Jesus

 DEVOTION

 TO HEBREWS

JESUS

Heb 1:1-4

1:1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

NIV

We begin a look at this letter simply entitled “To Hebrews”.  We do not know who authored this letter, but we know it was written to the Jews who had become Christians but were bending back toward their old ways and this letter, sermon, or whatever it is called, was written to admonish them to stay the course, keep the faith, remaining true to Christ. The first thing this writer is pointing out is the superiority of Jesus over the prophets and angels. We know God has spoken through the prophets and we have their words given to them to speak to the Israelites. We read the prophets and can see the times Israel left God, and ended up in trouble then cried out and God once again saved them from their distress. We know God and he has done the same for us, but this time he did so through his Son, Jesus, who is the exact representation of the Father, and all the glory and his radiance. We know nothing that was made but that everything that was made was made by Jesus. He is the creator of the universe. There is no one greater than Jesus who not only created all things and formed us in his image, or their image, as all three were there, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. However, when Jesus came to earth, he came in the image they created us in and did something no one else could do. No prophet could save God’s people. No angel, as powerful as they can be, can not save God’s people. However, God and God alone can save His people, and he did so once and for all through the person of Jesus Christ. The writer used the term, “he provided purification for sins”. Interestingly, the Greek word katharismos has this direct meaning to wash away, to purge. So we see that Jesus is the one who washed away our sins, he purged us from our sins, cleansed us, and purified us so that we can stand holy and blameless in the sight of God. We cannot get into the practice of this theology of “Jesus only” as some have, but the fact still remains that we are and will be eternally grateful to God for sending Jesus, the creator of all things, to wash us of our sins, and purify us and making us holy. How could we turn away from him? Never! It is Jesus!