December 8, 2014
Hebrews 1-2
Hebrews is a fascinating and complicated letter. It was addressed primarily to Jewish Christians, who would be very conversant with the Old Testament, but were also being tempting to revert to Judaism or, at least, to Judaize the gospel. It was necessary for the author (Was he Barnabas? Was he Apollos?) to convince them of the absolute supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ.
Not too long ago, we did a sermon series on the book of Hebrews entitled, “Jesus Is Better...”
The first two chapters say: “Jesus is better than the angels!” Several heresies of the early church made angels out to be something more than divine messengers. The writer gets right to work, extolling the glories of Christ in the very first verses, then systematically, from the scriptures themselves, just how Jesus is better.
Jesus is the Son of God, angels are created servants! Jesus became the Son of Man in order to save humanity; angels are “ministering spirits,” sent by God to serve those who are being saved (1:14)! In telling us that “Jesus is better than angels,” the writer is not putting angels down, but rather, lifting Jesus up!
Tomorrow we discover that Jesus is better than Moses and the law!
Your fellow traveler through the New Testament,
Pastor Gary
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