Hebrews Chapter One, Waiting for God

 

Hebrews 1:2b has in these last days

 

Whereas in former times, the ministry of the prophetic office was discharged by God’s servants, in the last days He sent His Son. The writer of Hebrews uses the phrase the “last days.” Christ our Lord cautioned His audience that the coming of the Lord will be as a thief in the night, and we will not know the hour of His coming. His return is ever imminent, and its imminence was meant to inspire action in the service of God’s church. Though 2,000 years have elapsed since Jesus initially uttered those sayings, what is that to us? His coming is ever imminent; what I mean is, nothing prophetic needs to occur between His ascending into Heaven to wait at the right hand of the Father before His return. We are, as it were, in the valley of the church age that looms between the mounts of Christ’s First and Second Coming. The prophecy of the 70 weeks detail God’s relation with Israel and His contention with the Man of Sin, the Lawless One who rises to power in the absence of the church to serve as a witness against his nature and purpose. But I digress about these things, because this topic could lead us down a long detour.

Hebrews Chapter One, The Prophetic Burden

 

Finally, we have Noah. The bridge between pre-Flood and post-Flood worlds, by faith he built an ark when he was warned of things not yet seen, Hebrews 11:7, Genesis 6:13, 17. While Hebrews 11:7 informs us that his act (like Abel’s) demonstrated a faith that made him an heir of righteousness, it also condemned the pre-Flood world. Was Noah’s act evil? No. Noah, unlike his generation, was faithful, Genesis 6:8. It was the unsaved world that was evil and desperately so, corrupting everything and filling the earth with violence. Noah’s act perhaps seems evil in the face of the unsaved that perished, but recall we are considering the prophets right now. Were the peers of Noah warned of the wrath to come? Peter referred to Noah as a “preacher of righteousness,” 2 Peter 2:5.

Hebrews Chapter One, God Of The Prophets

 

Hebrews 1:1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,

 

The writer of Hebrews offers no benediction or greeting. Instead, like a horse breaking right out of the gate for a race, he begins with the object of his letter: God. The Greek word for God is “theos” and simply means “deity” or can more specifically address the supreme divinity. God had spoken at various times throughout history prior to the time of Christ. The literal, original rendering (which can be found in the NASB) is “in many portions and in many ways.”

About Church, Part 2 (0f 2)

 

The church, while intended to be a body of individuals saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, is still peopled with fallible men and women. The writer of Hebrews warns us that sin can ensnare us, Hebrews 12:1. James warns us that, “we all stumble in many things,” James 3:2. He includes himself with the addition of “we,” and observes that “many things” cause us to stumble. The danger is universal and legion. Paul, confronting the Galatian church over the error of legalism tells us that saints can “fall from grace.” Meaning, positionally we have moved away from the simplicity of the gospel and polluted our thinking with additions to salvation’s message that are not necessary, welcome, or Biblical, Galatians 5:4.