Genesis: Jacob and Joseph

Jacob and Joseph

Text: Genesis 37

Outline:

A. 37:1-2, Jacob settles in the land.

B. 37:3-4, Robe of many colors.

C. 37:5-11, Joseph's dreams.

D. 37:12-36, Brothers sold Joseph.

Comments: Jacob settled in the land. There is nothing wrong in an attempt to find a quiet place, especially after years and years of fight for survival. Yet, Jacob jumped the gun – he thinks that all the troubles are passed, and now his favorite son can help him managing his estate. He should've learned from the father of faith – Abraham (Genesis 28:13) – that the current state is not forever (Hebrews 11:9-10; 13:14). Strife for permanent makes one solidify or petrify. When the challenges come, he is unable to adjust.

HEBREWS: CHRIST is the FINAL REVELATION

Christ is the final revelation

Text: 1:1-3a – God who speaks

The passage has two main “parts”: (1) Scripture; (2) introduction of the Son to the discourse. 

First, let’s talk about Scripture. More than ones we will see a “coin of…” Example chapter 11 – coin of faith – here we have a coin of God’s speech – if He speaks, then no wonder that He listens.

Spoke in the prophets. Two aspects:

(1) speaking as delivering a message

(2) we have Prophetic writings. This means that the Word is not going to change, we can fully rely on it. We’ll talk about this later.  

Same God has spoken to us by His Son. Jesus’ incarnation is vital to the story of salvation – for the Cross reason, but also for the reason of God’s speech to be delivered. John puts is most beautifully – the Word became flesh (1:14a – see more later 1:14b).     

Scripture has three main qualities:

Holy – separate, unlike other writings, God’s word  

Written – therefore, can’t be changed, meaning that God limited Himself to the Word left to us. Proverbs 25:2.  

Inerrant – has no mistakes, not only in its content, but in its formation, we confess closed canon.   

Liturgical usage of the phrase: Evening Prayer, LSB p. 247, which – after a reflection – concludes the readings of the Scripture from both the Old and New Testament.   

Challenge of the Red-Letter Bibles. In the context of Heb. 1:1-3a, what is the problem with?

(2) Then the author introduces Son as a person. He comes up with 5 “basic” features that wi;; be important for the rest of the “letter.”

 

God appointed Him as the heir of all things – Nicene creed, whose kingdom will have no end  

 

Through whom the world was created – Proverbs 8:22-31; Nicene creed, by whom all things were made.

Radiance of God’s glory – John 1:14b 

Exact imprint of His nature – Philippians 2:6-11  

Son upholds the universe by the word of His power – we are coming back to the speech/word of God, John 1:1-3. It is the Word that sustains the universe, therefore being unthankful to the Word is being unthankful to the Creator (a thought to ponder when we discuss weekly Eucharist [Thanksgiving] or the Lord’s Supper). 

SERMON: Preeminence of Christ over Old Testament High Priest

Preeminence of Christ over OT High Priest

Text: Hebrews 9:24-28

I. Intro. A reminder about the series on Hebrews. So far, we talked about

Angels,

Moses,

Sabbath rest…

Today we will talk about a ministry of High Priest   

 

II.a. High Priest “job description”

i. Anointing of a king (1 Kings 1:38-46)

ii. Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16)

iii. Death of a high priest releases people from the cities of refuge (Num.35:28)

 

What is the Day of Atonement? 

 

II.b. Preeminence of Christ (Hebrews 9:26)    

He made a proper sacrifice

He brought His own blood

This is permanent – no need to repeat it!

 

III. Take out – Jesus did it on our behalf (Hebrews 9:24)

   When we receive new members as newly born children of the Church, we know that their sins are forgiven.

   When we come to God in prayer, we can be sure that He listens.

   We do not repeat the sacrifice ON the altar, we receive the benefit of His sacrifice AT the altar.

   Even dying we find comfort, knowing that His sacrifice established a firm stairway to heaven when He awaits for us. 

Hebrews

 Letter to Hebrews  

Title: The title “to Hebrews”, unlike many of Pauline letters, is taken from the traditional listings of the letters (at least by the second half of the II century AD by Clement of Alexandria). Yet, the text for sure was known earlier. Clement of Rome [who died in 96 AD] quotes the passages it the “letter.” The letter also is a conditional title. There is a final greeting (13:22-25), but there is none in the beginning of the letter, which is a strong sign against epistolary genre. I personal idea (IMHO): it was a presentation (13:22, exhortation) for the gathering of overseers/bishops (12:15) that later was distributed or sent to other regions (13:22 could be translated as “sent” not “written”).     

Date of writing: Nowhere else in the Bible we hear about the imprisonment of Timothy – it should happen after or during his deployment to Ephesus. On the other hand, it should be completed at least a couple of years before 70 AD, overwise the comparison with the sacrificial “current” system (9:25, notice the present tense) would not make any sense. Therefore, connecting the great anti-Roman revolt of 66-70 AD in Jerusalem with 12:4, the letter was written 67-68 AD.           

Structure: adapted (and improved) from TLSB, p. 2104:

A. 1:1-3a, Intro: Christ is the true and final revelation

  B. 1:3b – 10:18, Superiority of Jesus

a. 1:3b – 2:18, superiority over angels

b. 3:1 – 4:13, superiority over Moses

c. 4:14 – 7:28, superiority over priesthood, Jesus is new Melchizedek.

d. 8:1 – 10:18, superiority of His sacrifice

  B’. 10:19 – 13:19, Exhortation to Faithfulness

a. 10:19-39, invitation to faithfulness

  b. 11, OT examples of faithfulness

    c. 12:1-13, Jesus the faithful

  b’. 12:14 – 13:29, warning based on OT examples of disobedience

a’. 13:1-19, final exhortation   

A. 13:20-21, Final blessings

    C. 13:22-25, “Epistle” greeting attachment

Main themes: As one can see from the structure, there are two MAIN themes: superiority of Jesus and, based on the confidence of access to the holy place because of Him, exhortation to faithfulness.

Main Characters:

As presenters:	As characters:
author/presenter (I believe – St. Paul) Timothy, leaders, all the saints, Italians	Angels, Moses, Melchizedek, Aaron, priests, list of the OT saints (both man and women).

Reflection in other parts of the Bible: to understand and fully appreciate the Letter to Hebrews one needs to know:

Story of Creation (Gen. 1:1 – 2:3)

Angelic role in the world (Gen. 3:22-24; Ps. 8, 91; Job 1-2; Is. 6:1-6; Lk. 1:19, 2:13-15; 1 Cor. 6:3 etc.)

The story of Moses (Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)

Structure of the OT liturgical system: priests, sacrifices, calendar etc.

Story of the Patriarchs (Gen. 11 – 50) 

There are many things that are good to know, but it’s too long of a list for us.

Lutheran teaching: It is a well-known fact that Luther had “suspicions” on place of the Epistle in the Canon of Scripture. Yet, holding his reservations to himself, Luther wrote on the author and the content of the Letter, “we should be satisfied with the doctrine that he [author] bases so constantly on Scripture. For discloses a firm grasp of the reading of the Scriptures and of the proper way of dealing with them” (LW 35:395).   

OT sacrificial system was transformed through the sacrifice of Christ. Pastors are not the mediators but the ministers of grace (AC XXIV:36).    

Lutheran hymnody:

LSB 834 – O God, O Lord of Heaven and Earth

LSB 520 – Stars of the Morning, So Gloriously Bright

Relevancy of the Book: The author shows with depth the superiority of Jesus as the Messiah over any created element of the world, be it angels, humans, rituals, or sacred space. He Himself created the world and paid the price to redeem the brokenness of the world. Now we are invited to enjoy the benefits of this redemption and follow His footsteps as the agents of the world’s transformation.       

Memory verses: 9:27 “As it is appointed for man to die once, and after that judgement comes”.