Sunday: A Glorious Beginning
In order to understand the sermon and apply its message to ourselves, we need to understand the history of the congregation and their situation when they received the letter from the apostle.
Read Hebrews 2:3-4. What was the experience of the audience of Hebrews when they were first converted?
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This passage implies that the audience of Hebrews had not heard Jesus Himself preach; instead, they had received the gospel from other evangelists who had announced to them the news of “salvation.”
Paul also says that the evangelists had “confirmed” the message to them and that God Himself had born “witness both with signs and wonders” (NKJV). This means that God had provided experiential confirmation of the gospel by signs and other powerful deeds — among them the distribution of the “gifts of the Holy Spirit” (NKJV). The New Testament relates that signs such as miraculous healings, exorcisms, and the outpouring of spiritual gifts often accompanied the preaching of the gospel in new places.
At the beginning of the Christian church, God poured His Spirit upon the apostles in Jerusalem so that they were able to announce the gospel in languages previously unknown to them and to be able to perform miracles (Acts 2, 3). Philip performed similar wonders in Samaria (Acts 8), Peter in Joppa and Caesarea (Acts 9, 10), and Paul throughout his ministry in Asia Minor and Europe (Acts 13-28). These powerful deeds were experiential evidence that confirmed the message of “salvation” — the establishment of the kingdom of God and a salvation from condemnation and freedom from evil powers (Hebrews 12:25-29).
The Spirit gave early Christian believers the conviction that their sins had been forgiven; thus, they were not fearful of judgment, and as a result their prayers were bold and confident, and their religious experience was joyful (Acts 2:37-47). The Spirit also delivered those who were enslaved to evil powers, which was compelling evidence of the superiority of the power of God over the forces of evil and revealed that the kingdom of God had been established in their lives.
| What is the story of your conversion? In what ways have you been confirmed in your faith and belief in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord? Why is it good at times to remember how God first worked in your life to bring you to Him? |
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We all like a point of singularity; a time when something dramatically happens that changes everything. As a mathematician I have always enjoyed exploring mathematical expressions, looking for maxima, minima, points of inflexion, cusps and asymptotes. Expressions would be boring without those points where a change of state occurs. (Or, did you get out of maths before you got to the good stuff like calculus?)
In our Christian experience we like to think of our conversion, that change of state where we were switched on by grace. Now I have a confession to make: I cannot point to a time/event where I can say, "Wow, I have been converted!" As a third/fourth generation Seventh-day Adventist, "Christianity" was always part of the environment. Yet in my own way my Christian faith is hard fought. There has been no great "Damascus Road" event to knock me off my bike. However, staying on my bike has meant that I have had to change the tires, adjust the seat, move the handlebars and replace the brakes several times. Perhaps the only thing that has not changed is the frame.
So my comment/question this morning is directed to those who like me have grown up in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, with no epiphany, just wall-to-wall Christianity: What is the frame?
We have a choice : believe in Jesus & eternal life
or not believe & perish - cease to exist John 3:16
My 'frame':
1) created in the image/character of the LORD
2) all sinned, record erased through blood of Jesus
3) transformed into His image/character
4) live with the LORD forever in his perfect kingdom
1) Gen 1:26-27; Ex 34:6-7
2) 1John 1:7,9; Rom 3:23-26
3) Rom 8:29; John 3:7; Rom 12:2
4) Rev 21:1-7
And now, My people, what does the LORD your God desire of you, but to fear [and worship] the LORD your God [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect], to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in all His ways and to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul [your choices, your thoughts, your whole being], Deut 10:12 Amplified Bible
Maurice, Thank you so much for the analogy of the bicycle. This fits so much my experience as a 3rd generation Adventist.
Today's lesson states that "In order to understand the sermon and apply its message to ourselves, we need to understand the history of the congregation and their situation when they received the letter from the apostle." The lesson then concludes with reference to Peter's 'sermon' in Acts 2. To be brief, I will focus on what Peter is saying in Acts 2:38 as an accurate understanding of this is background is essential for accurately understanding of what is being unpacked in the first chapters of Hebrews.
Two key ideas in Acts 2:38 are repent (a verb derived from metanoeo) and forgiveness (noun derived from aphesis). Repent actually means to have a changed 'orientation' to something. Thus, instead of heading in one direction on one basis, you turn and head in another direction on another basis. Because there are only two fundamental orientations to life - self-seeking vs other-focussed, repenting fundamentally means to change from living in accordance with a self-seeking orientation to instead living in accordance with an other-focussed orientation. David regained awareness of this after his lapse into sin with Bathsheba, which is why he prayed for and new heart and right Spirit to be able to do so (Psalm 51:10).
Forgiveness (aphesis) is the state of having been released from something (that you cannot release yourself from by yourself). Importantly though, it is not merely being released from the consequences of 'sin/s' - it is actually being released from the state that produces sins* (ie, a terminal, self-seeking heart). Consequently the core concepts of repentance and forgiveness are inter-related: (a) being released in order to now have the opportunity to embrace (forgiveness) and (b) actually embracing the freely offered gift of a new heart and right Spirit that actually enables us to have a different orientation (true repentance) to life and living.
Modern Christianity, with its mistaken focus upon the alleged removal of the superficial 'punishment' of sins, doesn't understand the above so well. It was much clearer in apostolic times but has subsequently become much more 'corrupted' across the centuries to the prevailing misperception of today. It is vitally important to realise this when reading Hebrews because Hebrews is established upon and therefore reflects (and elaborates on) this exact same underpinning reality that was understood and taught by the apostles.
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* This is not implying 'prefectionism'.
I believe that our actual choice is who we follow - Jesus Christ or the devil - the result will be reflected in our character. Only through His divine power will we be able to partake of His divine nature.
God is wonderful! I can say I've had 2 major experiences of God's power over my life. The first one happened in the begining of the 90's. And the other more recently, which perhaps may have lasted longer, but it culminated at the pandemia! I suffered deeply, but now I can only THANK God for his patience in teaching me never let Him aside, and always ask for His guidance in every decision! May God be honored through my life, and may I be totally dedicated to His service! Because happiness do exists here and in eternity, the "secret" is to do the will of God! Many many thanks to God!!!!!
For me, everything related to authority boils down to "who says so?". I want to take a moment to highlight the authority Paul references in his letter.
Heb.2:3-4 lists these authorities able to verify the account he is about the give to the recipients of this letter; he knows the great importance of: ”Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.” - Heb.2:1KJV. If we do not regard a source as having 'authority' when speaking to a certain matter, we dismiss what the source tells us; don't we?
Heb.1:1-3KJV starts out: ”God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds.
Paul lists as his references: God the Father and His Son ”by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of His(the Father’s) glory, and the express image of His(the Father’s) person, and upholding all things by the word of his (the Father’s) power, when he had by himself(Jesus) purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high(the Father):"
If there was any doubt in the recipient's mind about the authority of the sources Paul referred to in his message, this should have settled it. The only new source in addition to the Father and the Son was that of the Holy Spirit.
So, then, Paul pointed to their authority when speaking about the - “great Salvation spoken of by the Lord, and confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts(distributions) of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will - Heb.2:3KJV.
He made sure the people knew about the authority that established the Truth of this message - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Are these powers still in charge of the Salvation of man? Has anything changed since then, or do we still point to these same sources of power and authority when testifying about our faith? Do listeners still find themselves facing the same situation – believing or rejecting the message and with this, the authority who's Light established this Truth?
Yes, nothing has changed or ever will change when testifying about the Father and Son's love to give Salvation to mankind. To accept the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit's authority by faith is still required of the believer today.
When accepting Their authority first, trust and faith will follow.
I loved the analogy of the bike. It speaks so specifically to my reality.(a generational SDA) In the magical maze that is Mathematics, I had a sort of conversion or turning around. I'd done well in Algebra, so Statistics would be a breeze for me. Right? No.It was NOT. The teacher pinched his lips and tried to look pleasant as he viewed my first assignment. I was in trouble, but I did have a foundation. There would be no graduation without a satisfactory grade in Statistics. I needed help. I hired a tutor. I began to understand little by little, lesson by lesson. By the end of the course, the teacher looked at my work...again. His face now showed great surprise! "You've made a complete turn around" (conversion),he said. "What did you do?" My turn around was credited to my tutor as I improved in stages and parts. Perhaps in a spiritual sense, my conversion transpires in stages with a great amount of help from my Tutor.
Hello Priscilla,
I really identified with your story. When I took calculus and trigonometry in high school, the teacher made these a mystery. I too had previously done very well in mathematics, but half way through this course, I knew I would fail. So I went to my previous math teacher after school and explained my dilemma. She was amazing. In less than an hour, she straightened out my crooked thinking. From then on, instead of listening to the other teacher, I read the textbook and did the assignments, and talked with my previous teacher to clear up issues. I ended up passing the course and for that I was very thankful.
The Tutor (or Teacher) you listen to makes all the difference in the world.
Richard
I don't mean to nitpick the lesson, but as a general epistle, is this book really written to a particular congregation? If Paul indeed wrote the book (I know the lesson assumes this, but it is not confirmed), it would be unusual that he did not address the specific church it was written to. Also, the lesson seems to completely ignore the Jewish factor and the strong case that this book is addressing Jewish Christians who due to persecution are thinking of going back to their original religion. It seems strange that this is completely ignored.
Hi Christina, The argument about the authorship will go on forever. I have read a lot of the arguments from both sides and know their strengths and weaknesses. For myself, the strength of the message is more important than the authorship. Authenticity does not depend entirely on the proof of authorship.
On your second point, I have not read the lesson right through yet, but today's (Monday) lesson does address the persecution issue and is probably a good stepping stone into the background of the intended audience.
This is a valuable point you are making and may l add, no time seems to be spent on what we call chapter one of Hebrews drawing from day John 1: 1 - 3, 14 as well as Collosians 1: 12 - 16 which finally makes the point that..." all things were made by Christ and for Christ " so unless we belong to Christ all that we do and say we are as Christians is not only meaningless, there is no purpose and we do not or will not live according to the divine plan and purpose for our daily lives as both God who has adopted us in His Christ and Christ who made all things for Himself to the pleasure of God The Father.
To conclude, Paul makes it very plain with these words which we can all read and/or hear (hear and/or read) for ourselves, "...now if anyone does not have The Spirit of Christ, that person does not belong to Christ..." (Adapted from Romans 8: 9, the KJV)
Alric & Christina,
I would recommend that you have a look at the Topics of this quarter - the lessons are not sequential according to the chapters in Hebrews but according to topics about Jesus.
In fact in lesson 3 it deals with Jesus the Son and Hebrews 1:1-5
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