Hebrews 1:1-14.  Although this is a letter it doesn’t start out like a typical New Testament letter with a greeting and address.  For more on who, when, and where check out the “Intro to Hebrews” page.  For the short version it was probably written by Luke to a group of Jewish Christian priests living in the city of Antioch in Syria.  It was probably written around the time of Paul’s execution (67 AD) from Rome.  The times were very troubling for both Jews and Christians and probably more so for a Jewish Christian who had been a Jewish priest.

Verses 1-4, way to jump right in there.  Since the book is full of Old Testament quotes and references who ever is reading this letter had a great deal of respect for the authority of the Old Testament and for the God of the Bible.  In verse 2 we learn that the message that began in the Old Testament is continued in the New Testament and that it involves Jesus.  The author doesn’t bring up Jesus until tomorrows reading but that is who the son of God is (See Mark 1:1, but all of the gospels use this term for Jesus).  Not only does the author tell us that Jesus is bringing us the rest of the story, we learn that he is the author of the story.  Jesus is described as the creator of the world, the exact representation of God’s nature, and he is the one who maintains the existence of the universe.  This powerful God-Man is also the one who has cleaned up the sin problem.  In verse 3 the word purification would have meant a lot to the original Jewish readers if they were priests because that was part of their duty in the Temple (See the “Intro to Hebrews”), to symbolically wash away sins.  So Jesus is more that the storyteller and the author of the story he is the one who makes the story work.

We see in verse 2 that he is the heir.  That means that ultimately everything god owns will be in Jesus’ power.  Jesus not only is the son of God in name, he has proved his sonship by his actions in saving us.  The word for angel in Greek (Greek is the language that the New Testament was written in) means “messenger”.  Often in the Bible we see the angles as messengers from God.  Here we see that Jesus has a higher position that, he is a messenger, but he is more and that is shown by his actions which prove he is the Son of God.

In verses 5-17 we have a bunch of quotations from the Old Testament that are being credited to God the Father (See “Three or One?”) about Jesus.  These quotations are used by the author to prove the superiority of Jesus.  God never calls angles his son.  As a group they are sometimes called “sons of God” but never individually.  And the “begotten” part, in this verse, has nothing to do with physical birth.  The idea is of bringing into his proper place.  Jesus was brought into his proper place by being ht savior of the world.  That action proved that Jesus was God and proves God’s love for mankind.  The second part of verse 2 continues to show the relationship between God the Father and Jesus.  It is just more proof of the position and power of Jesus.  Verses 6 would be proof enough to any Jew that Jesus was God.  Only god was to be worshipped under their law (the Law of Moses, see Exodus 20:3-5).  Verse 7 quotes Psalm 104:4 but it kind of reverses it.  In the Psalm God’s greatness is seen in his use of wind and fire to send a message but in Hebrews 1:7 the angles are compared to the wind and fire.  The implication is that the angles are temporary and under God’s control as they function as his messengers.  In contrast verses 8-9 display Jesus (the son) as permanent and in control.  Theses verses area quote for Psalm 45:6-7 which were sung at a kings wedding.  While the wedding was perhaps the happiest day for the king for the Son of God it was the day he secured a place for his bride through his death on the cross (See Ephesians 5:25).  Verses 10-11 are a quote of Psalm 102:25-27.  This is especially important because in that Psalm the personal name of God, Yahweh is used.  And it is applied directly to Jesus, sorry Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jesus is Yahweh (or Jehovah as some people transliterate the Hebrew).  It’s too bad that the author didn’t quote the last line of that Psalm; it would have been pretty comforting to any one who considered themselves servants of God.  Psalms 102:28 tells us that God’s servants (well actually it says their children) will continue “forever”.   Over all the quotation assures anyone who is following Jesus that they have put their trust in someone who will last forever.  The final quotation in verse 13 is from Psalm 110:1.  In Matthew 22:41-46 Jesus quotes this same Psalm (See also Luke 20:39-44).  Jesus is asking about the promised coming one, the Messiah.  He quotes the Psalm and asks the leaders whose son the Messiah is.  The reply that he will be a “son” (descendant) of David.  Jesus then wants to know why David called the Messiah his lord.  That would never be a way to speak about a descendant if you were Jewish.  The point is that this physical descendant of David was somehow more and superior to David.  The link here in Hebrews back to verse 3 seems pretty obvious; this Son of God in Hebrews one is the son of David from Psalm 110.  The solution that the religious leaders did not want to admit was that the descendant of David would be more that a mere mortal.  In contrast the author of Hebrews again references the angles and calls them ministering or serving spirits.  And we see that they are to serve people who have put their faith in Jesus (compare Hebrews 1:14 with John 1:12).

Altogether this chapter is a fitting beginning for any Jewish person who was being pressured about becoming a Christian.  It is clear that the “Son of God”, the Messiah, Jesus, was the right person to put their faith in, and it was clear from their own scriptures or writings from God.  Although we do not have the same frame of reference as those early Jewish Christians we too need to remember who Jesus is and what he has and will do.  We need to see Jesus as supreme.  It is comforting to know that he is God, he is powerful, he is in control, and that he cares about his people (look again at verse 14 where he uses the angles to serve us).

God thank you for caring about me.  Thank you for making me your bride.  I am glad that you are glad about my existence (v. 9).  Let my life be pleasing to you and help me stay faithful to you no matter what comes along.