The Letter to the Hebrews exhorts believers not to abandon Jesus when difficult times come by emphasizing the superiority and finality of what God has accomplished in His “Son.” The word “spoken” in Jesus is superior to the earlier and preparatory revelations provided “in the prophets.” The Letter does this by comparing the Levitical system with its incomplete provisions and repeated sacrifices to the “better” priesthood and “once for all” sacrifice of the “Son.”
Continue readingHebrews
From Shadow to Substance
In its eighth chapter, Hebrews highlights the incomparable benefits believers have received in the New Covenant inaugurated by Jesus. If the fulfillment of God’s promises has arrived in him, returning to the incomplete revelations of the past amounts to embracing types and “shadows” rather than the substance and reality that God has provided in His Son.
Continue readingThe Incomparable New Covenant
The “word” that God now speaks “in the Son” surpasses all the past revelations made in “the prophets.” Jesus went beyond them, “having achieved the purification of sins.” Consequently, he “sat down” at the right hand of God and inherited “all things.”
And among other things, his exaltation signaled the commencement of the promised “new covenant.”
Continue readingThe Tent God Pitched
In the gospel of John, Jesus is the true Tabernacle where God dwells. Unlike the ancient structure with its inner sanctuary that only the high priest could enter, now, in Christ, His glory is visible for all men to see. No longer is His presence limited by physical walls and geographic boundaries.
In Jesus of Nazareth, the Father and the Creator of all things is worshipped anywhere and anytime “in spirit and truth.”
Continue readingA Change of Law
The letter to the Hebrews is structured around comparisons that demonstrate the superiority of the “word spoken in the Son” over past revelations “spoken in the prophets,” including Moses. Jesus surpasses even the Great Lawgiver.
The previous words provided by the Hebrew prophets were true but partial and preparatory. But now, “upon the last of these days,” God has “spoken” with great finality in one who is a “Son.”
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