sickness, pain, suffering, evil, dictators, drugs and finally death and He is just waiting to plunge the sword through but He knows when He does, time is up for unbelievers and He waits because He isn't willing that any should perish. He sat down as king.

                And this Jesus calls me His brother! What grace! No wonder I worship and adore Him!