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HEBREWS CHAPTER 1 KJV WEB Heb 1,1-14 (66f) Authority >> Jesus’ authority >> His position with the Father >> Jesus has authority over all things from the Father – This chapter is devoted to glorifying the person of Jesus Christ and to disclosing how much greater His position is with the Father than the angels and mankind. Although in Eph 2-6 it says that the Father has "raised us up with [Christ], and seated us with Him in the heavenly places," indicating that man has an equal place with Christ in heaven, being why he calls us brethren (Heb 2-11), yet Jesus is the only one who deserves to be there. This chapter shows that the Father is the only person in creation who has more authority than Jesus Christ, who is seated at His right-hand in the majesty in the heavens and has equal authority with Him, except that the Father is the final authority. Jesus has even more authority after He gave His life for the sins of the world. Since the cross, Jesus’ position has been raised, yet He is still subject to the Father, suggesting that the Father was elevated with Him. (72i) Authority >> Hierarchy of authority >> More Authority The More Responsibility >> Closer we get to Jesus the more power (114i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Jesus does God’s work >> All His works are what the Father does (248e) Priorities >> God’ s preeminence >> Jesus is first >> Jesus has first place in everything – Christ has secured the redemption of man through the blood of His cross. When Jesus ascended back to heaven, he regained his position at the right hand of the Father, only in a much higher place than He left it, because of the grace that the Father poured upon all mankind through Him. Jesus glorified the Father as the Father glorified the Son (Jn 17-1); His throne has been raised in the heavens to a much higher pinnacle than before the cross. Heb 1,1-13 (44b) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Complete >> It is finished >> God has spoken – This chapter confirms Genesis chapter 1, in the beginning God spoke the universe into existence. This exonerates His word, showing it to be the power of God. He didn’t use raw muscle to do it; God doesn’t have bulging arms and legs of steel like Hercules to retch the universe into existence. The statement in Genesis chapter 1 when he said, “let there be light,” and there was light, everything God said came to pass. The light didn’t have a choice to become light in some other way but became light in the great expanse as God intended it. When God spoke the words, light came into existence according to the way He was thinking, and so it is not just the words themselves that reflect the power of God but the meaning of those words in the mind of Christ. Who is the mind of Christ but the Holy Spirit? He is the mind of God. So we have the word of God and the Holy Spirit operating together to create the universe. If God used the Spirit and the Word to create the universe, then He uses the Spirit and the Word to do everything, and the act of speaking is how He operated the power of God. These are things we need to understand for the sake of our own lives, in that this is how God wants to work through us. He wants us to meditate on His word until we develop the mind of Christ, and then He wants to reveal His will to us so we can speak it into existence. God doesn’t care for us to speak fast cars into our lives or a bigger house or all the other materialism that the heathen crave. The point is that we are doing His will and not our own, and that is a big difference between prosperity teachers and the way the Bible teaches. Consequently, this verse applies, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. All things therefore whatever they tell you, observe and do, but don’t do their works; for they say, and don’t do.” They have some things right but not this one thing: whose will are they trying to fulfill, the will of God or their own will through the principles of God? They try to use the levers that God has outlined in the Bible to get what they want, and the most they accomplish is witchcraft. That’s right, using the principles of God to achieve their own selfish will is witchcraft, cursing their own lives in the process. Heb 1,1-7 (253h) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Father and Son glorify each other >> Father and Son represent each other – Once Jesus returned to heaven after securing redemption for mankind, He sat down at the right hand in the majesty in the heavens, in the very seat from which He stood to make purification for sins. Now His majestic glory has been multiplied exponentially as Christ infinitely glorified His Father's throne that will continue to increase throughout eternity as the Father glorifies the Son. His majesty will forever increase, along with the number of His worshipers. God’s creation is on a steady increase, and as we approach the boundary between the finite and the infinite, we will begin to know the greatness of God. Heb 1,1-6 (253k) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is subject to the Father >> Jesus is subject to God’s ability – There are cults that would suggest that Jesus was a created being, but this verse is in reference to the Father conceiving Jesus in Mary's womb, and in that way He was the only begotten Son of God. "Begotten" means giving birth or in this case conceiving. Father/Son is the relationship that God has always had with Jesus even before the virgin birth; Jesus has always had a submissive role with the Father, yet He has always had all authority in heaven and on earth with the Father and He has always exhibiting the character of God. Heb 1,1-4 (36k) Gift of God >> Inheritance >> Jesus is our inheritance -- These verses go with verse 14 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 1,1-3 (40i) Judgment >> Judgment of Christ >> God’s word executes judgment by the Spirit (111g) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Word and the power (meaning) of God >> Circumstances cannot evade the voice of the Spirit – How many times have we heard verse 3 misquoted as: 'The power of His word', instead of the way it was written: "The word of His power"? If we take these words out of sequence, we can only expect negative results, and if we misquote His word as a way of thinking, it proves we don't know the truth. The Catholic crusades were an example of what happens when we transpose Scripture to make it say what we want, suggesting that the Bible doesn’t actually have power. People have killed each other because of the many misinterpretations men have attributed to it. The power of God is not intrinsically held within its binding. The power is with God in heaven, and He gives it to whomever He wishes, but it shouldn't surprise anyone that people have tried to take it, eliciting murder and destruction. The Bible merely testifies of God's power within Himself, not within the pages of a book. When God speaks to us, He creates things in us. The words written in the Bible cannot change our life, but the Holy Spirit can, who works exclusively with the truth, and for this reason we need to obey the Holy Spirit, becoming students of His word and disciples of prayer, giving Him room in our lives to work His truth in us. Then we will comprehend His word, and then we will walk in His power (freedom) and stop misquoting Him. (212b) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> He is the creator >> The creation glorifies God >> God created all things through Christ -- These verses go with verses 8-13. Jesus played a part in the creation, then visited mankind in the flesh; He died for our sins, rose from the dead and inherited the creation from His Father that He helped create. Jesus is not fulfilling His own purpose, but the purpose of His Father, which proves the Father’s love. It is good to know that the Father loves us, that the final authority is in total agreement about Jesus' love for the Church. (244h) Kingdom of God >> The eternal kingdom >> The word of God is eternal >> The word of God transcends the creation (255c) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> God’s word is Spirit >> Jesus is the word of the Spirit >> Jesus is the manifested word of God – Here is the difference between Jesus Christ and us: we have a soul and a body, meaning we are incomplete without the Holy Spirit, making two spirits dwell in one body, whereas Jesus’ soul is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit cannot dwell in Himself, so the difference between us and Christ is that we are made of body soul and Spirit, whereas Jesus is only body and Spirit, making the Church the soul of Christ. This suggests that God was incomplete before He made man, and it partially solves the mystery of the consummation of the marriage between Christ and His bride in heaven (the Church). KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 1-1,2 (50c) Judgment >> God judges the world >> These are the last days – Those who will not be joining us in heaven fear the Father more than Jesus for good reason: there is no mercy with the Father apart from His Son. It is the Father who makes them feel most at home in hell, for they will be away from His terrible presence. When the damned meet the Father (if they meet Him), His presence will convince them that hell is not such a bad place after all. It is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, but at least it is away from Him. For them, heaven is more hellish than hell. If they spent any time in heaven, after a while they would complain that they want to live in a world without God, and so God would give it to them. They would rather be in hell where they will never have to worry about seeing Him again. That’s how scary the Father is to the condemned, yet to us who love and adore Him, the Father is more beautiful than the whole of creation. See also: Hell (Presence of God is worse than hell to the wicked); 1Pet 1-1,2; 220c (71i) Authority >> Ordained by God >> Jesus is ordained by God (106h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Means of hearing from God >> Through His Son (110f) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit speaks through you >> Spirit speaks through Jesus (150h) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness of Jesus >> Speak the word of the Spirit >> Speaking the words that God speaks (152g) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Prophets >> Jesus was a prophet >> Jesus prophesied to the world – What is the definition of a prophet? Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all prophets, who were the fathers of our faith even to the gentiles. God chose them and spoke to them the word of God. In every respect, the prophets of our time walk the same track as Abraham, who is the father of our faith, who heard a voice but saw no vision, and he needed no interpretation, for where there is interpretation there is opportunity to misconstrue the message. The reliability of God’s word lies in the lack of need to interpret in most cases, so the less we interpret the Bible, the more properly we understand it. This verse reveals that the last days started at the birth of God’s Son; therefore everything Jesus spoke, He spoke to the last days. When we speak of the last days we usually think of the second coming of Christ, but when the Bible speaks of the last days, it refers to the very last age of man's reign on earth. Every age has lasted 2000 years, and our 2000 years is up, so we are close to the end. There are prophets in our generation to whom God has spoken a message that is meant for the Church first and also for the world. God speaks to all His children about the meaning of Scripture, but the message of the prophets are meant to guide the Church in the way it should go, and the very first stop is repentance. The true word of the prophets speak of the promises and the rewards of repentance and the consequences of disobedience. (214f) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> Dispensation of God’s revelations >> Dispensation of Christ – Sometimes when we work on problems and hit a brick wall, we have to set it aside, sleep on it, and the next day things seem clearer. The same is true with the gospel. Over the centuries nations have heard the gospel at various times during certain revivals in an upward winding staircase of increasing insight. For example, the ancient prophets spoke of a time of restoration, then John the Baptist broke the ground preaching a gospel of repentance; then Jesus followed after him preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and the apostles came later, and still others preached the gospel in greater insight with each revolution. This is how we bring God's truth to the world, not all at once but at intervals. First we create the foundation, and then we build upon it (1Cor 3-6), not as a single effort but in multiple efforts at different times, giving people a chance to mull over what they have seen and heard, so when they hear the gospel again, they are ready to respond. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 1,3-13 (98f) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> (Faith à Suffering à Glory of Christ) >> The cross Heb 1,3-6 (30h) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> God favors you by His grace >> He favors you through His son – God created the angels and he gave Lucifer the entire creation as his possession, and he fumbled it. He became arrogant so that the very throne of God became his Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God may have told Lucifer, ‘All the universe is yours,’ as He spoke to Adam “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely” (Gen 2-16,17), ‘but do not transgress My throne,’ or eat the forbidden fruit, “for in the day that you eat from it [or touch My throne] you will surely die” (Ezekiel 28, 12-19). What did Lucifer do? He went after God’s throne, just like man ate the bad apple. Then God sent His Son to be nailed to a cross until dead, and then raised Jesus back to life, and it says that He took the keys of death and hell from Satan, and the Father gave Christ all the power and authority that Lucifer once had, and He will never make Lucifer’s mistake. God was teaching both man and angel that only He can manage His own creation, that if He gave this authority to any created being, he would fumble it just like Lucifer did and as man did. The point that God made was that nobody has the character or humility to possess so much power, except Christ, who was never created, but lives forever in the past and future as a member of the triune godhead. Jesus is the only one whom God can trust with His creation without filling His heart with pride, who is both God and brother of man (Heb 2-11). See also: Satan (Angels); Heb 1,4-7; 15k / God is committed to proving the devil wrong; 1Pet 4-15,16; 194e Heb 1-3,4 (41g) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Be like Jesus >> God’s righteousness is His doing – It doesn't say that Jesus is “greater” than the angels but “better”. God is all-powerful and all-knowing, but He doesn’t value these things like He values His righteousness. His creation currently lacks the quality of His righteousness, including man, until He instills it in us at great cost to Himself. He gave Adam a free will, and he used it to destroy God's righteousness within himself. To remedy the problem God must instill His righteousness in us as a second tier of His creation. It is imperative that we have a freewill, otherwise we do not reflect His image. The more people have in common, the better they can relate; had God created us without a free will, we would resemble robots, but we are more than that. Adam didn't understand what he truly possessed in a free will, the privilege and authority and accountability of self-determination. Without freewill, we could not do anything apart from God's will, including eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. With a free will, Adam surmised that just because God told him not to eat the forbidden fruit didn't mean he couldn’t do it. Now God instilled a freewill in us without it violating His righteousness by showing us its destructive power when misappropriated, then recreated us in Christ with that experiential knowledge. God cannot just tell us about these things; we must be able to experience sin firsthand before we can truly understand it; then He will recreate us without the ability to sin, and the result is being made in His image more than Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Toward the end of the book of Hebrews it speaks of “righteous men made perfect” (Heb 12-23). See also: Adam (Man is free); 1Jn 3,7-10; 161i Heb 1-3 (67b) Authority >> Jesus is at the right hand of the father >> He is above all other authorities -- This verse goes with verse 13 (103i) Thy kingdom come >> Purifying process >> God purifies His church >> Jesus goes through God’s purifying process (112b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Light >> Jesus’ light overcomes darkness >> The light of His power (117d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Rest in Jesus (Sabbath) >> Let Jesus do the work >> Let Him work on your circumstances – Jesus is much greater than us, having the radiance of the Father, being only natural for Him to do the will of God even when He lived in a body that craved sin. For us to take on the will of God without Him would be asking our flesh to do the opposite of its own nature. Being in rebellion against God, our sinful flesh will not serve Him, unless we subject our flesh to Him. We try to do the will of God and our flesh refuses; there is a battle of two natures raging within us: the flesh and the Spirit, and we are stuck in the middle. Jesus is in a position of great power to help us do the will of God, seated at the right-hand of the majesty in the heavens, who has set the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Christ in the Spirit lives in us, who is also seated at the right-hand of God. The fact that He is in both places at the same time, at rest in heaven and at work on earth, suggests that we should learn from Christ and set down our flesh as he is seated, and just as His Spirit works in us, so we should work with Him and stop resisting the Holy Spirit. (233i) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the glory of God >> Seek His glory without wavering >> Seek His glory through obedience (245b) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Literal manifestation of Jesus Christ >> Jesus is the manifestation of the Father (253a) Jesus is Equal with the Father (Key verse) (253d) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is equal with the Father >> Jesus has all the internal qualities of the Father >> Jesus is the exact representation of the Father – In just one verse he described the power and glory of Christ like no other verse in the Bible. Nowhere else does it so explicitly articulate Jesus as the exact representation of the Father. The Bible speaks extensively about the trinity, still there are deep mysteries about the Father. Who is He and what is He; with what kind of substance does He use to express Himself to His creation? The doctrine of the trinity says that all three are one, suggesting that if we integrate all their traits together, we get God. Here is one way to see this: the Father has the most authority, yet Jesus is a greater servant, and the Holy Spirit even more serves Christ. Since the least is greatest in the Kingdom of God, this principle makes them all equal in glory. The more we serve, the more authority we receive from the Lord to do our work. This is obviously not something Lucifer understood. The members of the trinity are all equal; yet look at the difference between Jesus and the Holy Spirit; He is a man, while the Holy Spirit does not even have a body. They are completely unrelated in their essential characteristics. Therefore, if Christ and the Holy Spirit are so different from each other, it stands to reason that the Father is equidistant from the other two in His manner of expression. Jesus came and revealed Him to us, telling Philip in Jn 14-9, “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” yet the Father’s composition is an abrupt mystery. It is unlikely He is physical or spiritual, since Christ and the Holy Spirit have already taken those expressions. He probably expresses Himself in a way that will forever remain incomprehensible to us, except for this: He is made of Faith. Most would say that His essence is power, He spoke the stars in the sky; He didn't fling them with a mighty right hand, so faith is the basis of His power. See also: God's substance is faith; Heb 11,1-40; 99n KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 1,4-7 (15k) Servant >> Angels >> Limitations of angels -- These verses go with verse 13. Some people depict Satan as the brother of Jesus, but that is completely false. Lucifer was a created angel, the chief of angels, whereas Jesus was not created but has lived forever in eternity past as the only begotten God in the bosom of the Father (Jn 1-18). The Father has always had only one Son, and His name is Jesus. Lucifer had the most power and radiance of any created being, but it doesn’t say he had the character of God, and this was His downfall. Before he fell, Lucifer received the entire creation as his inheritance, by evidence that it is now under a curse. Our powerful telescopes today can look light-years into space and see the curse woven throughout the fabric of the cosmos and observe its uniformity, the fact that it is wearing-out, that over time the entire universe will burn-out and die. God cursed Lucifer and his inheritance, depicting the initial glory of Lucifer, referenced in Isaiah 14,11-20, calling him the bright morning star, which is now a description of Christ (Rev 22-16). The Bible seems to teach that when God created the heavens and the earth, he initially gave the reins of his creation to Lucifer instead of His Son, just to show that no one but His Son can be trusted with absolute power. In this way we could say that Lucifer was brother to Jesus, only figuratively, not literally. See also: Satan/Angels; Heb 1-4; 67l / God cursed the creation through Satan; Rev 12-4; 26g Heb 1-4 (67l) Authority >> Jesus delegates authority >> Name of Jesus is above every name – The book of Hebrews is an amazing book; it says things that challenges us to believe in a fuller revelation of God’s great generosity. Paul said in Eph 2-6 that the Father “raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Jesus has inherited a more excellent name than the angels after earning that position, thus proving that He deserved to be second in command over God's entire creation, after fully accomplishing the will of His Father. Jesus resisted the temptation of sin throughout His natural life in the flesh, literally doing the impossible with just His passion for righteousness, His love for the Father, and His hope for the Church, proving for all time that He will remain faithful and rule over His Father's kingdom selflessly. The angels are far below Christ, but Christ has raised us up with Him making us above the angels; this is mind-boggling! Books have been written about the name of Jesus, called the word of God, whom the Father has placed above His own name (Psalm 138-2). The Father also holds the prophecies He has made in the Bible above His own name that they will come to pass or He isn't God. He has become much better than the angels through obedience, being willing to suffer in order to fully accomplish His Father’s will; this is how He inherited a more excellent name than they. Are we willing to suffer to complete the will of God? That opportunity was never given to the angels. They were tested but not like us; they were called to make one decision to either side with God or side with Lucifer; in contrast, we are called to make dozens of decisions every day. Every angel had an opportunity to choose to stay with God or join Lucifer’s rebellion, so they were tested, but they were not tested with obedience that involved suffering. Many Christians have suffered the will of God, years of imprisonment and torture for the name of Jesus, but they will not inherit a more excellent name than Christ, because Jesus is perfect. Also, Jesus willingly became a man like us and willingly suffered for our sake clothed in the likeness of sinful flesh, yet He was without sin; by far this was His greatest miracle. He suffered for us in obedience to the Father, and He did it in hope of gaining the Church. We are children of the Father and brothers and sisters of Christ; we are members of the family of God, bought with the blood of Christ, according to the Father's will. See also: Satan; Heb 1,10-13; 26k / Angels; Heb 1-5,6; 252a Heb 1-5,6 (141g) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears witness to the new >> It bears witness to Jesus >> Prophesy about Jesus’ resurrection (252a) Trinity >> You shall put no other gods before Me >> Worship Jesus (Because He is equal with God) >> Jesus is worthy of our worship >> Worship Jesus for His inherent worthiness – God created the angels, so isn’t the word “begotten” just another word for creating Jesus too? No! Jesus is eternal; He always was and always will be, and as for the present tense the name the Father gave Himself to Moses was "I AM." To say Jesus was begotten means He was born. The Father gave Him a body by mixing Mary’s DNA with His DNA, bringing the Son of God into the world who came from eternity-past, now incased in human flesh. Jesus was both capable of sin by the contribution of His imperfect mother, and given the Holy Spirit for a soul by His Father. That is, Jesus never had to be born again, for He was originally born with the Holy Spirit as His soul. God told the angels to worship Jesus, then in various places in the Bible it says that no one should worship angels (Col 2-18,19; Rev 19-10; 22-8,9), proves that Jesus is truly divine. If the angels of God are ordered to worship Him, how much more are we to worship Him? It says, “I will be a Father to Him and He shall be a Son to Me.” We are all sons and daughters of God with Christ, but we are different; our soul makes us unique, just as Jesus’ soul makes Him unique, though He is not unique to the Father. When we are born again, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and mixes with our spirit to make a new creation. In contrast, Jesus’ soul is the Holy Spirit, making the Father and Son share the same person. See also: Angels; Heb 1-14; 15b / Jesus as a boy; Mat 13,53-56; 89i Heb 1-6 (46j) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Demons are subject to Christ -- This verse goes with verse 13 Heb 1,7-9 (101d) Thy kingdom come >> Zeal does not count the cost >> Zeal of God has consumed me – Jesus worked hard during His ministry. Occasionally they would retreat to the mountains to pray, regroup and refuel, otherwise they were hot on another missionary journey, the disciples scarcely keeping pace with Him. His way with the people was amazing; it was never repeated. Many have a way with people, whether they have the gift of gab or seem to always know what to say and do at any given moment, but Jesus cared for people in a way that no one else could. He not only miraculously solved problems and healed their bodies, He devised solutions that no one else would have considered based on His divine wisdom. The way He handled the Pharisees and the chief priests, tearing them to ribbons, making them look like foolish little children, when everybody else was deathly afraid of them. He challenged their understanding of the Scriptures and their business of religion, making them look like they had never read Moses, ripping to shreds each of their perspectives on the Scriptures and throwing them into the dumpster. Heb 1-7 (104d) Thy kingdom come >> Purifying process >> Purified by fire >> Purified through the fiery anointing KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 1,8-14 (141c) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears witness to the new >> It bears witness to Jesus >> Prophesy about Jesus’ ministry >> Jesus as the Son of God – This prophecy was taken from various places in the book of Psalms (Psalm 45-6,7;102,25-27;110-1). How important is it that we believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that the Father sent Him? It is the very center of the gospel and the power of God to forgive sin! For someone else to die for the sins of the world would be useless in establishing a Great High Priest to intercede for the people, since no one but the Son of God has access to the Father, though now we too have access to Him through Christ. The fact that He was a miracle worker was incidental; the only reason He performed miracles was to get people’s attention and to help them believe in Him. There were many prophets in the Old Testament; some performed miracles, such as Moses and Elijah, but most did not. They came armed with the word of God only, and it had the power to convince people that their word was from God and that they were His prophets, but they did not come from heaven. Jesus is the only person who came from heaven, who existed before His natural birth, who had always been with the Father. Jesus is an eternal being, having no beginning or end. Heb 1,8-13 (36g) Gift >> God opens His home to us >> Inheritance >> We heirs through faith (41a) Judgment >> God glorifies Himself as the judge of all (212b) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> He is the creator >> The creation glorifies God >> God created all things through Christ -- These verses go with verses 1-3 (253ed) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is equal with the Father >> Jesus has all the internal qualities of the Father >> Jesus is God of the Old Testament – The Father called Jesus God, so if He called Jesus God, then He must be God. (253g) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Father and Son glorify each other >> Holy Spirit honors the Son through the Father >> Father glorifies Himself as He glorifies His Son Heb 1,8-12 (243o) Kingdom of God >> The eternal kingdom >> There shall be no end to His increase >> He shall reign forever and ever Heb 1-8,9 (40l) Judgment >> God is glorified >> God defends His righteousness through judgment – Jesus' throne will last forever and ever, and His “scepter of righteousness is the scepter of His kingdom,” meaning that He will righteously judge the nations. If anyone disagrees with Him, God will judge him, suggesting that no one has an excuse for misunderstanding the Bible, and that everyone has a perfect opportunity to know Him and understand His ways. God loves righteousness and will rule His creation through this most important attribute, and it will make for an everlasting kingdom. Without righteousness, his kingdom would crumble like all the kingdoms of man. Righteousness is the preservative of his kingdom, as Jesus said in Mat 5-13, “You are the salt of the earth [preservative]...” If God values righteousness this much, then how much should we value it? To the degree that we have loved and practiced righteousness is the degree that God will honor us when we enter His kingdom. Heb 1-9 (113i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Anoint with oil (125f) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Joy >> Joy is the result of partaking the Holy Spirit >> Joy is the result of receiving from God – Jn 3-34 says, “He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure.” The mystery of Christ was the fact that He was the Son of God and that He was without sin, and for this reason His anointing was unsearchable. The anointing is described as the oil of gladness, so a person who has an anointing will show it through joy even through difficult circumstances. Jesus received His measureless anointing not just because He was the Son of God, but also because He loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. The love of righteousness and hatred of lawlessness is how we too receive an anointing; it is how we maintain and develop it for the purpose of performing acts of righteousness for His namesake. God knows that without the anointing we are not very interested in righteousness. Paul said in Rom 7-18, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” Any good work that we perform apart from the anointing we must do in the flesh, but sinful flesh is not interested in righteousness, for there is nothing good in us other than the Spirit of God. (127l) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Goodness >> Rewards for doing good >> Honor is the reward for doing good (194g) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Hate evil >> Victory over sin >> Hate evil by loving good – The indwelling Holy Spirit and the anointing are two different things, though they have one origin. The indwelling Holy Spirit is the seed of our salvation that is expected to grow into an anointing, leading us to become one with Him. Every Christian has the indwelling Holy Spirit, but if he is disobedient, his anointing is stunted, and he has little to offer the body of Christ, but the one who loves righteousness and hates lawlessness seeks to do the works of God through an anointing that is building in him and increasing to bear fruit for God. Jesus is the physical embodiment of the Holy Spirit, but we too often obey the flesh, committing sin. The ministry of the Holy Spirit leads us away from this and toward a new way of life, giving us new desires for righteousness, and with that comes hatred for sin. When we obey these God-given desires, we are able to cultivate an anointing that enables us to produce the fruit of His kingdom. (224g) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> The joyful kingdom >> Rejoicing in heaven – It says that Jesus was more joyful than any of His companions; that is, He wasn’t gloomy. Joy is like a tracer bullet in a machine gun to help the operator see where he is shooting, so when we see joy, we know all the other fruits of the Spirit are available. Joy is one of the nine fruits of the Spirit, described in Galatians chapter five. Virtually every denomination of Christianity knows about Gal 5-22,23, but does every denomination know that Heb 1-9 is talking about the anointing? If we said, ‘Jesus was anointed,’ everybody would give the amen, but when we say that Christians are anointed, people become sullen, as though we said a bad word. The very name “Christ” means anointed one, meaning “Christians” are anointed ones! Walking in the Spirit refers to the anointing that God has given us as born-again believers in Jesus, which is a manifestation of the indwelling Holy Spirit that expresses the fruits of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Just mention anointing to some pastors, and we run the risk of getting kicked out of their churches. They have decided not to believe in the anointing though the Bible teaches it. The anointing is the center of Christianity, yet most Christians today have rejected it. Perhaps they have heard too many prosperity teachers on Television and seen too many Charismatic preachers trying to operate the anointing by the flesh, wandering from the fruits of the Spirit and fumbling the gospel. The Evangelicals and Baptists stand back and criticize saying in a self-righteous tone, ‘We are not getting involved in that,’ as though they were better than those who are spiritually abusive, but in fact they are just as abusive. At least the Pentecostals and Charismatics are trying, but the Evangelicals and Baptists have given up the anointing to the devil, for who else would ask them to forsake these things? See also: Anointing (Pentecost); 1Pet 1-3,4; 13f / Evangelicals and Baptists; Jd-3,4; 7a KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 1,10-13 (26k) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Curse >> Deeds that return to the doer >> God’s blessings are a curse if you don’t walk in them – Lucifer viewed his position as steward over the creation with contempt, and so God cursed it, which is the cause of randomness and chaos predominating over the creation. The creation, not just this world but the entire universe, is cursed, being once the inheritance of Lucifer. The entire universe wasn’t enough for him, so he threw it all away for a zero-chance of subverting God’s throne. He jealously sought the position of Christ—what he planed to do with the Father is unclear. He wanted to be the final authority, and he wanted it enough to risk everything, figuring if he couldn’t have it all, he didn’t want any of it. He made his move against the throne of God in His very presence, so there was no safety net of repentance available to him. That is a good thing for us, for in our present condition we sin against God apart from his literal presence affording us a safety net of repentance. We can thank Satan inadvertently for that, since it was his sin that caused the present condition of the universe, and now God is using those negative circumstances for good by creating man from the dust of the cursed earth in the midst of chaos. Then He made a clearing in the midst of the curse and put a garden there and ushered man into it, but soon he went the way of Lucifer, committing sin in full knowledge and proving that sinful man would also usurp God's throne if the opportunity presented itself. Sin ultimately establishes the reprobate mind, turning its victim's heart to stone. See also: Satan; Heb 1-14; Key verse Heb 1,10-12 (170f) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Outward appearance >> Temporary >> Whatever is temporary will perish (205a) Salvation >> Salvation is based on God’s promises >> According to promise >> God never changes (224c) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> Describing the kingdom after he makes all things new >> Description of the new creation – God will outlast His creation with the intention of destroying it and establishing a new one in its place. He will make all things new building a new universe in place of the old one the Bible says, “in which righteousness dwells,” but God Himself will never grow old or become obsolete or need replacement. When He makes the new creation, it will remain forever and ever. This age of testing man, when finished will be the end of sin, and He will bring His people into paradise, called the New Jerusalem, which will eventually span the entire universe, after man is found faithful and prepared to receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken. God has already recreated in us a spirit who cannot sin, and He will clothe our spirit with a new body that cannot sin, exactly reflecting our spirit, so that our body is subject to our spirit, which we know our current circumstance is just the opposite; our inner man is subject to failing flesh. We will have been refined like gold though the testing and hardship of an ancient creation that reflects the attributes of its steward – Satan. God is even now in the process of making His enemies a footstool for His feet. This footstool is hell. God is in the process of demonstrating to His creation that righteousness triumphs over evil. Step by step, moment by moment, day by day, God is crushing all the enemies of righteousness, until one day He will prove to all creation that not only is He right, but that unrighteousness is intrinsically wrong. God wants to prove for all time that sin (seeking our own destiny apart from God) is destructive and that He can create and sustain a kingdom that will last forever. This in not merely an opinion. God could create a paradise for the damned instead of hell; He could create white beaches along a blue sea spotted with palm trees, and the residents would turn it into hell just like they are doing to the earth today. Given enough time this planet will turn into a living hell, until it no longer can sustain life. This is what sin does, it destroys, but God by His righteousness builds and creates things. (244g) Kingdom of God >> The eternal kingdom >> The word of God is eternal >> The word of God will outlast the creation Heb 1-10 (115h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Laying on of hands >> Bestowing the Holy Spirit Heb 1-12 (190f) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Circumcision >> Undressing >> Dismantling the outer tabernacle Heb 1-13 (15k) Servant >> Angels >> Limitations of angels – This verse goes with verses 4-7 (22n) Sin >> Pride comes before a fall (39ia) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death >> Jesus defeated Satan’s authority >> The demons are subject to Christ (46j) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Demons are subject to Christ -- This verse goes with verse 6 (48n) Judgment >> Jesus’ enemies are destroyed >> Enemies of His glory – Everything is about God, not about us; He created us for His purpose and glory; He has not created us for ourselves; this is something the world refuses to acknowledge. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit because they developed the attitude from Satan that God created them for themselves and not for Himself. Worldly people want everything to be all about them and refuse to give glory to God. (67b) Authority >> Jesus is at the right hand of the father >> He is above all other authorities -- This verse goes with verse 3 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 1-14 (15b) Angels (Key verse) – Angels play a crucial role in fulfilling God’s eternal plan. Whenever His purpose is in transition or is threatened by an opposing power, He sends angels to ensure its preservation. There is an important question we should attempt to answer: what is the difference between man and angels? Some might suggest that angels have wings and people don't, but we don’t know that angels have wings, and if they did, it wouldn’t sufficiently answer the question. Once we get to heaven, we will probably be able to write a bulleted list of differences, but for now the only thing Scripture elucidates as the fundamental difference between man and angel is the scuffle they had with God. Lucifer and His cohorts attempted to physically capture God’s throne and somehow do away with Him and become God in His place (as though the devil knew anything about being God). In contrast, Adam was told not to eat of a certain tree in the garden, but he did it anyway. Both angel and man rebelled against God and are sent to a common hell, indicating that their rebellion does not distinguish them. Angels are servants of God’s kingdom whose only purpose is to carry out orders, while man was made to represent God to the creation and was made to create worlds. In eternity, after the Millennium, God will create a new heavens and a new earth, and He will create a new Adam and Eve and command them to be fruitful and multiply, and as they fill the universe with people, God will put us in charge of them to teach them the ways of God, and He will give us the angels to accompany us, who will act as the strength of our authority, and we will rule God’s creation with gentleness and humility. See also: Satan; Heb 1,3-6; 30h / Angels; 15c / New heavens and a new earth (We will teach the new creation right from wrong); Mat 25,14-23; 102c; Angels different from man; Rev 1-5; 37h (15c) Servant >> Ministering spirits >> Angels give help in time of need – The role of angels is as a servant in contrast to man’s role of stewardship. The reason man has a higher place than the angels is due to the greater reward of faith we acquired while serving God apart from His literal presence. Angels are ministering spirits. At the end of Hebrews the writer says we could possibly have seen angels and not known it in this life. They are at work among us. Someday when we get to heaven, we will finally meet some of the angels who have rendered service to us in some of our greatest times of need. Perhaps our lives were spared and we didn’t know how. Some day we may realize that those quirky, random events in our favor that we call fate may have derived from the hand of angels. Other people suffer greatly, who apparently need an angel ministering to them in their affliction. Someday we will discover the true impact of angels in this life. We will meet the ones who helped us; perhaps we are forming bonds with them even now that will last forever. See also: Angels; Heb 1,3-6; 30h (36k) Gift of God >> Inheritance >> Jesus is our inheritance -- This verse goes with verses 1-4 (235k) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> All things are for your sake >> We are fighting for you >> Our effort is for your sake See next page