This was to be my sermon for April 19, based on Hebrews chapter 1. Sunday morning I was preparing how I wanted to preach it and ended up scrapping it as being too much like a paper I’d write for class. There’s still some decent enough elements in it, so I present it here.

I normally edit my manuscript down to it’s text and take out all the elements like headers and media tags when I post a sermon in this space. Today I thought I’d leave it “as is” to show the format which becomes my sermons. There’s probably a lot of poor grammar and spelling punctuation errors, this was one or two readings from really being “finished.”

Hebrews is not a letter

It bears none of the traits which would mark it as an epistle. There’s no greeting, no addressee, and no “from” line. In fact, as near as we can tell “The Epistle to the Hebrews” is an early Christian sermon [image: Amanda Preacher] (probably one that was transcribed and read among several churches). It got lumped with the epistles because believers in the first few Centuries didn’t quite know what to do with it. While it generally get lumped in with Pauls’s writings, one early Christian scholar is famously quoted on the authorship of Hebrews, “God only knows.”

There are a couple of candidates people have postulated as the author of this message, but really I don’t think it matters. What matters is that…

Hebrews exalts “The Son” (vs. 1–11)

[image: Christ the King Icon.] This is really, outside of the sermons of Acts, about the earliest sermon about Jesus still in existence. And what’s notable about it is just how highly the son is revered. In fact…

The son is the fills a unique place in salvation history (vs. 1-4)

God previously had spoken through the prophets, but in the “last days” God spoke through the Son – who is described as the exact representation of God’s nature. This Son made atonement for sin and then sat down at the right hand of God, awaiting for all his enemies to be “made into a footstool” for him (a sign of utter defeat).

In this way, the Son is greater than the angels, and given both his work and the honor he received he’s certainly greater than the prophets. It seems, to Hebrews, the Son is the last word God spoke.

So, if the Son is the last word God has spoken, what does that mean for everything which came before the Son? [image: question] Throughout the centuries Christians have wrestled with this question. At our worst we have tended to jettison the prophets (that is, the entire Old Testament) as being either unnecessary or undesirable. Some in the early Church even claimed the words of the Old Testament, and the God revealed in them, were evil. Even at our best we sometimes look at the Old Testament as the odd step-child of our faith.

Hebrews doesn’t take this view at all. In fact, as we read Hebrews it’s very clear it’s author want us to believe

The Son is the fulfillment of what came before (vs. 5–14)

…and not, as we might be temped to believe, it’s eradicator.

This chapter, in order to make the case that the Son is greater than the angels, quotes heavily from the Old Testament [image: Tanakh]. It’s clear this preacher expects the congregation to share their high regard for the Hebrew Scriptures. If, as the name of this book leads us to believe, the original audience for this message were primarily Jewish disciples of Jesus it makes perfect sense they’d have a high regard for the Law and the Prophets and the Writings. After all, that’s what gave Jews their distinct identity in the Grecco-Roman world!

And yet, there’s something interesting about how Hebrews uses the Old Testament to make it’s point. If you go back and look at all those quotes in their original context none of them are what we’d typically call “Messianic.” They are all mostly about the Kingship in Ancient Israel (and then the Kingdom Judah), where the King was considered a “son” of God. The ancient Davidic kings were called to be righteous, and justice was supposed to be the mark of their reign The descendants of David were also exhorted to have faith God would defend them against their enemies. The author of Hebrews, however, takes all these verses and applies them specifically to Jesus [image: resurrection glass] – and in a way which elevates the language from poetic imagery into something which is meant to be interpreted concretely [image: concrete] .

So what’s this mean? Is the author of Hebrews wrong? [image: question] Does this sermon exaggerate it’s point in order to elevate the Son as much as it does? Not at all. In fact, what we see here in Hebrews is done throughout the New Testament. Christians from earliest times have understood that if we are to see Jesus the as fulfillment of all the words God spoke before him (as Jesus himself seemed to think) then…

Devotionally, we should read the Old Testament “Christo-centrically”

What do I mean by “devotionally?” I mean when we gather for worship, or Bible study, or personal devotions, it is perfectly legitimate (and even desirable) for us Christians to read the Old Testament in light [image: light over Jesus] of what Jesus has both accomplished and taught. This doesn’t mean it’s wrong to read the Old Testament from, for lack of better terms, “scholarly” or “critical” vantage points. When we read the Old Testament in these ways we learn something about the situations in life which occasioned the writing of the Old Testament scripture. We learn about the cultures encountered in it’s pages, the color of it’s language, and the motivations of both principal players and authors. These are good things upon which to meditate and understand.

When we come together to be provoked into transformation by the Holy Spirit, however, we’re not looking for general knowledge. Rather, we want to know how the text points toward Jesus. Now, please understand, this isn’t a “Jesus under every rock” reading of the Old Testament. The census in Numbers, for example, does not need to possess a hidden reference to Jesus in it – it’s just a census. What I mean is that when we look at the works of God, the hopes of God’s people, and promises made to them we see those things all ultimately fulfilled in Christ [image: crucifixion]. If want to know how this type of a reading of the Old Testament works, well, that is one of the best lessons Hebrews can instill in us.

So as you go out this week, know this. You are part of a line of people who have hoped in God’s promises, looked for God’s salvation, and longed for God’s peace for many thousands of years. And yet even as we long, know everything God has ever promised has been fulfilled in the Son – who is a salvation greater by far than any have ever known or dared for which to hope. Amen.