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Bible Study		April 13, 2014
Who is Jesus

Introduction

Many of the Jews after Jesus' time were trying to understand who Jesus was and how he fit into what they had understood from the Old Testament. Although there were plenty of hints in the Old Testament that God had a son and that his son would be sent to earth in the form of a man, the Jews had missed that. So their understanding of the order of things was that there was:

• God – a singular being who had a spirit which was part of him, in the same sense that my arm is part of me
• Angels – created beings who generally appeared to men in the form of men
• Prophets – men chosen by God to speak for God to men, the greatest of whom was Moses
• Ordinary Men

Note that in their understanding there was no such thing as a son of God, nor was God's spirit a separate being from him.

The book of Hebrews is written to such people as this, people who have a deep understanding of the teachings of Judaism but a shallow understanding of Christianity. This can make the book of Hebrews hard to understand for Christians, who generally have a shallow understanding of Judaism.

Because the target audience for this book would only accept the Old Testament scriptures as having authority, Hebrews makes heavy use of quotes from the Old Testament. Most of these quotes come from the prophets.

The central theme of Hebrews is “Who is Jesus” and its purpose is to show where Jesus fits in the plan for man that God had from the beginning. In this lesson we will look at what the Book of Hebrews has to say about who Jesus is.

Lesson (Hebrews 1:1 – 3:6)

Hebrews 1

The book of Hebrews begins with a powerful statement about who the Son of God is in the first 4 verses. It is said that a great book must have a great beginning that will grab the reader. This book has just such a beginning and we'll spend some time in it. After this beginning the author begins to present the evidence for the opening statements he has made.

¹ From the first, in all parts and in all forms, God spoke with our fathers by the prophets, ² and in these last days he has spoken with us by his son, whom he ordained the heir of all things, and by him he made the universe.

These two verses make many important points

• From the time of the fathers of Israel, God spoke with his people
• God's message to man came in many parts at many times and in many forms (stories, law, symbols, descriptions of the future, etc.). This is dispensational revelation of a single message.
• God spoke to his people via prophets; everything that God had to say to man was said through the prophets.
• But now God has chosen to speak to his people through his own son. We see the son here as messenger but later we will see that he is also the message.
• God's son has been put in charge of everything in the created world
• God created everything through his Son. So the Son of God is the creator of everything, acting out the will of the father.
• These are the last days

Now the text of Hebrews continues to describe other aspects of the Son of God

³ For he is the brilliance of his glory, The image of his being, and upholds all things by the power of his word; and he in his essential being has accomplished the purification of our sins, and he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

Again there are so many important points woven together in that verse that we need to break them all apart to study them

• The Son of God is the brightness of the glory of God. The author is struggling to put a very deep thought into words.
• • The Son of God makes the glory of God visible (to man). As photons bring light to our eyes, so the Son of God shows God's glory to us.
  • Implies that the Son of God is not separable from God
• The Son of God is the image of God. He is the representation of God (to man). This doesn't mean that the Son of God looks physically like God any more that when the Bible says that we are made in his image¹ that we look physically like God. It refers to much more than that
• The Son of God is all powerful. The phrase “upholds all things” means that he is in control of everything.
• The Son of God came to man in his most basic form. This same reference to his essential self appears in Colossians 2:15 and is supported by Philippians 2:7 which says “… he stripped himself …”
• In that most basic form he accomplished the removal of our sins. Dying as a man made him the perfect sacrifice to pay the debt of our sins
• The Son of God took his place as ruler, with power and authority second only to the Father

Hebrews continues on with a last point about the Son of God and with that it begins the reasoning to support these claims that have been made. Along with this point the text begins to discuss the relationship between the Son of God and angels, and which is greater.

⁴ And this one is altogether greater than the Angels, according to how much more excellent than theirs is the name which he possesses.

The word “name” is used here as it is in many other places in the Bible, not as a personal name, but more in the sense of a reputation or character. But whereas a reputation among men can be weakened by a false accusation, the reputation referred to here is only based on truth. So a person has both a “name” and a “name”. The name might be “John Smith” but the name might be loving, caring, having integrity, being truthful, honest, hard-working, etc.

So the Son of God's name comes from the things that he did as Jesus. It is a name of self-sacrifice, righteousness, love, obedience, etc. and perfection in all of these. Hebrews is saying no angel has a name that is anything like that and therefore the Son of God is completely greater than the angels.

A name in this sense is very important in God's world. Name determines position; the greater the name, the greater the position. This is why the 3^rd commandment is so important to God. Essentially he says “don't be using my name for your silly purposes”.

Hebrews now begins the presentation of Biblical evidence as support for the idea that the Son of God is much greater than the angels. It quotes from David and Samuel both of whom were accepted as prophets.

• You are my son; today I have begotten you - Psalm 2:7
• I shall be to him the father and he shall be to me the son - 2 Samuel 7:14

Then it asks if God ever said that of any angel. Did God ever refer to an angel as his son?

Hebrews continues on with more quotes of things that God has said, through his prophets, about both angels and his son. By this it shows how much greater the Son is in the fathers eyes than the angels are. It closes with the summary statement about angels and their role as servants working for the benefit of us.

¹⁴ Behold, are they not all spirits of service, who are sent into service for the sake of those who are going to inherit life?

Hebrews 2

The second chapter begins with a call to pay attention to and obey the teachings of Jesus that have been heard.

¹ Because of this, we are indebted that we should be all the more attentive to whatever we have heard, lest we fall.

² For if a word spoken by Angels was established and everyone who heard it and violated it received a reward by justice, ³ how shall we escape if we despise those things which are our life, those which began to be spoken by our Lord and by those who heard from him among us, and were confirmed,

⁴ While God testified concerning them with signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the spirit of holiness, which were given according to his will?

When it says “a word spoken by Angels” it is referring to the Law of Moses which was given to Moses by angels. So the point here is this. If the law that was given by angels had authority such that those who disobeyed it received their deserved punishment, then how much more serious is it if we disobey the Son of God? And what excuse will there be when those among us (Apostles) heard his words and testify of him, and when God himself testifies about him through the works that were done by the Son of God and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

After this, in verses 5 to 9, Hebrews describes the future world, the world after the second coming, as being given to the Son of God and the Sons of Men to rule and not the angels.

Also in verse 9 we see an important statement “… [he] became a little lower than the Angels for the suffering of his death, and glory and honor are placed upon his head, for God himself, by his grace, tasted death in the place of every person”. Earlier in this lesson we saw that the Son of God stripped himself down to the essentials so that he might die to take away our sins. Here we see that it was necessary for him to do that so it would be possible for him to die. Normally it would not be possible for a god to taste death.

From here Hebrews continues on quoting verses from the Old Testament supporting the idea that the Son of God would come in the form of man and be among men and like men. This wouldn't have been a problem for the Jews because they had been expecting the Messiah to be a man. What they weren't expecting was that he would be the Son of God.

Hebrews 2 closes with this summary

¹⁴ For because the children shared together in flesh and blood, he also shared in these things in the same form, so that by his death he would destroy the one who had held the authority of death, who is Satan, ¹⁵ and he would free those who, by the fear of death, all their lives were subjected to bondage.

The Son of God became flesh and blood just like his children. His sacrificial death will eventually destroy Satan and free those he holds, but until then, we now live free of the fear of death and are no longer slaves to it as mankind previously was.

¹⁶ For death was not authorized over the Angels, but death was authorized over the seed of Abraham.

Angels cannot die but all flesh and blood do die, including the seed of Abraham, including the Messiah.

¹⁷ Because of this, it was right that he would become like his brethren in all things, that he would be a compassionate and trustworthy High Priest in what is God's, and would make atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ For in this, because he has suffered and was tempted, he can help those who are tempted.

Chapter 3

Now comes a delicate subject for the Jewish reader of Hebrews. At the time of Jesus the Jew's love of Moses approached being idolatry. They claimed to follow Moses and they claimed to follow the Law of Moses. They felt that his close relationship with God made him something special.

Even in our time we need to be careful of thinking this way. The great men of God were only instruments God used to do great things and those men were no more than the right tool to do the job. They were not the cause of God's success but they were there to say ‘yes' when God offered them a chance to play a part.

This chapter begins by saying that Jesus was faithful to God as Moses was faithful to God. Moses was faithful as a father over his family, and as a man over men.

² [Jesus] is faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses in his entire household. ³ [Yet] the glory of this one is much greater than that of Moses, as much as the honor of the builder of the house is greater than his building. ⁴ For every house is built by some man, but he who built all things is God.

Then it says that the glory of Jesus is much greater than Moses. It goes on to say that the difference between the two is as great as the difference between a creator and his creation. Moses was a creation put in charge of other creations but Jesus was the creator of all.

⁵ And Moses as a servant was entrusted with the entire household for the testimony of those things that were going to be spoken by him, ⁶ but the Messiah as the son over his house; and we are his house, if we will hold the confidence and the pride of his Gospel until the end

Moses was a servant in God's household, but Jesus was a son. Moses was trusted to be a prophet and deliver God's message to his people. Jesus was trusted to bring salvation to the world.

So Who is Jesus?

¹ Genesis 1:26 - 27