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| Hebrews Chapter 1 The Book of Better Things By Brother Bill Britton now Promoted to Glory Used With permission from His daughter Thank you Becky We love you Terry and Dian |
The book of Hebrews is �the book of better things.� The central theme of the entire book is to show how much better the new covenant of Christ is than the old covenant of Moses. With scriptural proof and strong logic, the writer of Hebrews proves beyond the shadow of a doubt, even to where the most orthodox scribe or pharisee cannot refute it, how much better the Gospel of Grace is than the Jewish Law. Continually, throughout the book, we are faced with the truth that the old order is dead and ready for burial. God has replaced it with a new and living way that takes us, by the blood of Christ, through the veil, into the very presence of God where the law could never take us. This book was written because of the problem of Jewish Christians trying to mix the two orders, law and grace, and some even leaving the new order to go back to Moses� law because of problems that arose in the early church. Many scholars believe that the apostle Paul was the author of Hebrews, due to internal evidence, the style of writing, the revelation of grace, and the pattern of his logic. Paul, who was once the most orthodox of Jews, blameless in the matters of the law, has had a vision of Christ and a revelation of the Gospel of the grace of God. He now is the strongest opponent of the Law of Moses with its rituals, ceremonies, and animal sacrifices. He will not succeed in destroying the old order completely, nor will he be able to convince all the Jews to leave that dead system (it still has millions of followers today). But he is sounding a clarion call to those Christians who have tasted the reality of Christ, and want to follow Jesus into full Sonship. The message is that they will have to turn loose of the past, and rid themselves of every remaining garment of the Jew�s religion. We have a better way. The shadows are gone, we have arrived at the substance. How About Today? Christians in our day are not very concerned about the controversy of Paul�s day between law and grace. So is this book relevant for us today? Yes! For today we are faced with an old order that is passing away, and a new order is coming in, bringing a revelation of Sonship, a higher order. The revelation of this high calling was given to the apostles in the early church, and they faithfully wrote it down. But it becomes obvious that the early church, the earnest or firstfruits of Gods order for His Body, did not fully reach that maturity and perfection in their generation. They certainly did not attain during the dark ages, even up to our present time. But the work of God is ever progressive, and gaining momentum continually. And today we see the need for a new understanding of the book of Hebrews. It is the New Testament book of Sonship, first of all the Sonship of Jesus Christ, and finally the revelation of the body of Christ, the corporate, many-membered son that inherits the Melchisedec priesthood order by virtue of being in Him. While the blind still lead the blind, and the masses still stagger along in a dying system of churchianity and religion, we see a great company of sons breaking forth into the glorious light of Gods new day. So the need, now as then, is that Gods people might realize that they cannot hold on to the old system of religion, however well it served them in the past. Too many today, like the Jewish Christians back then, are trying to hang on to the best of two worlds. It won�t work. The Jewish Christians in the early church were constantly being hammered by the preachers of the circumcision. They were told that Jesus was their Messiah, and that the Holy Ghost was for them too, but that they were still obligated to fulfill the law of Moses. Holy Ghost filled preachers were using the only scriptures the church had, to prove to them that they had to be circumcised, observe the Sabbath, keep going to the temple, and keep the law, to be saved. It sounded logical. If you have Jesus and the law, how could you lose? The argument was that you had to touch all the bases. Paul�s answer was that the old covenant and it�s laws was no longer one of the bases. God had done away with it. He has now instituted a better thing. And now in our day the Holy Ghost is being poured out upon all flesh, in many denominations and systems of religion. And men are still telling Gods people to take the new thing, but stay in the old sectarian order. This new thing is simply an improvement on the good old way, they say. God Speaks in a Son The book begins with a glorious declaration as to how God speaks or reveals Himself to us. Once He spoke through prophets, or those who spoke for Him and in His name. But now He speaks or reveals Himself in Sonship. Moffatt�s and Phillips� translations and the Amplified New Testament are especially beautiful and revealing in this portion of scripture: �Many were the forms and fashions in which God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these days at the end He has spoken to us by a son--a Son whom He has appointed heir of the universe� (Moffatt�s). �God, who gave to our forefathers many different glimpses of the truth in the words of the prophets, has now, at the end of the present age, given us the truth in the Son� (Phillips). �In many separate revelations--each of which set forth a portion of the truth--and in different ways God spoke of old to our forefathers in and by the prophets. But in the last of these days He has spoken to us in the person of a Son, whom He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things� (Amplified). Now dear friends, if you think that Jesus is keeping all the glory of this Sonship and heir-ship to Himself, then you just haven�t read Romans 8:17 where it tells us that we are �Heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ�. Verse 29 of that chapter states plainly and emphatically that Jesus Christ is Gods Son, but that He is the �firstborn among many brethren.� Then turn to Revelation 21:7 and read that: �He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my Son�. The unveiling of God in the person of a Son did begin in our Lord Jesus Christ, for He was the beginning of the creation of God (Revelation 3:14). But it did not stop there. God ordained that Jesus would be the first, and that because of Him and through Him, there would be a great harvest of the precious fruit of the earth. The Sonship of Jesus is complete, �it is finished�, but God is still waiting patiently �for the precious fruit of the earth� (James 5:7). This harvest of Sons will be joint-heirs with Jesus, �Heir and lawful Owner of all things�. The Evening Sacrifice First of all we are talking here about Jesus Christ, the begotten Son of God. The Bible refers to this entire dispensation of grace as �the last days�. The apostles wrote of their own days being the last days, and yet we know that today (almost 2,000 years later) we are in the last days. We read in Mark 15:25 that Jesus was lifted up on the cross as our sacrifice at the third hour of the day, the time of morning sacrifice. He remained on that cross unto the ninth hour, the time of the evening sacrifice (Mark 15:33-34). In other words, the work that He came to do (provide a way of salvation from sin for mankind), was being done until the time of the evening sacrifice, when He cried: �it is finished�. Now we see another son, a many-membered corporate son known as �the Church His Body� come into view. Jesus said that because of what He did for us, that we would do His works, as well as �greater works�. So we see a son coming forth in the morning time of these last days, the dispensation of grace, and doing a work in the souls of men. And now, in the time of the evening sacrifice (the closing hours of these last days), we see the begotten Son of God crying: �it is finished�, taken down from the Cross, and pouring Himself (by the Spirit into a waiting body of sons. What the whole world now shall see is the ministry of �greater works� that Jesus promised. It is the time of the evening sacrifice. It is the time for the younger son, the many-membered son, the Church His Body, to be manifested. It was the first born Son who created this world and brought life to it. Now it is the younger, many-membered son, who shall (in cooperation with Christ) restore the creation to divine order. They shall be joint-heirs together. This is why He is bringing many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10), and why we must be conformed to the image of Gods Son (Romans 8:29). This is what all creation is groaning and travailing for with earnest expectation (Romans 8:19-22). So at the time of the morning sacrifice, God spoke in a Son, Jesus Christ. He expressed Himself fully in Jesus. The Son was the express image of the Father, the brightness of His glory. And now, at the time of the evening sacrifice, God shall again speak and manifest Himself through a son. This time it is a corporate son, of which Jesus Himself is the Head. Father Old Testament people knew God as Creator, Lawgiver, and Punisher of sins. He was their strength in battle, and a Saviour from their enemies. But it was Jesus who came and unveiled Gods true nature as a Father to His children. It was through a Sons that God could reveal Himself most perfectly. Colossians 1:15 says that Jesus was the �image of the invisible God�. The Amplified Bible says: �He is the exact likeness of the unseen God--the visible representations of the invisible.� And in Hebrews 1:3 we read that the Son is the brightness of Gods glory, and the express image of Gods person. The Amplified is very expressive: �He is the sole expression of the glory of God--the Light-being, the out-raying of the divine--and He is the perfect imprint and very image of Gods nature�. Moffatt�s translation says that the Sons reflects Gods bright glory and is stamped with Gods own character. For anyone to deny that these scriptures are speaking of Jesus, the Sons of God, is only to expose their ignorance of basic truth. But to say that He is the only one who is included in this glory of Sonship, this unveiling of Deity in this realm of humanity, is to reveal a lack of understanding in the purpose of God in creation. Jesus has overcome, not for Himself alone, but for all of us. That we might share His inheritance, sit with Him on His throne, rule and reign with Him, and become partakers of the divine nature of God (2 Peter 1:4). The redemptive work of Christ is unique and exclusive. Only Jesus, the Lamb of God, can take away the sins of the world by the shedding of His own blood. But aside from that redemptive works, all the works that Jesus did are to be done by other sons also. �The works that I do shall ye do also� (John 14:12)." So please remember that, as we go through this book of Hebrews, what is said about Christ, the Son of God and the Melchisedec order, is actually speaking of things that pertain to the Body of Christ, the many-membered corporate Son. Also remember that all this glory comes through our Lord Jesus. Better than Angels Here in this first chapter we are made to know how much better Sonship is than the angelic realm. �Being made so much better!� A better nature, a better name, a better authority, a better relationship with the Father. Verse seven tells us that angels are created beings, and are made winds (spirits), and His ministers (messengers) a flame of fire. But verse eight goes on to tell us that the Son has a throne which is forever and ever (to the ages of the ages� Amplified). This term does not mean that there will come a time when He does not have a throne. It simply is a way of expressing in the vest way we can with human language, an eternal situation. A scepter is a symbol of kingly authority. And the symbol of His kingly authority is a scepter of righteousness, of justice and straightforwardness. And only from His does that kind of righteousness originate and flow. Even the apostle Paul knew that he could not measure up to Gods standard of righteousness, and whatever he was, he was only by the grace of God. He admitted that he had a weakness that kept him humble and prevented him from becoming exalted by the great revelations God gave him. He called it a �messenger of Satan� that buffeted him. It was something he could not rid himself of, and he besought the Lord three times to deliver him from it. Gods answer was simply that His grace was sufficient for the situation. I don�t suggest that Paul had a secret sin. He just says that it was a weakness, and one that kept him humble. Physical sickness or bad eyes do not guarantee that result. But it was a messenger from Satan that humiliated him, made him to know how really nothing he was, and kept him from ever falling into the worse trap of spiritual pride and an exalted spirit. Jesus was the only man who could walk in perfect righteousness, with heavenly understanding and revelation of Gods purpose, without the tendency to get proud about it. He simply knew who He was, where His authority was, and understood His relationship with the Father. Therefore, He could even accept worship and praise without a proud and exalted spirit. He had the scepter of the King of Gods Kingdom. The Oil of Gladness We have a better happiness in the Sonship realm. Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, despised and rejected of men, yet He was the happiest and most joyful human being alive. He set the standard for true happiness. His joy did not come from drugs, liquids, or favorable circumstances about Him. It came from within Him, from a fountain of life whose source is not affected by adverse circumstances, or a flood of problems. �Anointed with the oil of gladness�. How thrilling it is to see a modern day son of God who is conformed to this image. He does not wear a smile like a mask, but his joy is genuine in spite of problems, adversities, or tragedies. Anointed with gladness. Verses 10-11-12, give us a hint as to what is going to happen to the earth and heavens which He created. �They will perish.� They will all become old as a garment, and shall be changed for the new. The Amplified Bible says: �They will perish, but You remain and continue permanently; they will all grow old and wear out like a garment. Like a mantle thrown about one�s self, You will roll them up, and they will be changed, replaced by others. But You remain the same and Your years will never end nor come to failure.� When it says that the present earth and heavens will �grow old and wear out,� it does not indicate that God will destroy it soon and suddenly with a great bomb blast. We can see that this earth is wearing out now, due to over population and modern technology. Due to sun spots caused by explosions on the sun, scientists now suspect that the sun may be wearing out. But what is due at this time is a restoration, a setting all things in order. This is the ministry of Sonship, the word of the Son. We are looking for a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. And this is more than just a new set of trees and mountains. Heirs of Salvation The last two verses of this beautiful chapter on the better realm of Sonship deal again with the lower state of the angels. We humans would tremble in awe in the presence of a mighty angel. But it states plainly that they are only servants of God who render service for the sake of the saints. No promise is given to the angels of having all enemies put under their feet, nor of sitting on the right hand of God, nor of being heirs of salvation and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Yet these very promises are all given to us, after having first been given to the first begotten Son of God. No angel will ever know what it is to sit in the throne of God. This is the promise (Revelation 3:21) to him that overcometh, to the saints who are in Christ Jesus. Sonship is a relationship to Deity that angels cannot know. It shows that the firstborn Sons was the creator of heaven and earth, God Himself became human substance brought into this world of sin. Angels were told to worship Him. Why? Because He was the very substance of Deity, He was their Creator. Why did they have to be told to worship Him? Because He was so much in the likeness of man. Angels would not worship man. They had to be told that this man was more than man, He was Deity veiled in humanity. Yes, the realm of Sonship is far higher than the angels will ever attain to. This is the place Jesus walked and overcame every enemy. And this is the Holiest Place He opened to us by the shedding of His blood, by the giving up of His perfect life. This is His inheritance which He shares with us, His Body. And writing to the Jewish Christians, the apostle quotes many of their Old Testament scriptures to confirm these glorious truths. And the Old Testament is full of Sonship scriptures, but not understood by the scribes because no one had ever walked in this place and revealed these truths until Jesus came. They rejected the only source of understanding of the realm of Sonship. And now as we go into chapter two, we find that the better realm of Sonship brings us into a better government by the Sons, and a better dominion over all the works of Gods hands. |
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