Bible Text: Hebrews 1 | Preacher: Rev. Roy Cowieson
I am told that Billy Burke was a famous actress in years gone by …..PHOTO
While enjoying a transatlantic ocean trip
She noticed a gentleman at the next table,
He was suffering from a bad head cold.
‘Are you uncomfortable’, she asked
The man nodded
‘Then’, she continued, ‘I will tell you what to do about it ‘
Go back to your stateroom
drink lots of orange juice, take two aspirin
Cover yourself with all the blankets you can find
Sweat the cold out.
I know what I am talking about
I am Billie Burke from Hollywood.’
The man smiled kindly and said,
‘Thanks , I’m Dr Wm. Mayo from the Mayo clinic.’ …..PHOTO
Illustrating, you really do need to know who you are talking to
And what is more, what you are talking about
Which is exactly the situation we fin in Hebrews.
Question : What is the author writing about in this book
After all Hebrews is one of the more difficult books
In the NT to understand
Implying of course we need a level of intelligence,
Knowledge, we need to be informed
to really know what the Book is about.
Then again, I am always keen to find what it means to me personally
What can I gain,
what difference does reading this make in my life
plus as a teaching Pastor I always wanted to discover
in any passage or Book the varieties of meaning
the various applications for the life of a congregation.
So what do we have here that we need to know.
If you recall the Day of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2
The birth of the Church
The day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
Took place right in the heart of the Jewish world, Jerusalem.
There in that city, that Pentecost Day
Over 3000 people, became followers of Jesus Christ
And as though that was not enough, we read
That new, fresh believers were being added every day.
This had to be galling for the Jewish authorities and leaders
They found themselves facing a real crisis.
Imagine how they felt ?
After everything that they had done to Jesus
Believing that by His death on a Roman Cross
They had rid themselves of him
Here they were facing a crisis they never expected
That they were losing good, solid, faithful devoted Jews
From out of their synagogues,
Who had placed their undying faith in Jesus as the Messiah.
This had to be for them the unkindest cut of all.
As though that was not bad enough,
This new found faith was so infectious, these numbers grew.
As you read these chapters
You do learn quickly that he is writing to these Jewish Christians
Trying to get them to stand firm
Under the pressure they are experiencing from these Jewish Leaders
Who have been infiltrating the Church
Seeking to turn these converts back to their Old Time Religion.
Let me put it this way
And hopefully simply.
These authorities have been trying to get their point across
That their Jewish tradition,
their Jewish teaching
And the history of their Jewish faith
Far outweighs anything that Jesus could bring to the table.
Imagine balances, where you weigh one thing against the other
They maintained on one side was a condemned criminal, Jesus
To be balanced against MOSES, that great Leader
Who brought to them the Law with its 10 Commandments
Not satisfied with that,
They add to their side of the scale their sacrificial system
With the animals blood shed in the temple
To rid them of their sins on a frequent basis,
And for good measure they then added the High Priest
Who only once each year,
Could approach God in the Holy of Holies,
then not content , they went even further
there was the covenant that God had made with only one people
The Jews
Then finally for good measure, they added
The Jewish belief in Angels
Admitting that at the very least Jesus might have been an angel
That if they accepted that
They would be welcomed back into the Jewish faith
And could return to the Synagogue.
Now I am convinced in their exalted opinion
That with All of that tradition, teaching and history
Loaded against all they could see was a bloodied body.
No contest !
Then we begin to read the Book of Hebrews
A Book that sets itself up
to warn and teach against these infiltrators
Promoting in every verse and every chapter
That in each one of these instances
Put forward by the Jewish authorities, they fail
Jesus is Superior
It is a word that occurs throughout the book
Or as we might say in our language Jesus is THE BEST
Beyond all others – Jesus is the best
Better than all the rest.
So let us see, if the author is correct.
So let us begin in Chapter One
In the past God spoke to our fore fathers thru’ the prophets
At many times and in various ways,
But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son,
Whom He appointed heir of all things and through whom
He made the universe.
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 our sins,
He sat down at the right hand side
Of the Majesty in heaven.
If we spend a moment or two dwelling on these first 4 verses,
Which in my humble opinion that having penned them
This author could have set his pen down.
He has in these verses done enough to convince me
That Jesus is Superior
And let me show you what I mean by that.
We read there that ‘ in the past God spoke’
Have you ever wished that God would just speak to you
In a moment of desperation
You so wished to hear His voice
And tell you what you should do next,
In what direction your life should have gone
What partner you should have chosen
All these kinds of things
And here we discover that God has been speaking all along
In spite of what we think God is not silent
God is not withdrawn, not uncommunicative.
There are two distinct phases of God’s communication
That is described here…phase 1 ….’before the Son’
And the second phase….’after the Son’
Underscoring that our God speaks
He is a person to be listened to, understood,
Enjoyed and obeyed.
Before His Son he spoke through prophets at various times
And in a variety of ways
Which tells me that if I find it hard to get anything out of Leviticus
I might hear him clearly in Proverbs
And if I find Hosea, or Zechariah hard to handle,
There is always the Book of Psalms
Where I might hear him speak to me personally.
So we are rebuked in saying that God is silent.
He is not
That is like saying there are no islands around Vancouver Island
Only because I cannot see any from Aspen Road.
Now, the writer maintains that God’s communication
Got even better
There’s that word again , better, superior
Why do I feel free to say God communicating through His Son
Is better, superior
Simply because He sent His Son into the world !
First He spoke through the prophets in a whole variety of ways
And in different seasons,
But in these last days He sent His Son to be His voice.
This is where we part company with many other faiths
Including Islam
Who claim that Jesus is only a prophet.
Not at all !
Jesus is the Son of God
Who is not only now the heir of all things
But it was through Him not only this world
And all that is in it
But the whole Universe was created.
Now in this Chapter the author is weighing Jesus
Over and against Angels
And in this introduction even if your knowledge
And understanding of Angels is negligible
We must know right from the get go
That Angels are created beings
And could not have created the Universe.
Nor were they God’s Son.
Only Jesus was the exact representation of the Being of God
Because in the beginning was the Word
And the Word was with God
And the Word was God.
Inseparable.
And as John wrote, ‘ we have seen His Glory’
And that Glory was the exact representation
And exact copy of the Father in Heaven.
It is after all only a few weeks ago
That we were Hark the Heralding of Angels happily
As we know from the Christmas story
their presence has such a powerful effect
That invariably the first words out of their mouths were
‘fear not’
As they came to Herald the News, coming as Messengers
To announce the arrival that the Saviour was born
Who is Christ the Lord !
For you and for me however, there is one sure thing
That angels cannot do
That only Jesus can do
No one else on earth could ever approach trying to do,
And it was for this reason Jesus was sent to earth
As we read
When He Made Purification for Sins
Which tells me three things right here
1. There is a person here…..”He” …….
2. There is a problem here…..” For sins”
3. Had provided purification …past tense
Never forget there is a person here.
Jesus is real .
He is the One who laid down His life.
Jesus loves, thinks, feels, wills
and even today in heaven has a body.
FOR SINS – that is the problem here
Sin that has to be dealt with
And that is what we are about to begin acutely remembering
Throughout Lent into and especially Holy Week
That the problem of sin has been dealt with.
Some time ago in conversation with someone
Who was wrestling with some personal problems
She Asked me if I thought she was guilty
And as much as I did not want to add to her problems
I told her that I was not here to judge her
All I could do was tell her that Jesus was the guilt remover
The sin eraser
The person who took upon Himself the shame
The guilt
And even the penalty of it all.
And that is what this phrase means
It is over………………………..Finally, It is Done.
It is Finished .
How do I know that ?
Because we read
After He had provided purification for our sins
He sat down at the right hand side of the Majesty in heaven
Jesus sat down after His ascension because His work was done
Finished
Satisfactorily carried out.
After all, what earthly father
Would allow his son to sit with him
If the chores the Father set were not complete.
Verse 4.
So He became as much superior to the angels
as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs
Near the city of San Jose dos Campos, Brazil
Is a remarkable facility.
20 years ago, the Brazilian Government
Turned over a prison to 2 Christians
The institute was given a new name, Humaitia it was called …….PHOTO And the prison was to be run on Christian principles
And with the exception of 2 full time staff
All work was done by inmates.
Families outside the prison adopted an inmate
To work with during and after their prison term was complete.
Chuck Colson, a fomer aide to President Nixon
And after Chuck became a Christian
He founded the now world wide ministry
Prison Fellowship International and visited that prison
And made this report.
‘When I visited the prison , I found the inmates smiling
Particularly the murderer who held the keys,
Opened the gates and let me in.
Wherever I walked I saw men at peace.
I saw clean living areas and people working industriously
The walls were decorated with Biblical verses .
Later my guide escorted me to the notorious prison cell
Once used for torture
Today he told me that the whole block now
Only housed one inmate.
We reached the end of a long concrete corridor,
he placed the key in the lock,
are you sure you want to go in
‘Of Course, was Chuck Colson’s reply
I have visited isolation cells all over the world
Then slowly he swung open the massive door
And I saw that prisoner in that punishment cell.
It was a beautifully carved large crucifix carved by the inmates
The prisoner in isolation was Jesus
Hanging on a cross
The guide said softly….He is doing time for the rest of us.
Angels could not do that for you
Only Jesus,
The Head that once was crowned with thorns
Is crowned with Glory now .