Those who have heard the Gospel need to give it more earnest heed, because, if the message of angels (servants) was important, how much more important would be the message of the Son of God? If the hypothetical is really true that the angels are created daily, this, according to Jewish theology of the day, and they pass out of existence each day, after their service is complete, and their word was considered worthy of obedience, how much more serious would be the word of the Son, who is the Creator? He is permanent and unchangeable throughout all ages. The angels were created to serve, but the Son rules from the throne of God. How much more important, then, are his words than that of angels? Read the rest of this entry »
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In Hebrews 1:8-9 Paul claims the text in Psalm 45:6-7 is speaking of the Son, meaning the Messiah. Then, without a break in thought to show he is speaking of anyone else, he quotes Psalm 102:26-27. In it David was speaking to God. In verse-16 he addresses God as Jehovah (YHWH; see also Psalm 102:18-19, 21-22), then as God in verse-24. Read the rest of this entry »
Using Psalm 104 as his text, Paul claims angels were created to be the servants of God (Hebrews 1:7). This Psalm has been interpreted and translated several different ways. For example, some scholars believe it should be rendered in the reverse order: “Who makes the wind his messengers and the flaming fire his servants,”[1] which finds some support in Psalm 148:8. Nevertheless, Paul isn’t using Psalm 104:4 to mean the wind and fire are the servants of God, although clearly they are (Psalm 148:8). Rather, he seems to be telling his readers that angels were created in the image of nature that daily fulfills the will of the Creator (not the image of God as man was created – cp. Genesis 1:26-27) . To serve is the reason they exist. In fact, 2Esdras, which probably preserves how some Jews believed during the first century AD, says this about angels with an obvious reference to Psalm 104:4: Read the rest of this entry »
Hebrews is a book that holds up Jesus, the Christ, as supreme over all—over the Law, over Moses, over the prophets of old, over the Patriarchs—over all, even over the angels of heaven, and his supremacy over angels is the subject of the first chapter. The recipients of this epistle were Jews, living in Jewish lands. They were being persecuted and intimidated in an effort to cause them to compromise their faith in Jesus. They were being harassed by family and friends, priests and zealots both in and out of the synagogue (Hebrews 10:32-36), and it would get worse (cf. Luke 21:12-19). The Jews boasted that they received the Law from the angels of heaven, and that the Law was eternal. They also looked upon Moses as the supreme prophet. Where did the Messiah fit into all this, and how should one live in such a context? These are some of the questions addressed and answered in this epistle.
If the sun didn’t radiate light, and if we could exist without the sun, we wouldn’t know anything about that star, or whatever it might otherwise be called. Whatever we know about God comes to us by knowing Jesus. He is the radiance of the glory of God (Hebrews 1:3). How bright is God? …as bright as Jesus! How powerful is God? …as powerful as Jesus was in his weakest moment (viz. the cross). How do we know God loves us? …look at Jesus! What does God say to us today? …what does Jesus say to us in his word? What is God doing today? …what is Jesus doing today? What can be known of God comes to us through Jesus (Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22; John 1:18). He, that is, Jesus, is the radiance of the glory of God. Read the rest of this entry »
David expressed it well when he asked God in prayer: “What is man that you are mindful of him or the son of man that you consider him?” (Psalm 144:3). He went on to say that man’s life is but a vapor, like a shadow that vanishes away (verse-4), so why should God take such a great interest in mankind? He speaks to us, demands correct behavior and punishes us, when we become too violent or when we drift too far from him. He doesn’t act this way toward other life forms. Rather, his word claims they praise him, always doing what he has intended them to do. Only mankind is in rebellion, and yet God takes an interest in us. Why? Read the rest of this entry »
According to Hebrews 1:2, God has spoken to the Jews (us in the text) through his Son in what is termed these last days. These Last Days have been interpreted to extend even into our modern era of the 21st century. Some scholars have interpreted these days, not as a specific time period, but as a block of time like the antediluvian age and the age of the patriarchs etc. In other words, according to this point of view, these last days are simply the last age that God intends to use to deal with mankind’s rebellion. This idea, however, is unscriptural. The Gospel Age is an age that will never end (Daniel 2:44-45; cf. Isaiah 9:7; Ephesians 3:21). Therefore, these last days **must** refer to a specific time period, and the Bible seems to claim that period of time pointed to the last days of the Jewish nation in terms of their covenantal relationship with God (cp. Deuteronomy 31:29). Read the rest of this entry »
The Epistle to the Hebrews was written to Jews in Jewish lands. We can be sure of this because of the use of the word fathers in Hebrews 1:1, and due to the fact that nothing is mentioned of gentiles in this epistle. All of its content pertains to Jewish history, beliefs and traditions and how such things apply to Christ. It is one of four epistles in the New Testament that isn’t signed,[1] and based only upon the absence of a signature, some scholars tell us that the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews cannot be known for certain, but is this true? Read the rest of this entry »
The text says that Jesus led his disciples as far as Bethany (Luke 24:50), but this location is really on the Mount of Olives. Just as Jerusalem’s suburbs included the Mount of Olives, so Bethany’s suburbs also extended to that mountain (Numbers 35:5; cf. Acts 1:12).[1] From here Jesus promised he would send the ‘promise of the Father’ to them (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4), and Luke tells us that the ‘promise of the Father’ is the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5). Earlier, Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as ‘another Comforter’, who would be with and remain with his followers and teach them what they needed to know about Jesus (John 14:16, 26). Peter interpreted ‘the promise of the Father’ to be the phenomenon that occurred to the 120 in the upper room and so affected them on that Pentecost day (Acts 2:33). Read the rest of this entry »
It is important to understand that once in Bethany, Jesus could not return to Jerusalem until after the Sabbath day was over. The law concerning traveling on the Sabbath can be found in Exodus 16:29, where Moses tells the Israelites that they cannot go out of their “place” on the Sabbath day. The word for “place” (H4725) is maqowm and means “locality, country, or home.”In other words, Moses wasn’t trying to keep everyone in his tent, but no one was permitted to leave the camp. In Numbers 35:5 the Law fixed the limits of the city to its suburbs of 2000 cubits (3000 feet) on every side. This was considered to be a Sabbath day’s journey, set by ancient rabbis and continued to the time of Jesus (Acts 1:12). That Jesus agreed with this prohibition of travel on the Sabbath can be seen in the Olivet Prophecy in Matthew 24:20, where he told the apostles to pray that their flight in persecution would not occur in winter or on the Sabbath day. Read the rest of this entry »
Jesus reminded the disciples of what he had told them before they arrived in Jerusalem, namely, that all things written in the scriptures concerning him must be fulfilled (Luke 24:44). Moreover, this pertained to how he would be mistreated and mocked by the Jewish leaders, and how he would be scourged and crucified by the gentiles, but he would rise again on the third day (cf. Luke 18:31-34; 24:25-26). He then began to open their understanding of the scriptures (Luke 24:45; cf. Acts 16:14), but this may not have been like switching on a light in order to dispel their darkness. Rather, it may have taken several appearances, before the disciples fully understood and embraced what Jesus had been telling them for some time (cf. Acts 1:3). One doesn’t rid himself of false doctrine very easily or all at once. Read the rest of this entry »
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It is often presumed by Biblical scholars that, because the Apostles presumed Jesus was a spirit and Jesus’ statement that he was not a spirit (Luke 24:37, 39) confirms the doctrine that there are indeed disembodied spirits, but this is a very poor interpretation of the text. For example, the Lord’s mention of the gods in the Old Testament cannot be construed to mean there are actually gods like Molech, Baal, or Chemosh etc. When one wishes to expose the lies of a false doctrine, one often needs to refer to the lie by name. This is what Jesus did. The Pharisees believed in spirits of the dead (Acts 23:9) and, therefore, would have taught the people so. Jesus’ invitation for the disciples to touch him and place their fingers in his wounds was meant, not only for them to believe he was risen indeed, but to expose the Pharisees’ false doctrine for what it was. Read the rest of this entry »
Those of us who embrace Jesus as our Savior often take it for granted that, once Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, they immediately recognized and believed that what he told them was true, namely, he would go to Jerusalem, and the authorities would arrest him, turn him over to the gentiles, and they would crucify him, but he would also be raised to life after three days. Nevertheless, if we do believe this, it isn’t so. Even after Jesus appeared to his Apostles and other disciples, most of them still didn’t believe he had risen from the dead. This is how great a power their previous worldview exercised over their accepting what their eyes and ears and hands clearly told them. They simply would not believe what the facts distinctly revealed. They kept making allowances for what contradicted what they still believed. Pretty much, this is exactly what we can expect of anyone who has had his worldview challenged by the Gospel. Folks simply do not want to give up what they believe about reality. Read the rest of this entry »
The text says that Jesus led his disciples as far as Bethany (Luke 24:50), but this location is really on the Mount of Olives. Just as Jerusalem’s suburbs included the Mount of Olives, so Bethany’s suburbs also extended to that mountain (Numbers 35:5; cf. Acts 1:12).
Things Paul & Luke 