Hebrews
Lesson 4 March 10, 2005
NKJ Psalm 119:11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin
against You!
We are getting into one of the most significant and
well-crafted sentences in all of the New Testament. Hebrews is made up of five basic sections like a 5-point
sermon. It was probably an oral
Bible class with 5 major points that was cleaned up later and sent out as an
epistle. Each point has a
doctrinal section followed by an exhortation and challenge or warning. The basic themes are woven in a
masterful way into the opening sentence of Hebrews which is contained in the
first four verses that you have in your English Bible. The thrust of the first four verses is
that the God who has spoken. That
carries a powerful implication that we will see. If He has spoken, then we have a tremendous responsibility
to listen and respond. It implies
there are serious consequences if we don’t. That is why there are these warning passages in the five
sections of this book.
NKJ Hebrews 1:1 God, who at various times and in
various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has
in these last days spoken to us by His Son,
whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
3 who being the brightness of His
glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the
word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the
right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better
than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than
they.
As you can tell that is a loaded sentence. The passage touches on about 20
different doctrines in one sentence.
We should remember that the focus is that God has spoken. It is said in such a way that the
grammar implies finality to the revelation of God. It is imbedded in the grammar as we will see. It is a fascinating sentence to read in
the Greek. There are six p’s found
in the alliteration. The writer is
an orator. He is masterful in
catching the attention of his audience.
Let’s do some analysis and exegesis before we get into
the implications of the doctrine.
The key idea in the first verse revolves around the verb to speak. It seems in the King James that the
emphasis is on God as the subject of the verb “spoke”. However you do not have a finite verb
in the first verse. We have a
participial phrase that is dependent on the main verb found in the second
verse. God has spoken in these
last days by means of His Son.
That is the main clause.
The subject is God. The
verb is “has spoken”. That God has
spoken is what the writer emphasizes here. Everything else is secondary in the mind of the writer. That
is an important thing to note because we should emphasize what the writer
emphasizes. When all is said and
done and we have gone through all the doctrines, the thrust is that God has
spoken.
The first key word we have to look at in the Greek is
the verb to speak. The aorist active participle of the verb laleo means to speak. The aorist tense of a participle means
that the action of the participle precedes the action of the main verb. This is an adverbial participle. An adverbial participle can have
various shades of meaning. Here it
is a circumstantial participle of time.
It should be translated “after God spoke.” The action in verse 1 precedes the action of His speaking in
verse 2.
Two adverbs follow that fit together in a harmonious
way are polumeros and polutropos. They indicate the complexity
of divine revelation in the Old Testament. The first word is an adverb of manner and can be translated
in many ways, in many parts, fragments.
The best idea is fragments.
The idea is that revelation given in the Old Testament was partial. It is not complete. It is fragmentary. It is given a little here and a little
there. The whole picture was not
revealed even when the Old Testament was complete. That is why you must have the New Testament, to complete the
whole picture. With the closing of
the New Testament, God’s revelatory work is concluded.
The second adverb used is also an adverb of
manner. It could imply the
different geographical locations where revelation took place in the Old
Testament. Daniel lived in
Persia. You had revelation in the
Promised Land, in Babylon, and in Egypt.
So you have different geographical locations as the basis of divine
revelation. But the main idea is
to emphasize the various methods of disclosure. God used a variety of means. He spoke face to face with Moses and many others. He used
dreams and visions. There are
other forms that God used to communicate revelation in the Old Testament.
In times past is the adverb of time palai means formerly or of old
time. It describes something
completed in the past. Here the
idea is that the ancient teaching was completed. That is definitely true. The Old Testament was concluded with God’s last revelation
to the prophet Malachi about 440 BC.
The Old Testament canon was closed. God was silent.
He did not communicate again until He sent His angel to announce the
pregnancy of Mary and to announce that John the Baptist’s mother Elizabeth was
pregnant. That was the next
time. God was silent about 440 years. No revelation of any kind took
place. There was a completion of
that revelation. His purpose was
to communicate certain information to His people. Once that task is accomplished, then God ceases that
revelatory operation.
Next is the phrase en
plus the instrumental dative of prophetes. The instrumental dative of means
indicates the means by which revelation was accomplished. It was through the prophets. That was the instrument that God used
to communicate His truth. He communicated it to the fathers. That would be the Jewish fathers. There is an emphasis on a Jewish
background.
Corrected
Translation: After
God spoke long ago in various fragments and in a variety of forms to the
fathers by means of the prophets
He has spoken is the first verb in verse 2. It is an aorist active indicative of laleo indicating that this is the main
verb. That is the main idea
– He has spoken to us by means of His Son. If we compare verse one and verse two, we see the main idea
brought out. The emphasis is on
the verbal communication from God as indicated by the verb laleo. As soon as we
get into this we realize that we have to understand a few things about how God
has spoken. What is the criterion
for understanding and evaluating God’s speech? How do you validate that God has spoken and not just
someone’s opinion or self-justification or just off their medication? How do we know that it is the Word of
God?
In the comparison of verse 1 and 2, we see the writer
emphasizing the unity between the New Testament and the Old Testament. It is the same God that revealed the
Old Testament that has revealed the New Testament through His Son. He is
building a unity.
We note also that God used a fragmentary method to
communicate and various forms in Israel’s history. It was like hearing a clock bong. That is what it was like. They kept hearing those bongs in each era. As each century went by they learned a
little bit more about God’s plan and purposes. They learned more about the
Messiah and things came into focus.
It was a fragmentary revelation.
It was incremental. It was
progressive and increasing amount of revelation. Moses knew more than Abraham knew. Abraham knew more than Noah knew. Noah
knew more than Adam knew because there was a progressing and increasing amount
of revelation.
In light of this phrase “God has spoken” we should
recognize that in many pagan religions this is a profound statement. The gods of India do not speak. But the God of the Bible speaks. It is one of the most controversial
things to unbelievers. Pagans hate that God has spoken. What is imbedded is the very idea that
God has communicated. If He
communicated, then it must by its very nature be absolute truth. If He has communicated, it holds us
accountable for what He has communicated.
It is highly offensive and the pagan mind wants to suppress that truth
in unrighteousness. He holds it
down, covers it up, and reshapes it in unrighteousness. Modern man hates the concept that God
has spoken.
A second thing to observe is that in places where the
pagan gods have spoken, the way they speak is through mysticism. It is completely in contrast to the way
the God of the Bible spoke historically.
Pagan gods communicate in private.
It is non-verifiable. There
is no truthfulness to it. It may
be right on occasion but it doesn’t meet the same standards that the Scripture
does. There is a radical
difference in the way God speaks and the way pagan gods communicate. Just think about it. There is a radical categorical
difference between the God of the Bible who is the Creator of the heavens and
earth and stands outside and apart from creation because He is the Creator and
the other gods of all the other religions who are the creations of man. They
are inside the circle of creation.
What we have in creation is a bounded universe. God exists outside creation. Man
generates his own gods that are part of the universe. That is why we have the gods of lust, war, and love. They are inside the circle of creation.
They are not totally distinct. The
gods did not communicate the same way.
What you have is a god that is just a super man. He is of the same substance that we
are. This characterized all
paganism. There is a radical
difference. If we don’t understand
that, then when we diminish the significance of God’s speaking in the Old
Testament and New Testament.
We water it down.
1)
One function is inspiration. It is
the process whereby God oversaw the process of inscripturation or the recording
of the Word and it’s preservation throughout the years. It is not the same thing as revelation.
2)
Illumination is the process whereby
God the Holy Spirit enables us to understand what has been revealed in the
Scripture. He does not speak to
you as He did to the prophets. I
John 2:27, Luke 24:32-5, I Cor 2:9-10
3)
Another category is leading. God the Holy Spirit leads us through
verbal and non-verbal events directly (Scripture) and indirectly (illumination,
the council of others, the teaching of the pastor, or circumstances).
NKJ Deuteronomy 13:1 "If there arises among you a
prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,
2 "and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to
you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods' -- which you have not known -- 'and
let us serve them,'
3 "you shall not listen to the words of that
prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know
whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 "You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His
commandments and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.
What is
important is the message. Is it
consistent with the rest of the Word?
God
allows the test to see if you will follow His word. It is a test of the doctrine in your soul. It is a test to know if you love the
Lord with all of your heart and soul and mind.
Deut 18:
20-22 is the second great test.
NKJ Deuteronomy 18:20 'But the
prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him
to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.'
This is
legislation. This is what God put
in the Mosaic Law. If they were
not always right 100%, then they were to be put to death. Why? Because they are claiming to utter words from God and to
represent God. If they say
something that is false, then it could mislead others in their spiritual
life. That is how important God
sees this. That God spoke
indicates a high level of authority.
NKJ Deuteronomy 18:21 "And if you say in your heart, 'How
shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' -- 22 "when
a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come
to pass, that is the thing which the
LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be
afraid of him.
7. The
illustration is in I Kings 13. Let
me set the stage here. The
situation takes place after the death of Solomon. The kingdom was first united under Saul. Then, he was succeeded by David. David was succeeded by his son Solomon. Solomon was succeeded by his young son
Rehoboam. Rehoboam was a
fool. Because of Solomon’s
disobedience and sin, God told Solomon that he would take the kingdom away from
him. So that he would be faithful
to the Davidic covenant, two tribes of Judah and Benjamin would be faithful to
the house of David in the south.
Then there was another kingdom in the north of the 10 tribes. There was a tax revolt. Rehoboam
increased already egregious taxes on all the Jews. So the ten tribes said they would not put up with that and
he would not be their king any more.
They appointed Jeroboam I as their king. Jeroboam recognizes that he must unify the kingdom and that
would not happen if he was sending everyone south to Jerusalem. So he does four things. He establishes two new centers for
worship that compete with the temple in Jerusalem. One is in Bethel in the south. The other is up north in Dan. The second thing he did was to establish these golden calves
as idols. He substitutes a false
god. Third, he establishes a new
priest caste and gets rid of the Levite priests and takes priests from the
other nations. He redid the
spiritual calendar of Israel. He
is brilliant in the way he restructures everything. He is a master in understanding what had to take place. But God would not let that happen and
sends a prophet to him. He goes
from Judah to Bethel.
NKJ 1 Kings 13:1 And behold, a man of God went from
Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to
burn incense. 2 Then he
cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, "O altar,
altar! Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to
the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high
places who burn incense on you, and men's bones shall be burned on you.' "
Jeroboam acts like a priest. He imitates David. The prophet comes to him and makes a
prophetic announcement to him. This
is precise communication from God.
It involves a child-king named Josiah. He will be from the house of David. He will sacrifice priests on the high
places and burn men’s bones. This event takes place around 931 BC. This is fulfilled 300 years later in II
Kings 23:15, 20.
NKJ 2 Kings 23:15 Moreover the altar that was at
Bethel, and the high place which
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and
the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and crushed it to powder,
and burned the wooden image.
20 He executed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned men's bones on them; and he
returned to Jerusalem.
Here we see the precise
fulfillment. But how did the
people know that this would be fulfilled later? Because God gave them an immediate sign found in verse 3.
NKJ 1 Kings 13:3 And he gave a sign the same day,
saying, "This is the sign which
the LORD has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it
shall be poured out." 4 So
it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who
cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the
altar, saying, "Arrest him!" Then his hand, which he stretched out
toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself. 5 The altar also was split
apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the
man of God had given by the word of the LORD.
This confirms the prophecy. The king wants his hand restored. Imagine how scared he was at that
point.
6 Then the king answered and said to
the man of God, "Please entreat the favor of the LORD your God, and pray
for me, that my hand may be restored to me." So the man of God entreated
the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him, and became as before.
7 Then the king said to the man of
God, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a
reward."
8 But the man of God said to the king,
"If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor
would I eat bread nor drink water in this place.
9 "For so it was commanded me by
the word of the LORD, saying, 'You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor
return by the same way you came.' "
10
So he went another way and did not return by the way he came to Bethel
God told him to go straight
home. So he does that. Now we go to scene two.
11 Now an old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all
the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they also told their
father the words which he had spoken to the king.
12 And their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" For his
sons had seen which way the man of God went who came from Judah.
13 Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they
saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it,
14 and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. Then
he said to him, "Are you the man
of God who came from Judah?" And he said, "I am."
15 Then he said to him,
"Come home with me and eat bread."
16 And he said, "I cannot return with you nor go in with you; neither
can I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place.
17 "For I have been told by the word of the LORD, 'You shall not eat
bread nor drink water there, nor return by going the way you came.' "
18 He said to him, "I too am a
prophet as you are, and an angel
spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your
house, that he may eat bread and drink water.' " (He was lying to him.)
19
So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.
20 Now it happened, as they
sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought
him back;
This is the issue. The old false prophet says that an angel spoke to him. The Holy Spirit knows he is lying. This is a test for the young prophet to
see if he is faithful to the Word of God alone or if he will be swayed by
someone who claims to have a message from the God. The young prophet fails. He goes back to the house. Then the Word does come to the old prophet.
21 and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying,
"Thus says the LORD: 'Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD, and
have not kept the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you,
22 'but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the place of which the Lord said to you, "Eat no bread
and drink no water," your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your
fathers.' "
23 So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had
drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet whom he had brought
back.
24 When he was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his
corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood
by the corpse.
25 And there, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road, and the
lion standing by the corpse. Then they went and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
26 Now when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard it, he said, "It is the man of God who was disobedient to
the word of the LORD. Therefore the LORD has delivered him to the lion, which
has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke
to him."
He will die for his disobedience and went after a
false prophet. That is how serious God took it. So God made a profound object lesson for Jehoboam. If the prophet had disobeyed without
consequences, then Jehoboam would have thought he may get away with
everything. So God makes a
profound statement takes the life of the young prophet. He heads south and a lion attacks him
and sits there by the body next to the donkey. Is that would a normal lion would do? No. The lion would have dinner on the body and dessert on the
donkey. This shows it is a
miraculous event from the hand of God to make an object lesson out of this
prophet who failed to apply the tests of Deuteronomy 13 and 18 to this message.
The old prophet goes down and finds the body and
brings him back.
27 Then he spoke to his sons, saying, "Saddle the donkey for me."
And they saddled it. 28 And
he went and found his body thrown on the road with the donkey and the lion
standing beside the body; the lion had not eaten the body nor torn the donkey. 29
So the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the
donkey, and brought it back and he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn
and to bury him. 30 And he laid his body in his own grave, and they
mourned over him, saying, a"Alas,
my brother!" 31 And it came about after he had buried him, that
he spoke to his sons, saying, "When I die, bury me in the grave in which
the man of God is buried; alay my bones beside his bones. 32 a"For
the thing shall surely come to pass which he cried by the word of the LORD
against the altar in Bethel and bagainst all the houses of the high
places which are in the cities of cSamaria."
He buried him in his own grave. Why? He understood that this was a true prophet of God who had
one failure. The old prophet
wanted him to be buried in his grave.
In death he wanted blessing by association with him. This pagan idea slipped in. He thought there would be an extra
blessing from this genuine prophet.
It demonstrates the reality of Deuteronomy 13 and 18. When people say that God has spoken to
them, how do you know? That is why
we have tests to do this. You
couldn’t just claim it was a message from God. That is what happened in paganism. Sometimes demons spoke through people.
Chafer wrote about false mysticism in his systematic
theology.
“The
theory that divine revelation is not limited to the written word of God but
that God bestows added truth to souls that are sufficiently quickened by the
spirit of God to receive it. This class contends that by self effacement -
going out and living in the desert, giving up food and water by devotion to God
- individuals may attain to immediate and direct conscious realization of the
person and presence of God.”
That is the chain of being. If you just find the right formula, you will get that
special connection to the god who is just one rung up the ladder.
He continues.
“False
mysticism includes all those systems which teach identity between god and human
life. In it are included
practically all of the holiness movements of the day - spiritism, Seventh Day
Adventism, new thought metaphysics, Christian Scientism, Mormonism and
millennial dawnism. The founders
and promoters of many of these cults make claims to special revelation from god
upon which their system is built.”
So how do you know they are right or wrong? You have to see if it stacks up to the
doctrine in the Scripture. He
contrasts that to what he calls true mysticism – the leading of the Holy
Spirit. That is not the same
thing. It is poor methodology to use mysticism to the Christian life. The Bible never uses the word in that
way.
Leon Wood an Old Testament professor also did a
tremendous study on ecstatics and prophecy.
“In
ecstatic frenzy the subject seeks to withdraw his mind from conscious
participation in the world so that it may be open to the reception of the
divine word. To achieve this
ecstatic state, poisonous gas may be employed, a rhythmic dance or even
narcotics. The desire is to lose
all rational contact with the world and so make possible a rapport with the
spiritual realm. Already before
Israel’s conquest of Palestine, Moses calls himself a prophet and states that a
prophet like himself would arise after him. He uses the singular in reference to this one as so is
correctly taken to mean Christ as the supreme prophet thus to arise. But the context shows that he has
reference in a secondary sense also to other prophets that generally should
appear later in history. Moses himself was not an ecstatic. Hence, if prophets were to follow Moses
were to be like him neither would they be ecstatic.”
If Moses wasn’t a mystic, no other prophets would be
mystics. He did not operate on
mystics.
We have begun to crack the door on how God speaks.