Hebrews 1:1-7
God’s Supreme Revelation (John 1:1–4)
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
The Son Exalted Above Angels
5 For to which of the angels did He ever say:
“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You”?
And again:
“I will be to Him a Father,
And He shall be to Me a Son”?
6 But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says:
“Let all the angels of God worship Him.”
7 And of the angels He says:
“Who makes His angels spirits
And His ministers a flame of fire.”
God revealed Himself in His Son, the divine Jesus Christ. These truths of His identity and work to bring salvation through the cross of substitutionary atonement to pay for our sins are now revealed in God’s Word come to us (John 1:1, 14) to see for ourselves and to be further explained here. No longer do we need the prophets of old to hide the mystery of the Messiah in veiled statements that applied to both the historical and national state of Israel, but also of the future Deliverer as the Branch of the house of David to bring the physical human person of the divine Jesus Christ as Messiah to all the children of Abraham through faith alone in Christ alone by grace and nothing else. Now God the Father has spoken clearly on most points to us through His Son and given His Spirit as spiritual interpreter and teacher (John 14:26) those who repent from sin to turn in accepting (John 1:12) faith to Him. The Son is the heavenly heir of all things in heaven and on earth, of the entire universe of creation. Through Him all has been created (Genesis 1:1, John 1:3, Colossians 1:16-17) as the Living Word of God who Himself is the very image and substance of God, the express image (χαρακτήρ, charaktēr, the exact figure stamped to be seen as the same as the original) of the nature of God yet in a separate person of equal divinity. This person shows us the infinite brightness of the glory of God in the person of His Son come to live among us as Immanuel (Matthew 1:23), “God with us.” This Savior holds up everything by the power of His word because He is the Word of God incarnate who has purged us of our sins once and for all to give unending life in Himself, impossible to be lost or taken away or even forfeited by us. He proved and sealed this promise by rising from death to life as proof of our own resurrection in the spirit now (John 5:24) and the body at the end of time (John 11:25, Romans 8:11, 1 Corinthians 15:51-53). He is no mere created being as an angel, but the divine God Himself, for no fallible creature can redeem His creation by dying as a completely perfect and unblemished sacrifice as the Lamb of God alone could do. No created angel was ever called the Son of God whose Father was the Almighty in Heaven. The faithful angels worship the Son of God and the fallen angels fear Him even thought they know Him (James 2:19, Jude 1:6) because they cannot repent and be delivered from an eternal death of suffering as we who had a choice in Eden’s Garden had to trust and obey God. These angelic creatures then were merely God’s servants to minister the message of the Messiah and wage heavenly warfare against the rebels until they are thrown into the lake of fire, forevermore to be kept from deceiving and destroying (Revelation 12:9, 17) God’s children. We who have believed God and received the Lord Jesus Christ (John 20:31, 1 John 5:13) through the gospel of His reconciling work on the cross and proven in the resurrection have this certain hope that brought us past the veil (Hebrews 10:19-20) and into Christ who lives in us. The mystery of old is revealed (Ephesians 1:9, 3:9, Colossians 1:27) in Him, for the divine Son has come and been revealed to His children, called and chosen!
No comments:
Post a Comment