Hebrews 1

Study Guide 156: Hebrews 1:1-4:13 JESUS, THE LIVING WORD Overview In Ephesians, Paul described the armor that equips believers to live in one body. Only one piece of this armor is explained — the sword of the Spirit, which is “ the Word of God.” In Hebrews, God’ s Word is again a sword (Hebrews 4:12-13). It is “ living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Yet there are questions about the Word. When we want guidance and help, how do we experience it as “ living and active” ? When we are uncertain, how do we tap its “ penetrating” power? And, does God speak to us only through His written Word? Or may Christ speak to us with another voice? Often when we want to know God’ s will we become confused. In Old Testament times it seemed so simple. God had given laws and rules through Moses that regulated every aspect of life. When special guidance was needed God sent a prophet, authenticated by miracles. Now, however, as the Hebrew Christians apparently felt, though we too have a written Word, the voice of God is less certainly heard. The writer of Hebrews understood. And he moved immediately to make one thing clear to his readers. In Christ we have an even greater revelation than that from Moses. And, through relationship with Jesus, we have access to the very voice of the living God.

Commentary In Israel’ s past God communicated to His people in many ways. The writer identifies some in the first verses of this book — and then goes on to say that now God “ has spoken to us by His Son” (Hebrews 1:12). A person who wishes to hear God’ s voice must now look to the Son, who is the “ exact representation” of God’ s very being. The writer then went on to show the superiority of Jesus as One who reveals God to first angels, and then to Moses.

Jesus’ Superiority as a Revealer of God: Hebrews 1:4-3:6 Jesus’ superiority to angels (Hebrews 1:4-14). The writer now began an extended argument to prove that Jesus is superior to angels. Why is this important? The answer is seen in Hebrews 2:2. There the writer referred to “ the message spoken by angels,” which was binding on Israel. The Jews believed that their Old Testament had been mediated through angelic messengers. The Word of God was deeply respected in part because of this supernatural mediation. But now, the writer said, the Spokesman is greater than the angels! The Messenger is God Himself, exalted above the ancient messengers, for He is the very Father of eternity. The Hebrew Christians, aware of the Bible’ s teaching about angels and aware that angels had been intermediaries in the past, found it difficult to fully accept the fact that, in Jesus, God had established direct communication. There was the temptation in the early church to think of Jesus as a “ high” angel. To counter this, the writer of Hebrews made it clear at the outset that Jesus is superior to all angels. *Superior relationship (Hebrews 1:5). Jesus stands beside God the Father as His Son, not below Him as a creature. *Superior as Deity (Hebrews 1:6-9). None of the angels is called God, and no angel is worshiped by his fellows. Yet Jesus is given the name of God, and the angelic hosts worship Him. *Superior as Creator (Hebrews 1:10-12). Like the angels (who are immortal, not knowing birth or death as we do) Jesus will outlast the universe. Unlike angels, however, He was there “ in the beginning” when He laid the foundations of Creation. Angels change and grow in knowledge as the centuries unfold God’ s plan, but Jesus remains the same; as God He knows all. *Superior in destiny (Hebrews 1:13). No angel was ever invited to share the rule of the universe as God’ s equal. But for God to picture Jesus “ at My right hand” indicates that Jesus shares God’ s rule even now. In every way Jesus is superior — and thus it must be that the revelation He brings, and the salvation He offers is superior to the fragments offered in the Old Testament. There is no need to look elsewhere. In Jesus we have the whole truth — and in Jesus the best possibility of being made whole. An application (Hebrews 2:1-4). It was this writer’ s habit to apply what he said as he moved along. In Colossians and Ephesians Paul spent several chapters developing doctrine. Then, toward the end of the books, he focused on the practical meaning of his earlier teaching. Not so in Hebrews. This writer was always ready to interrupt the flow of his thoughts to make application, which in turn stimulates more teaching. What is the application of this initial presentation of Jesus as the ultimate spokesman? “ We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard” (Hebrews 2:1). We dare not ignore the message of a great salvation, which has been announced by the Lord Himself and confirmed by Spirit-given signs. The great salvation (Hebrews 2:5-18). What is the “ great salvation” that the writer described? Hebrews views salvation as nothing less than the exaltation of humanity (Hebrews 2:5-13), and as an escape to freedom (Hebrews 2:14-18). And what the writer said will sound strange to us if we persist in identifying human beings primarily as “ sinners.” Of course, we have all sinned. All humankind, apart from Jesus, lies dead and deadened underneath the curse. But still, beauty lies within the sleeping corpse. Before the poisoned fruit, beauty lived. Then beauty died but somehow remained within, awaiting the kiss of life. Christ, stooping to claim His bride, quickens us to life and restores the beauty. Quoting the Old Testament, the writer recaptures the wonder of the psalmist who has discovered man’ s lost identity: What is man that You are mindful of him, or the Son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet. Hebrews 2:6-8, quoting Psalms 8:4-6God made man in original glory, “ in His own image” (Genesis 1:27) and God gave him “ dominion” (Genesis 1:28, KJV). That dominion was lost in the Fall, shattering God’ s glorious intention. But the Fall did not shake God’ s love. Man was still God’ s concern, still cared for. And so Jesus stepped down to become Man, suffering death that He might bring “ many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10). This is the exaltation of humankind! In Christ, we have been lifted up to share the Son’ s glory, becoming in Him so fully “ of the same family” that we are called by Jesus Himself, “ My brothers” (Hebrews 2:1-12). This exaltation, vaulting us far above the angels to be Christ’ s brothers in God’ s family, is also our deed to freedom. Satan, who held the power of death, was destroyed by Christ’ s self-sacrifice. Now we are freed. There will still be temptations to fall back into the way of death. But now Christ lives as our faithful High Priest to help us when we are tempted. We who have been dead are now alive — and now we can hear and respond to the voice of God calling us back to beauty. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT Involve your group members in direct Bible study. Have pairs work for 10 to 15 minutes with Hebrews 12:1-29 to seek answers to the following questions: What does this passage teach about angels? What is the relationship of Jesus to angels? What is our relationship to angels? How is our relationship to God different from His relationship with angels? After each pair has finished, come together to compare answers. Then use the visual to sum up the important teaching of this exciting passage. Jesus’ superiority to Moses (Hebrews 3:1-6). Moses stands as an example of faithfulness to God in the Old Testament and in history. Not only was the written Word of the Pentateuch given through Moses, but God commended this faithful man. Yet Jesus surpasses Moses, for Jesus is the Builder of the house in which Moses was a servant! We, who are the “ house” that Jesus is now building, are to fix our eyes on Jesus, not on Moses, and to give Jesus honor.

Hearing God’ s Voice: Hebrews 3:7-4:13 It is important to keep in mind when we read the Old and New Testaments that the relationship between them is that of fragments to the whole. Visualize a picture puzzle, half completed on the table, with many parts spread, unconnected, beside it. That is like the Old Testament. The outline, the basic themes and colors, may be clear. But still the whole is not seen. Come back later, when the puzzle is complete, and suddenly it all fits. Things you saw in part are now clear. The real shape and form of that bit of green is different than you imagined; it’ s far more beautiful and complex than you’ d dreamed. Yet, when you see it together, it is clear that even the fragment suggests the whole. Throughout the Book of Hebrews the writer referred back to the fragments of truth given in the Old Testament, and reinterpreted them in light of the whole. He spoke of them as “ shadows,” which dimly outline the reality and yet are not reality. Through it all, the writer showed that the reality which has now been fully revealed in Christ truly was there all along. When we begin to think then about the Christian’ s new “ way of life,” we are not suggesting that it contradicts the Old Testament way of life under Law. Instead, we’ re saying that shadowy truth about spiritual truth which was contained in the Law has been brought into fresh focus. Now, at last, the basic, heart issue of the believer’ s lifestyle has been isolated and revealed. From the complicated details of Old Testament regulatory laws, the Book of Hebrews isolates the critical principle. This principle now is to guide us, in Christ, into a life of rest. The example drawn (Hebrews 3:7-11). Quoting Psalms 95:7-11, the writer focused our attention on an attitude that characterized the relationship to God of a particular Old Testament generation. It is the generation of those freed by God’ s power from slavery in Egypt, and led by Moses toward the Promised Land. These men and women heard God’ s voice at Kadesh Barnea telling them to enter the land, but they hardened their hearts and refused to respond. As a result, God was forced to declare, “ They shall never enter My rest” (Hebrews 3:11). In this context, rest clearly refers to the land of Canaan, promised to Israel by God, toward which God had led His people after releasing them from slavery (see Ex. 3-11). An application made (Hebrews 3:12-15). The writer immediately made his point. We have been raised to take a position in Christ. Our share in Him makes us the new men and women we are, and opens up the possibility of a victorious life. But our share in Christ will be of no practical value to us if we permit the same attitude to develop in us as was displayed by Israel of old. This attitude, characterized here as sinful and untrusting (Hebrews 3:12), can harden us and keep us from responding to God’ s voice when He speaks to us. The focus in our life with Jesus today is not to be on lists of do’ s or don’ ts, or even on the Bible’ s revelation of right and wrong behavior. The primary issue and the focus of our concern as believers is to be this: Is my heart open to God? Am I eager to learn what God wants me to do, and am I willing to do it?A tragic end (Hebrews 3:16-19). The writer now returned to that Old Testament generation, to identify them clearly, and to mark off sharply the tragic results of hardening hearts and lives to the Lord. Who were the rebels? They were actually men and women who had experienced the mighty acts of God by which He freed them from slavery in Egypt! With whom was God angry? These very people who sinned — and whose bodies ultimately fell in the wilderness, never to know the rest of entering the Promised Land. And who does God declare can never experience His rest? No one who disobeys God can ever enter His rest! A “ rest” remains (Hebrews 4:1-11). This section of Hebrews is complicated by a multiple use of the word “ rest” and by a complex argument. We can best follow the thought if we sort out some of the elements, rather than attempt to analyze the passage verse by verse. *The promise stands. This is the thought with which the chapter begins (Hebrews 4:1). Even though a later, obedient generation did enter the Promised Land, that entry did not completely fulfill the promise of a “ rest” for God’ s people. In fact, much later, in the time of David, the promise and the warning were repeated: “ Today, if you hear His voice” (Hebrews 4:7). If God’ s full blessing for His people had been granted when Joshua led Israel into Palestine, then the promise of a rest would not have been repeated much later to the people of David’ s day, or by the writer of Hebrews to Christians then and now. *The nature of rest. The word “ rest” is used in Hebrews 3:1-19 and Hebrews 4:1-16 in three distinct senses. First is the usage we’ ve seen. Entry into the Promised Land, so large a feature of Old Testament history, is a portrait — a tangible example — of the idea of rest. It was an appropriate picture. God had promised the land to Abraham and his descendants. During the years of Israel’ s slavery in Egypt, pagan peoples had populated and improved the land. They had built houses, planted vineyards and orchards, and tamed the wilderness. Yet their lifestyle more and more evidenced the grossest of sins. The time of their judgment by God corresponded with Israel’ s release from slavery. In coming into Canaan, Israel would be God’ s instrument of judgment on sin — and would inherit riches for which she had not labored. The people would sit under trees they had not planted and drink wine made from grapes of vines they had not cultivated. They would come into a land where the work had been done — and they would rest. Like Israel of old, you and I in Jesus have been delivered from slavery. Sin’ s power in our lives has been broken, and we are called by God to enter a “ Promised Land” experience, in which we will rest. We are to enjoy the benefits of the work Jesus has done for us. The Christian life is not one of struggle to carve out a bare living in the wilderness. The Christian life is one of appropriating all the benefits of the spiritual abundance that Jesus so richly provides. A second connotation of “ rest” is seen in the application of the term to God’ s own rest on completion of Creation. The Jewish teachers had noted a fascinating feature of the Genesis account. For each of the first six days, the text speaks of “ evening and morning.” The beginning and the end were clearly marked off. But the seventh day has no such demarcation. The rabbis took this to mean that God’ s rest has no end. With the creative work complete, God is not inactive, but He no longer creates, for that work is done. Strikingly, it is His rest (Genesis 4:5) that believers are invited to enter! We are to come to the place where we appropriate fully what God has done, and while never becoming inactive, we do stop laboring. The load of a Christian life that some experience as a struggle is lifted. The pressure of trying harder is gone. *Entering rest. The analysis of the early generation that failed is a specific application to the believer’ s experience. “ There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). The Bible tells us that we are to rest from our own work, just as God did from His (Hebrews 4:10). The lifestyle of the person who is raised to mastery of life in Christ is not to be the ceaseless struggle some know. There is to be an experience of rest. In Hebrews 3:1-19’ s analysis of the early generation that failed to experience the promised rest, we saw that the critical problem involved their attitude toward God. This people heard what God said. But they hardened their hearts, and would not respond. Unwilling to trust God, they were unable to obey. Modern psychology thinks of an “ attitude” as a disposition or tendency to respond. Attitudes are always linked to behavior. To say that a person has a critical attitude implies that in many situations he will tend to criticize (rather than appreciate) others. The rebellious attitude exhibited by the men and women Moses led out of slavery also had clear consequences. When God spoke to them, their tendency was, first of all, to fail to trust Him. And, second, to disobey. In the Bible these two characteristics, trust and obedience, are always linked. Trust in God (believing what He says to us is prompted by love, and actually does mark out the very best pathway for us) is critical to the kind of obedience God desires. A person who does not trust, but rather fears, might produce an outward conformity to the orders of a tyrant. But only trust and love enable us to make a willing, inner commitment to follow the instructions of our Heavenly Father. When we trust God, we are freed to obey from the heart. What then contrasts with the rebellious attitude of the disobedient generation? A responsive attitude. When we hear God’ s voice today, what is important to God and to us is simply that we trust ourselves to Him and obey. Faith in God, expressed in obedient response to His voice, is the critical principle which sums up the lifestyle expected of God’ s children. What you and I are to concentrate on in our Christian lives is entering God’ s rest by making faith’ s response whenever we hear His voice. How can we sum it up? Let’ s realize the implications of God’ s own rest. Since Creation itself, there has been no contingency for which God has not planned; no problem for which He hasn’ t a solution. God has been active while at rest, for all has been cared for. For us to enter God’ s rest means simply to learn to be responsive to God’ s written and contemporary voice, and let His living Word guide us to the solutions He has already prepared for our every difficulty. Like God, we remain active. But amid all our work, we are at rest. We are not troubled, burdened, or loaded down. We know that God will lead us through His living Word, and that we will find His prepared and Promised Land by listening to Him. Some have interpreted the next words in Hebrews 4:1-16 as a threat: The Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’ s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:12-13To those who fail to see themselves as Jesus’ brothers, and to understand the thought of Hebrews 3:1-19 and Hebrews 4:1-16, it may seem frightening. Such people might cringe as they imagine these verses describe God examining them, to highlight each hidden fault. But this is not the point at all! The writer has just explained rest. That rest goes beyond the promise of Palestine to Israel. God’ s rest is a rest of soul and spirit, a rest of thought and attitude. The inner person is to be at rest as well. And we can rest, for nothing is hidden from God’ s gaze. He knows our deepest, most secret needs, and with His Word lays bare that need — and guides us into rest. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT Ask each person to read Hebrews 4:12-13, and jot down two words that describe how these verses make him or her feel. List the feelings on the chalkboard, and then ask what your group members think the verses mean. Then in a minilecture explain carefully the teaching of Hebrews 3:7-4:11. When we understand the “ rest” God promises those of us who will maintain a trusting and obedient attitude, we discover that Hebrews 4:12-13 are a promise, and not a threat.

God’ s Living Voice Today too Jesus is the voice of freedom for you and me. As the ever-living Word, He calls us today to enter His Promised Land of rest. But we still wonder. How do we hear Christ’ s “ today” voice? In a verse torn from context? In circumstances? In a friend’ s advice? As far as Scripture is concerned, it is clear that God’ s voice is heard in the flow of the Bible message. But that flow is not itself God’ s voice. God’ s voice speaks to us through the understanding we gain from grasping what the Scriptures teach. What I mean is this. Note how carefully the writer of Hebrews develops his argument. Step by step he has helped his readers see the superiority of Christ, and realize their own release through Him. Such careful development tells us that God does not depend on shedding light in snatches! God works carefully to help us understand a whole new way of thought. It is in the understanding — in the context of the message — that the living voice is heard. Yet God’ s voice is itself subjective and personal. The Holy Spirit speaks through the Word to you with His answer for your problem — for your most pressing present need. And He speaks through the same word with His answer for my problem, though my needs may be different. The Holy Spirit within us actively applies God’ s truth to our individual situations, and He Himself is the voice of our living Lord. It is true that the Spirit may speak to us through circumstances. And God may use a Christian friend. But always, the voice is heard within the flow of the message given us in Scripture’ s written Word, as God the Holy Spirit looks deep within our souls and spirits and applies His truth to you and to me. And when we hear this living voice, telling us God’ s way, then we hurry to obey in joyful trust and faith. By obeying, we enter the land of rest and freedom that Jesus has proclaimed.

Teaching Guide Prepare Be sure you understand the difficult yet important Hebrews 3:7-4:13 passage on God’ s rest and His living voice.

Explore

1. Encourage your group members to share. When was the last time each was aware that God was speaking to him or her? What was God saying, and what did each do?
2. Or begin with the study of angels suggested in “ link-to-life” above which emphasizes the importance of listening to Jesus who is the true revealer of God.

Expand

1. Ask your group members to read and jot down the feelings generated by Hebrews 4:12-13. See “ link-to-life” above.
2. Give a minilecture carefully working through the argument of Hebrews 3-4. Be sure that your group members understand (a) the meaning of rest, (b) the attitude which motivates response to God’ s voice, and (c) the meaning of Hebrews 4:12-13 as a promise in that context.

Apply Ask your group members to share. What most helps each to be responsive to God when the Holy Spirit (God’ s living voice) guides or directs?