Tag Archives: son

A Perfect High Priest

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A PERFECT HIGH PRIEST

Such a high priest truly meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sin, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever (Heb. 7: 26-28).

What confidence we can have in our high priest!

Unlike the Levitical priests who went before Him, He does not have to offer another sacrifice, not for Himself or anyone else – “It is finished!” No one will ever succeed Him as high priest – He lives forever. No one is more qualified than He – He is the Son of God, no less. He is a perfect high priest in every way – holy, blameless, pure set apart from sinners and exalted above the heavens.

How can a Levitical high priest ever come anywhere near Him in fitness for their office?

When we consider Jesus, who He was, how He lived, what He did, what He said, how He treated people, how He loved and obeyed the Father, how He stood for and upheld the truth, how He suffered and died without resistance, how He rose from the dead, it is difficult to understand why His own people did not recognise who He was. Both then and now, how can they ignore the evidence? How can they reject Him, and refuse to acknowledge that He is both Son of God and their Messiah?

There can be only one reason – prejudice. They have been deceived. Prejudice and blind unbelief caused the religious leaders to reject Him and to crucify Him. They refused to examine the evidence. Today we have a world of people who would rather believe the lies that are being propagated about Him as a substitute for the truth and the unsubstantiated claims that are made about Jesus and His word, than search for the truth for themselves.

Take the claim from the Muslim world, for example that the Bible has been corrupted. On what grounds can such as statement be made and where is the evidence? It does not become true because someone said it. What about those who deny that Jesus is God? When the religious leaders rejected Jesus’ claim, He pointed them to the evidence.

For this reason they tried all the more to kill Him; not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God (John 5: 18).

This was His defence:

If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies in my favour, and I know that His testimony about me is true. You have sent to John and He testified to the truth . . . I have testimony weightier that that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish – the very works that I am doing – testify that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has Himself testified concerning me . . . You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me (John 5:31-33; 36-37a; 39).

On what grounds, then, can we have absolute confidence in the high priest God has appointed on oath to stand before Him for us? Our confidence lies in the evidence and witness of who He is. Whatever people may say about Him, based on their refusal to believe the truth, Jesus is, in every way, a perfect high priest, both the Son of God and representative of the Father and the Son of Man and representative of humanity.

Unlike the Levitical priests who all died and were replaced, Jesus died and rose again, and lives forever in an indestructible body as both sacrifice and firstfuits of the resurrection. We have every reason to trust Him. His blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. He ever lives to make intercession for us.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

The Son Over God’s House

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THE SON OVER GOD’S HOUSE

‘Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,’ bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are His house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory. (Heb. 3: 5-6)

The origin of Paul’s thought lies deep in the language and culture of God’s ancient people. For forty years they were nomadic shepherds, on a migration from Egypt to the Promised Land. They lived in tents and had to adapt their lifestyle to the uncertainties of their precarious existence, being totally dependent on God for their protection and provision. Their pictographic script and language reflected this period of their history.

The concept of a son and his role in the family pictures this time in their lives. The Hebrew word for son is ben, hence, for example, Jacob named Rachel’s second son, Ben-jamin, son of my right hand. Written in Hebrew, the word ben is made up of two letters, b and n, the vowel being understood. The letter b – beth – is a picture of the floor plan of a tent meaning ‘house’, and the n – nun – is a picture of a seed, which means ‘to multiply’ or ‘to continue’.

A son, then, is one who ‘continues the house’. It is the son’s role not only to continue the family line in natural descendants but also to perpetuate the beliefs and values of the family to the next generation so that the heritage of the family will not die out. This concept is captured in God’s instruction to Israel in Deuteronomy 6.

Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments thatI give you today are to be on your hearts, Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deut. 6: 4-9)

In a real sense, Moses’s house was limited to his wife and family although he was a ‘father’ to the nation. He was not God’s appointed son, but a servant in God’s ‘house’ – His people Israel. Jesus was appointed by God’s decree to be a Son at a specific moment in time, called ‘today.’

I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’ (Psa. 2: 7)

As God’s Son, therefore, it is Jesus’s role to ‘continue the house.’ Through supernatural birth by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in those who receive Him, who believe in His name, He restores to the family of God every wayward and alienated son or daughter who returns to the Father.

Through the work of the Holy Spirit who is His counterpart on earth, He leads them back into His truth and teaches them the values and practices of the kingdom. Moses could do no more, as a servant, than give God’s people His instructions. He could not internalise them by writing them on their hearts. He could not remove their stony hearts or give them a heart after God.

Only the Son, through His perfect obedience to the Father even to death, could be the atoning sacrifice which paid sin’s debt and satisfied the Father’s justice.

In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. (Heb. 2: 10, 11)

Through HIs work, Jesus both taught and demonstrated the way of life God intended for His family and He provides the power for returning children to be true sons and daughters of the Father through the Holy Spirit who lives in them.

How, then, could anyone think of going back to the old religious system which did nothing for them but bring them into bondage again to a system which told them what to do but could not provide the power to obey? Only Jesus, God’s Son, can enable His brothers and sisters to become like Him. Only He can actually ‘continue’ God’s house. We have the evidence of His power to deliver on His promises by the family He has brought home over 2000 years.

Is He faithful over God’s house? Has He continued the house? Has He reproduced Himself in His spiritual descendants? Has He passed on the values of the family? In spite of the many who, down the centuries have twisted and distorted the values and teachings of the kingdom until they are unrecognisable as reflecting God’s character and His ways, there is still the remnant who are faithful, and are true sons who  ‘continue the house.’

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Appointed To Be The Son

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APPOINTED TO BE THE SON

He also said, ‘In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish but you remain; they will wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.’

To which of the angels did God ever say, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’?

Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? (Heb. 1: 10-14)

God spoke, yes! He spoke through the prophets and through His Son, but there is also no doubt that He spoke to the Son. Why was it so important that He speak to His Son? What did He say? The writer used seven quotes from the Psalms to authenticate His Son and to set Him apart as superior to the angelic beings.

1. He is superior to angels in His status as a son. He shares the nature and essence of the Father. He is an exact replica of the Father, revealing the Father to the human race in human form. He is also the Father’s heir – the right of a son to receive everything that belongs to the father. As God’s Son, it is His role to ‘continue the house’ through His own life and through those who would believe in Him (verse 5a).

2. He is connected to the Father by the intimate father/son relationship. As a son, Jesus is submitted and obedient to the Father. As His Father, God is the one who has strength and authority and supports and upholds His Son and delegates His authority to the Son (verse 5b).

3. As God’s Son, He is the object of the angels’ obeisance. They bow to Him as superior to them in both essence and function. At His birth they announced His arrival on earth, and called all mankind to worship Him. (Verse 6)

4. Angels have an inferior role and position in God’s unseen realm. They are spirit beings who serve God around the throne and across the universe (verse 7).

5. By contrast, the Son rules on the throne of God’s kingdom with justice and righteousness which are the hallmarks of His reign. God’s nature, among many other attributes, is joy, The Son manifested that joy in His human nature by being the most joyful person who ever lived. He was ‘anointed with the oil of joy,’ the Jewish way of expressing the exuberance of His joyful nature (verse 8, 9)

6. The Son is eternal. Unlike the universe which He created and which is running down like a clock and will soon be spent and discarded, He is ‘olam – to the horizon’ which never ends. The universe is temporal – it will come to an end, but not the Son (verse 10-12).

7. Jesus is at the Father’s right hand – symbolic of the seat of power and authority. To no angel did the Father ever give the mandate to rule, as He did to the Son. Angels have no greater role than to serve (verses 13, 14).

As the Son of Man, Jesus came to serve, but He came to serve as the Son. In His service He enhanced and furthered the work of the Father. As a twelve-year-old He declared that He was to be about the Father and, at the end of His earthly life, He affirmed that He had completed what He had come to do (John. 17: 4).

In spite of the evidence of Scripture, there are those who deny and reject the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. It is this fact upon which the whole of Christianity rests. If Jesus is not the Son of God, everything He said and did falls flat. The entire superstructure of our faith stands or falls on this. Is He indeed, the Son of God?

There can be no greater authority than God the Father Himself. It is He who spoke the words of affirmation and authority, both in the testimony of Scripture and from His own mouth at the moment of Jesus’ baptism and on the Mount of Transfiguration. What did He say?

As soon as Jesus was baptised, He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.’ (Matt. 3:16, 17)

After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There He was transfigured before them. . . While he (Peter) was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!’ (Matt. 17: 1, 2, 5)

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Superior To Angels

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SUPERIOR TO ANGELS

For to which angels did God ever say: ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father’? Or again, ‘I will be His Father, and He will be my Son’? And again, when God brings His firstborn into the world, He says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship Him.’ In speaking of angels He says, ‘He makes His angels spirits and His servants flames of fire.’ But about the Son He says, ‘Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a sceptre of justice will be the sceptre of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. (Heb. 1: 5-9)

What is this writer saying? All these quotations from the Psalms, which his Hebrew readers would know very well because they would recite and sing the Psalms regularly as part of their worship, we pointing to one person – Jesus, the Messiah. Why was he so bent on proving the Son’s superiority to angels?

Although there is no evidence that the Jews ever worshipped angels, during the intertestamental period, i.e. the 400 years between the last book of the Old Testament and Matthew, it seems that they did invoke angels,

Who were the angels and what part did they play in God’s scheme of things?

Although the angels are mentioned throughout Scripture, ‘every reference is incidental to some other topic. They are not treated in themselves. God’s revelation never aims at informing us regarding the nature of angels. When they are mentioned, it is always in order to inform us further about God, what He does and how He does it. Since details about angels are not significant for that purpose, they tend to be omitted.’ (https://bible.org/article-god%E2%80%99s-ministering-spirits)

What we do learn, however, is that angels are created beings, they are spirit beings, and they are mere creatures. There are holy angels who do God’s bidding and there are fallen angels who are allied to the devil, the chief of the fallen angels and who will perish with him when Jesus comes as Judge.

Why did this writer then, take pains to explain to his readers that Jesus is superior to angels?

The purpose of the author, in stringing seven quotes from the Old Testament together was to overwhelm his readers with the evidence that Jesus is superior to the angels by virtue of His relationship to the Father. He is the Son of God as opposed to angels who are only servants, ministering spirits who do His bidding.

Jesus is God’s chosen Son, in the Davidic line, with authority to rule in righteousness over the kingdom of God. He is also the object of angelic worship which makes Him superior to angels. His reign is eternal over this world and the entire universe.

His readers must take heed, therefore, that they recognise Jesus for who He is. From the prophetic utterances of God through the prophets and the confirmation of prophecy through the revelation of Jesus in history, there can be no doubt that He is the Son of God and therefore has a supreme position in God’s scheme of things.

What are the implications for us?

1. Since Jesus occupies the place of supremacy over all creation, He must, of necessity occupy a supreme place in our lives as well. He takes precedence over every person and every circumstance that touches our lives.

2. Jesus has all authority and holds all power in the universe. We must submit, therefore, to His authority in all things and trust Him to order our circumstances to fulfil His will in our lives, both good and bad.

3. He alone is to be worshipped, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit as the triune God. He has been given the name above all names and the place of highest authority by the Father. We are to honour and live for Him and through Him alone.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

The Song Of Creation

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THE SONG OF CREATION

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities: all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (Col. 1: 15-17)

Paul was up against a group of people who were already corrupting the gospel and down-playing Jesus by false ideas they were propagating across the empire. Their teaching was what was the beginning of Gnosticism, a philosophy which was a mixture of existing religions and which taught that to be “saved” one needed to have secret “knowledge” – (gnosis is the Greek word for knowledge) into which only a few select people were initiated.

They taught that matter is evil and spirit good implying, on the one hand, that Jesus could not have been fully man, and on the other hand, that Creation was the work of a lesser god, called a demiurge, not the Supreme Being who could have nothing to do with matter; that between God and the created world there existed a series of lesser beings, the last being the creator of the universe.

Paul jumped right in by stating two facts clearly: that Jesus is the ‘firstborn’ over all creation – not, as some have interpreted, the first of God’s creatures, which would contradict Paul’s statement that Jesus is the image (copy or likeness) of God, but the prototokos or prototype of creation. ‘Firstborn’ refers not so much to the first one born to parents, but the one who had the authority and responsibility in the family.

Jesus is both firstborn over and agent in creation. Everything was through Him and for Him and He holds it all together by His powerful word.

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. (Heb. 1: 3)

Gnosticism as a philosophy is not as rife today as the teachings of evolutionists. Who is right? The evolutionist who states categorically that everything in the universe came into being by chance, or the Bible and those who believe it, that Creation is God’s handiwork and that Jesus Christ is the Word through whom everything was created?

Paul had no problem in believing that God created the universe and neither did David. There were no scientists in their day trying to make them believe otherwise.

David spent time watching sheep in his youth. In the summer time he must have often sat out under the stars. There were no city lights to dim his view of the heavens. He was captivated by the splendour of the dome above him and, because of his knowledge of the writings of Moses, he had no need to ask, “Who made all this?” There could only be one answer; not chance but God – the God of his forefathers whom he worshipped.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words, no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world. (Psa. 19: 1-4a)

Nowadays we know that the stars are not silent. With the invention of the radio telescope, astronomers are able to listen in to their music. The Velar Pulsar drums out a perpetual rhythm to God who made it. David got it right, after all. The stars are proclaiming the glory of their Creator.

The creatures on earth are not silent either. They have ways of communicating that fascinates scientists. Who knows what whales and dolphins are singing about, or the songbirds which lift their voices to the heavens? They may be saying something to their own kind, but sometimes they warble just for the joy of being alive. Have you ever heard the song of crickets played at ultra-slow speed? It sounds like the song of angels!

Unlike us humans, who make every excuse not to acknowledge and worship our Creator, the inanimate and animal world have never questioned their origin, or thought up a lame reason why they are here. They do what they were created to do, to honour their Creator, and to do what they were created to do – to show God off by being themselves.

When we acknowledge Jesus and put Him in His rightful place, the entire universe is right-side-up, a glorious creation of God and awaiting its restoration to perfection just as we, God’s children are doing.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.