Hebrews 1 - The Son - Jesus Christ

It is a blessing that God has revealed to us the relationship between the Father and the Son.  We understand family relationships - at least somewhat.  We understand how much we love our kids.  God wants us to understand who Jesus is because God wants us to understand how much he loves us.  God didn’t send His Son to die on the Cross for angels, He sent His Son to die for you.  And for me.

        It is good for us to think deeply about the character of Almighty God.  Indeed, if we get God’s character wrong we are lost.  I believe God wants us to know Him more by using all of our faculties and abilities to do so.  

        There is a deep mystery in the relationship between God the Father and God the Son.  We hear God’s truth of that relationship in this passage (completely consistent with all of Scripture including Colossians 1:15, John 1:3, 1 John 1:2, Ephesians 1:4, 1 Corinthians 1:2, Romans 1:5, Acts 4:12, etc.).  

The more we understand who God is the more we love Him.  Jesus created the universe (1:2).  Jesus’ throne endures forever.  Jesus rules today.  He reigns with justice (1:8).  Jesus loves justice and hates evil (1:9).  God the Father loves the Son.  The Son is never alone and will never be separated from the Father.  It is the Father who humbles Jesus’ enemies (1:13).

        As we delve into Hebrews it gets better and better.  We ponder not only the relationship between the Father and the Son.  We are reminded that Jesus, God’s Son, would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters (Romans 8:29).  We learn who God’s people are.  True Hebrews.

God’s people are those who belong to Christ Jesus and who follow the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:1 and 8:4).  That’s what we learn in Hebrews.  We grow in understanding about faith - all “who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God” (Romans 8:14).

        People who trust God, hear from God, and act in accord with God’s character and commands show that they are his people.  We will find out in heaven as to whether or not Nebuzaradan (who freed Jeremiah, gave him money, and spoke to him from God, Jeremiah 40:1-5) was a man of God - but I suspect that he very well is.  “Not all who are born into the nation of Israel are true members of God’s people!” (Romans 9:6, but also Hoseah 2:23, and Romans 3:29).

        Many I fear in the church today, like King Zedekiah in the Old Testament, show by what they do that they are hostile to God.  They cloak themselves in religiosity and legal rules, but they hate others, imprison those weaker than themselves, and burden others rather than encouraging and helping.  They are the greedy elite, murderers at heart.  We need to pray for such people.  Pray that God will turn them from following their sinful nature.  I pray today that God does bless them, but I also pray for revival in the church and for God to silence and restrict the modern Zedekiahs who have so much power and control and wield it with wicked intent.  Bring your Jeremiah’s Lord Jesus and your Good Samaritans like Nebuzaradan. 

Even amid the worst calamity, we are to trust our loving God.  God is faithful.  We have nothing to fear as God the Father is our protector.  Our Abba, Father.  And God the Son is our Rescuer and our Redeemer.  Jesus reigns today and all things are under His authority - everything subject to His mighty command (1:3).  Trust God.  He will keep you safe today, just as He has always been faithful to those who love and trust Him (Jeremiah 39:18).

Belief in the existence of God and in His Son, Jesus Christ is central.  Our shared faith in Christ is at the core of this marvelous book called, Hebrews.  Without belief in Jesus the Saviour, reading Hebrews will be wooden - like the toy doll rather than the living baby.

We know Jesus.  And He knows us.  Because of our relationship with Him, this book comes alive.

Jesus is wisdom, creator, and sustainer.  It would be hard to think of anything more mystical and mysterious than the mind of God and how He spoke living things and all created things and systems into existence.  C.S. Lewis magically describes it in Narnia as Aslan singing creation into existence.  I love the picture of Jesus as the Lion of Judah, roaring Creation into existence.

I believe God created everything.  It is the only way such an intricate, powerful, resilient, yet fragile system could be designed and sustained.  Creation requires a Creator.

        And while we know the material all too well, the spiritual is harder to grasp. The plastic pen in my hand is easily grasped, but the thoughts in our dreams, the thoughts that come to us in the shower in the morning, or the impact of our prayers - are harder to understand.

        And yet anyone who disclaims the spiritual quickly loses credibility because there is a known unknown that is a reality of our human condition from our youngest age and imagination.  We may not be able to explain it all - the mysteries of the spiritual realm, indeed, God designed it that way; but, the man or woman of faith knows well that we have spirits, souls, consciences.   We know this because the Bible says so, but it aligns with your reality, your experience - the human condition confirms it.  Let us not be ashamed to say so.  Be bold today. 

God’s timing is impeccable, as is everything with God.  He knows and cares about us beyond our comprehension.  God can show off.  But He doesn’t need to.  He wants us to understand and yet He is under no obligation to have us understand all there is to know about angels or the spiritual realm.  God teaches us in this chapter about the Father-Son relationship; He is teaching us about His eternal character.

An engineer asked me recently over lunch if I thought the laws of physics would be the same in eternity as they are now.  I don’t know.  We have few clues about that sort of thing.  C.S. Lewis delved into it a little in “The Magician’s Nephew” when Polly and Digory jumped into different puddles/universes - with the help of the magic rings.  They saw that the laws of physics were similar yet different from one world to the next.  In one world you found time moving at a different pace than the next and one world had a slightly different design.  Yet there is no reason that God, who is consistent, would not have consistent laws of material things in eternity.  I’m happy people ponder these things, as they can help us think about the power majesty, and capabilities of our marvelous Creator.  

It is similar to how the Saints of old used to make a big deal about the design of churches and the time and effort put into beautiful art.  It's a shame now that we have churches that look like warehouses as we apparently need budget room for jets and new mansions for the pastorate.  Saints of old and many saints now honor God with all they do, including in their art.  I trust God to build His Kingdom just as He sees fit and I pray for a revival and a turn to holiness.

        Those who seek to paint and write and legislate to honor God do so to reflect the power and capability of our God to create beautiful things and good things.  Those categories matter to God.  Even Digory and Polly could understand the dark magic reflected in the bad, evil, and ugly behavior of Digory's uncle, Andrew Ketterly.

        Let us worship God today.  Let's be amazed at God’s creativity.  He created spiders that can create these perfectly engineered webs hundreds of feet up in the air.  And birds.  And fish.  And butterflies, the sand dollar, hummingbirds, and so many marvelous creatures.

Yet people.  Babies.  Boys and girls, men and women; God tells us that we are His prized possession

You are no accident.  You were weaved together in your mom's womb with full knowledge and approval of God.  He made the first man and woman.  And billions of since then.  God loves every single person.  And He knows the thoughts of each person.  We are made in the image of God with free will, designing capabilities ourselves, and with gifts knitted into our character in our spirit.  God makes us with the ability to respond and to relate to our Maker.

Creation is no accident.  Far from it.  Everything, natural and supernatural, material and spiritual is God’s.  And so is heaven, where Jesus is now (Hebrews 8) and where we will be the moment we die (Luke 23:43).

We long for Jesus’ return - the day when we will be released from sin and suffering.  When Jesus returns and creates a new heaven and new earth He will reveal who his true children are (Romans 8:19), “the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including new bodies he has promised us” (Romans 8:23).

        In the meantime we persevere as brothers and sisters in Christ knowing God has promised us that we are the heirs to God’s glory and that we are His beloved children (Romans 8:17).  We trust that God will protect us even though we know that on this earth there remains death, sorrow, and suffering.  We also know that God is Good - always - and that God gives generously to all who call on Him (Romans 10:12).  And we do that today as we worship God and prepare to celebrate Easter in the coming weeks.

We see in this first chapter of Hebrews that Jesus has always been with God and is God.  God always had His plan to bring salvation through the Son.  It is God’s great plan.  It is our responsibility to decide what to do with it.  Will we believe in Jesus and trust God’s promise that He loves us and that He has a place, a home for us in eternity?  Or will we prefer to reject him, to deny there is a God, and to follow ways that seem right and better to us - our human nature.  Tread lightly.  Move carefully.  Proceed with caution.  For reefs wreck ships.  And thin ice is easily cracked.

This same God who sends angels to serve people, the God that made the spiritual world, that made the material world, loves justice and hates evil.  He’s patient.  But God will one day call and end.  And He will do so quickly and with finality (Romans 9:28).  There is no appeal following that judgment.  All this immense creation will be destroyed by God, folded up like a wool sweater.  All before the Lion roars into existence the new heaven and new earth for his dearly loved kids.

Let us worship God wholeheartedly today.  Let us be attentive to the truth of the Son, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

My Dad in his workshop (Sylvan Lake, Alberta).