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). 

PSALM 19

Psalm 19

The psalm has three main parts:

a. Glory of God via creation

b. Perfection of the written Word

c. Personal evaluation,

            based on the observation of creation and the Scripture

a. Creation is such an intricate “mechanism” that any attempts to ascribe its beauty to a random chance “stand no chance” being evaluated. Current astronomers use the term like “fine tuning” of Earth’s position in the Universe – we are so far from the Sun, and so far from the larger planets like Saturn and Jupiter that the gravity balances us in our perfect location. If Sun (or any other large heavenly object) would be a bit bigger or smaller – the life on Earth as we know it would not exist.

Advent Readings: Luke 16

Luke 16

This chapter is a part of continuation of the previous conversation with the Pharisees. Here Jesus shifts his attention to the disciples. He teaches them an important lesson – one cannot serve God and money (Lk. 16:13).

That’s where Pharisees interfere – making snarky remarks about money… Jesus’ responds with somewhat an ambiguous statement on self-justification. It gets clearer as He talks about the Law and the Prophets – two main parts of the Hebrew Scriptures of Jesus’ time. Sometimes people contrast the books of the Old Testament with the books of the New Testament. I don’t think that this reading is correct. What Jesus leads people to understand is the texts of the Law and the Prophets are going to be followed up with the Gospel – the Good News, which is first preached then it was recorded by the four Gospel-writers.

Yet, to give the Pharisees an idea that there is no contradiction between the parts of the Scriptures, Jesus teaches them a parable. Technically, it doesn’t have a title of “parable,” but it has all the properties of the parable. Regardless, the story of the Rich man and Lazarus tells that people of Jesus’ times have Moses and the Prophets to read and meditate upon (Lk. 16:29-31). The Scripture is quite sufficient to bring one to the proper relationship with God. No “extra-curricular” or magical experience can substitute for the pure, written, and inerrant Word of God. Listening and adhering to the Word will bring one to repentance and reconciliation with the Creator (2 Cor. 5:19). 

Jesus loves me - this I know... How do I know?

Recently, I was introduced to a video of CSL prof stating that "Jesus loves me - this I know, for the Bible tells me so" is a theologically BAD song. I was surprised, to say politely (and in accordance with SC VIII commandment). A few seconds earlier he tried to rant a person who tries to look for the will of God in his or her life by reading the Bible (couldn't come up with a decent example - had to make a really dumb one on the spot). So, really, if it is not the Bible, HOW do I know that Jesus loves me?     

There are many things that can be said here. 

First, I became a believer because I was studying the Scriptures. To be honest, I had no intent to become a Christian, let alone a Lutheran or a Lutheran pastor. But, it is the Scriptural message - about God the Creator, Jesus who died in the Cross, everything, especially in comparison with other texts that I read at the same time - Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Quran, Bhagavat-Gita... Only Bible talked about God who gave Himself up to solve OUR problem. 

Second, Dr. Martin Luther was introduced to Jesus way before he became a monk or a Dr. He was baptized, was a regular church-goer. Yet, the image of Jesus was - to say the least - distorted. He was known only as the One who is coming on the Last Day to judge both the living and the dead. It was a wrestle with Romans 1:16-17 that brought peace to his heart - why? Because Bible told him that Jesus's righteousness is not a righteousness of achievements but an imputed one. To translate it from theological jargon to "normal English": from then on he knew that Jesus loves him - why? For the Bible told him so! That's why he spent his time in Wartburg castle translating the Bible into German!! 

Third, I come from a church body that was heavily persecuted during Stalin's reign in the USSR. When people were deported to the exile, some of the godly church members would be charged taking care of an altar Bible. I do not have a picture on hand but it looked something like this one - in comparison with my personal pocket Bible that I use for devotional readings wherever I go. Just think about it, a family was given a limit of kilograms (pounds) of goods they are allowed to take into exile. Instead of taking clothing, house items, or even food, they would take a heavy old-printed Holy Scripture. According to this prof it was a foolish act of Bibleolatry - worshiping the Bible. They all know who Jesus is, that should've been sufficient. Yet, they made their choice - taking God's Word with them to exile to support and maintain their faith in biblical Jesus.

In addition: here is Zion's service with a sermon partially devoted to the topic at hand (you find sermon at 33:30)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OES5WPm-oQY&t=2176s  

Also, here is a helpful discussion of the topic by pastors Brian Wolfmueller and Andrew Packer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRIL2WTG8Hs  

To conclude, Jesus loves me - this I know... Why? 
For the Bible tells me so!                

Blessings!