8 (Long) Years In Review

 

Having spent so much time away from my blog, I believe it is fitting to begin my review in October of this last year. October found me in a bad place, jaded and unsettled by life, taking a walk with my wife one afternoon after work. My birthday had come and gone and I didn’t celebrate it simply because of my funk. There were many reasons, and COVID had really made things stranger for everyone, myself included. I went from managing a single store, to managing no stores, being laid off temporarily, and then managing two locations. My smallest girl was only 3 during that time and we headed into quarantine.

Hebrews Chapter One, King Of The Nations

 

Hebrews 1:8 But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. [9] You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”

 

The author contrasts what is said about the angels to what is said about Jesus. In verse 7 we learn #1: the angels are created (Who makes His angels). #2: they possess no physical body that is native to them (spirits). #3: angels serve as ministers like ambassadors or soldiers in God’s host (His ministers). #4: The Greek for “flame of fire” is “phlox,” which comes from the word “phlego,” and means, “to shine, flash, a blaze.” The angels are given power from God to carry out God’s judgment upon evil (a flame of fire.)

Hebrews Chapter One, Angelology's Summary

 

Yet when we read the first chapter of Ezekiel we find this description: “Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and two covered their bodies…As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of burning torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning,” Ezekiel 1:11, 13. The living creatures (living beings, NASB translation) bear an uncanny resemblance to the seraphim in Isaiah chapter 6. But later we read it is explained that the four living creatures of Ezekiel chapter 1 are the cherubim of Ezekiel chapter 10. “And the cherubim were lifted up. This was the living creature I saw by the River Chebar,” Ezekiel 10:15, 1:5. In Revelation we once more meet these “living beings” before God’s throne, always in the closest association with Him.

Hebrews Chapter One, On Demons & Seraphim

 

Not just Satan, but his servants can also come into the Lord’s court for the time being, as witnessed in 2 Chronicles 18:20, 21, when a lying spirit came before God’s throne and offered to mislead Ahab king of Israel to his downfall. Clearly this “lying spirit” was not a holy angel, but a fallen one. The Bible has a term for such angels. Like Satan, who lost his name of Lucifer and has now become the Adversary, the formerly holy angels that left their first abode have been given the name demons.

Hebrews Chapter One, Angelology

 

Hebrews 1:7 And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire.”

 

Here the author quotes Psalm 104:4 from a Psalm that celebrates God’s creative and preservative power. The surrounding verses speak of God’s creative activity first in verse 3 about Him laying the upper beams of His chambers in the waters, and how He walks on the wings of the wind as if the upper atmosphere was His proverbial floor. Though the language here is poetic I believe he refers to the second and third heaven in verse 3. His upper chambers seem to describe the Heaven of heavens, while the waters, as it were, alludes to space, the celestial heavens. If we read the opening account of Genesis we learn that God divided the waters under the firmament (land) from the waters that were above the land, dividing liquid water from the expanse of the heavens. In Genesis 1:8 the word rendered firmament could more appropriately be translated “expanse,” and is in fact translated thus in the ESV. Verse 14 reveals God creating the lights in the firmament (expanse) of the heavens to divide day and night. He called into being the sun, moon, and the stars in their courses. On the fourth day then, astronomical activity began. The purpose for two of the “lights” was to grant light to the earth: namely the sun and the moon, verses 15, 16. A little further we learn that God created birds to fly, “across the face (surface) of the firmament of the heavens,” Genesis 1:20. That being said, if the dizzying heights birds could reach was merely the face of the expanse of the heavens, then the “body” went far afield.

Hebrews Chapter One, The Worship Of Angels

 

Hebrews 1:5 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 will be to Me a Son”? [6] But when he brings the firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.”

 

The word angel means messenger. The messenger can be human or heavenly; if the former it is a prophet or minister elected by God for a specific reason. If the latter, much the same case, but often having purposes beyond the message bearing of the prophets. The first instance of angelic activity was in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:1 tells us that a serpent beguiled Eve, who in turn enticed Adam to disobey. We learn with absolute certainty that “the ancient serpent,” Revelation 12:9, NIV, also called the dragon, the devil, and Satan, was the self-same being in the primeval garden. Before Satan determined to corrupt our first parents in an act of defiant rebellion against his Maker, he had already departed in his heart.

Hebrews Chapter One, Tracing Heresies

 

Here we begin our proper study of angels, or Angelology, begins here. But sadly we begin with the negative. Jesus is being contrasted now to the angels, God’s messengers throughout created time. Whereas first we view His superiority to the prophets of old, now the writer compares our Lord to angels and their respective place and purpose. Worship of angels is widespread. Cults such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists believe Christ to be an angel, or a mighty god. Some say that he is Michael the Archangel. All pseudo-Christian cults attribute to Him much honor, save for the honor of acknowledging Him as God the Son, second member of the holy Trinity. This depreciated belief can be traced back at least to Arius (circa. 250-336 AD). Arius and his followers believed and taught that Jesus was created by the Father and was by definition of His creation, not co-eternal with Him. This rejection of Biblical truth led to extreme heresy, and while Arius attempted to mollify his critics by attributing to Christ high praise for the position God elevated Him to, it was faint and damning praise since it robbed Him of His native divinity.

Hebrews Chapter One, Superiority To Angels

 

Hebrews 1:4a having become so much better than the angels,

 

A certain line of logical connection leads us to this juncture. The KJV renders the beginning of the verse, “Being made,” whereas the NASB, HCSB, or NIV closely follow the NKJV in saying, “Having become.” In either case this verse does not argue for the Son as a created being, made superior to angels. Rather, we trace this thought from verse 2. God spoke in His Son, through whom He made the universe. The word “being” in, “Being the brightness of God’s glory,” is a present tense verb, implying a continuous state. Jesus is perpetually the effulgence of the Father’s brilliance, and the express image or exact representation of His character or nature. The author speaks boldly about the identicalness of Father and Son. Not only that but Christ upholds all things (the universe and all life) by the word of His power. By Himself He purged our sins, and as testimony of His accomplished, one time action, He sat down to demonstrate no more sacrifice for sin was necessary or acceptable.

Hebrews Chapter One, Jesus Paid It All

 

Hebrews 1:3 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,

 

These two verses alone (verses 2 and 3) are a staggering crescendo of the revelation of Jesus’ character and accomplishments. After the writer expresses the person of Christ and His native identicalness with the Father, and explaining how creation continues by virtue of His mighty word, he comes to expiation of sin. Many contrary views loom now as to what happened on the cross, and what Jesus exactly did on our behalf. But no opinion can supplant Scripture, and tradition never trumps truth. In verse 3 we receive a clear revelation of Jesus’ immense and singular accomplishment at Cavalry. “When (denoting a particular and unrepeated/unrepeatable action) He (the Son incarnated as a Man to represent humanity) had by Himself (past tense for the action committed; Jesus alone performed this unrepeated/unrepeatable action) purged (Greek, poieo katharismos: to do expiation or cleansing) our sins.” Does this fit our view of the Atonement? For those who continue to sacrifice or suffer to merit, expiate, or purge sin, this verse tells us in no uncertain terms that Christ did this alone, once, for our (read: everyone’s) sins.

Hebrews Chapter One, The Word of His Power

 

Hebrews 1:3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power,

 

Christ is the brightness of God’s glory, the express image or exact representation of His person, and He upholds all things by the word of His power. In the previous verse the author of Hebrews tells us that Christ is the heir of all things. All things—that is, all that exists as created by God—are His by virtue of His inheritance as the only begotten Son of God. Not only that, but He upholds those same things by the mere word of His power. He speaks and it is so. Power goes out from Him. In Christ He only gives. He need take nothing, for our Lord needs nothing. He is utterly and eternally sufficient.

Hebrews Chapter One, Character

 

Hebrews 1:3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person

 

The writer of Hebrews is still focusing on Jesus in this passage, mentioning that our universe enveloped in time was made through Christ, and that this same Christ is the brightness of God’s glory, and the express image of His person. Brightness can also be translated as effulgence, which has a much more fascinating implication. It means to shine out or radiate, to be in a constant state of brightness. Effulgence, then, is the visible expression of its source. Jesus, in the flesh, was the effulgence, the radiant glory, of the Father. That is why we read: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness,” John 1:4, 5. Later, we find Jesus telling His audience, “I am the light of the world,” John 8:12.

Hebrews Chapter One, Jesus: Inheritor Of All

 

Hebrews 1:2d has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things,

 

Continuing in verse 2, we learn that the Father has appointed (chosen or prearranged) Christ to be heir of all things. Hebrews delves deeply into Christology, or the study of the person of our Savior. Wasting no time, the author lets us know that God not only spoke in His Son in the last days, but that He has made Christ heir of all things. We read in Isaiah:

Hebrews Chapter One, Christ: The Word Of God

 

Hebrews 1:2c has in these last days spoken to us by His Son,

 

In these last days God has spoken to us by His Son. A more literal translation can be found in the NASB footnotes. “By His Son” is, “in Son.” Christ is God incarnate, the Prophet. As the prophets were servants of Yahweh, Jesus IS Yahweh and thus their employer. He gave them words to speak and they shared them, sometimes freely and boldly, sometimes with much resistance and distress. However, Christ, as the Word of God, spoke only what the Father commanded, doing so with an authority that demonstrated His sovereignty. The prophets prefaced their oracles by the likes of, “Thus says the Lord.” In turn, Jesus always addressed His audience by saying, “I say unto you.” Notice the tremendous difference. The prophets speak in the name of the Lord. It’s like a child that you’ve written a check for, and they are free to cash it, but only to the amount it was written and no more, regardless of how much funds are left in your account. Claiming the Lord’s name was a seal or validation for their testimony, a scrawl that reveals that what they are saying is not their own words or ideas, but it was inspired by, and approved of God.