Tabor Baptist Church

Introduction

• Deep theology in these first three verse
• They speak of Christ as a Prophet and Priest
• It may be difficult to understand - Hebrews steep in the Old Testament would have been able to understand
• The writer says who Jesus is
• He is far greater than the angels
• Jesus is God (v8)
• The whole letter is full of Jesus Christ and His Deity
• The letter is written about 35 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus
• Some were now second generation Christians, some of the apostles had now died
• A group of Hebrew Christians had become discouraged
• Perhaps from Italy - Heb 13:24
• They were struggling
• They had once been persecuted and suffered loss - Heb 10
• Some had been tempted to go back to Judaism, some on the verge of apostasy
• Why was this?
• Waiting for the imminent return of Jesus Christ
• Christianity being illegal - the time of Nero in AD35 (Judaism was still legal)
• False teachers abounded
• The pull of the world
• 'Professors but not possessors'
• The writer is confident they would turn back - Heb 6:9, 10:39
• "Consider Christ" - a common phrase in this letter
• Look to Him
• Turn back to Him
• The urgent tone of the letter - Heb 3:2
• Encouraging tones in the letter
• A High Priest who can sympathize with us
• High and heavenly teaching
• If you are ever tempted to give up Jesus, attracted by the world, attracted by another religion: this letter is for you
• In these last days - God has spoken to us through His Son

Jesus as God's Final Revelation

• Jesus is the final and full revelation
• Some look for new revelations:
• Mormonism
• Christian Science
• Other groups looking for fresh revelations
• There is no further revelation necessary
• In times past He spoke by the prophets but now He speaks in/by His Son
• In times past He spoke to the fathers but now He speaks to us
• God has spoken in His own beloved Son
• The complete Bible is the full revelation
• The New Testament has not done away with the Old Testament
• Progressive revelation
• Man does not search for revelation of God but God is revealing Himself to man [through the Bible]
• The Old Testament
• Fragmented
• Giving prophecies about Jesus Christ
• Jesus Christ is now the full revelation
• The person of Jesus Christ reveals the invisible God
• Revelation incomplete, temporary and preparatory
• In Jesus Christ the revelation is complete, permanent and final
• We reject anyone who seeks a new revelation
• If you want to know who God is - look at Jesus Christ
• His character, His Holiness
• If you want to know what sin is - look at the perfect life of Jesus
• His teachings, the cross, His sacrifice
• If you want to be saved - look to Jesus
• If you want to understand the origin of the universe - look to Jesus

Jesus as Heir of all Things (v2)

• The heir is a title holder of inheritance
• All has been given into His name
• He has been made the title holder of the universe - Col 2:11
• All things are made through Him and for Him
• Animate and inanimate objects
• In particular His inheritance is bound up with the people
• He bought them by His precious blood on the cross
• History belongs to Him
• The Church belongs to Him
• Will you give yourself to Him?
• Will you belong to Him being saved?

Jesus is the glory and image of God (v3)

Glory:

• He is the brightness of the Father
• Because He proceeds from the Father
• Jesus is not a reflection of the Father's glory (like the moon is a reflection of the sun)
• He and the Father are one
• When Jesus came into the world His glory was hid from them
• A portion of this glory was seen during the transfiguration
• One day He shall come again and all will see His glory and power
• It is hard for us to understand how God could become man

Image:

• Jesus is the express image of His [the Father's] person
• The Trinity is not a God who appears in three different modes
• They are three distinct persons and yet one
• Perfect love and perfect holiness
• Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscience

Jesus upholds all things by the word of His power

• The universe is all held together by Jesus
• There is a wonderful design (and Designer) to the universe
• If you took away the power of His word, the universe would collapse
• Our lives are in the hand of God
• He is the maker and sustainer of the universe

Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high

• The one thing that is singled out about Jesus is His work on the cross
• By Himself He purged our sins on the cross
• This is the climax - this is what the letter will focus on
• The high priest would offer a sacrifice for sins
• Jesus offers Himself as a sacrifice
• The high priest would never sit down (they had to continually give sacrifices - their work was never done)
• Jesus having purged our sins sat down
• Our greatest need is sin
• Selfishness - living for self
• Unkindness
• Adultery
• To clean something you have to make it dirty
• The pure Jesus was made dirty for our sins - He took our sins upon Himself
• There is no further need of sacrifice - it is complete in Jesus

Concluding Remarks

• Do you know the cleansing of Jesus Christ?
• Three questions
• Where do we come from?
• What are we?
• Where are we going?
• Every question is answered in Jesus Christ