Hebrews 1
God Has Revealed Himself in Jesus
The opening section of the book of Hebrews describes Jesus as the complete revelation of God, superior to all other messengers of truth.
Many scholars categorize Hebrews as a sermon or theological treatise rather than an epistle, although it contains some components of both. The author does not introduce himself or address his audience in his opening lines but chooses rather to launch into his exposition of Jesus Christ as the superior revelation of God.
By The Prophets
Vs. 1 - Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways.
At previous times, God had primarily revealed Himself through mediaries, the prophets, but no man had ever actually seen His face.
It is to be noted that it is no part of the purpose of the writer to the Hebrews to belittle the prophets; it is his aim to establish the supremacy of Jesus Christ. He is not saying that there is a break between the Old Testament revelation and that of the New Testament; he is stressing the fact that there is continuity, but continuity that ends in consummation. - William Barclay
By His Son
Vs. 2 - In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son.
God had for a long time been sending advanced sketches of himself to his people, but now he's given us his exact portrait. With this idea, written as a grand and rather formal opening to the letter, the writer invites us to look at the whole sweep of biblical history and see it coming to a climax in Jesus. - N.T. Wright
The story of Jesus is not a new story, but the finishing of an old one. The writer to the Hebrews is showing us that we need to look back at how God spoke at first in order to understand how that led up to his final word in Jesus.
For generations, the Israelites had been eagerly waiting and longing for the “last days” - that special time when God would intervene in the world and bring the redemption that he had promised. And now the author is saying that this has happened with the coming of Jesus. Finally, the story of the Bible had reached its climax. - Michael Kruger
The Son
Seven facts in these verses stress the Son’s unique greatness and the culminating character of His revelation. For the writer’s original Jewish readers, the number seven connoted a complete work of God, as in the Creation. Each one of these seven actions points to the full deity of Jesus Christ. The original Jewish audience, faced with temptation to abandon discipleship of Jesus for return to Judaism, received a strong reminder of His deity at the very outset of this epistle. - Thomas Constable
Heir of All Things - Vs. 2 -God has appointed him heir of all things
Co-Creator - vs. 2 - made the universe through him.
Radiance of Glory - Vs. 3 - The Son is the radiance of God’s glory
Exact Expression - Vs. 3 - the exact expression of his nature sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Sustainer of All - vs. 3 - sustaining all things by his powerful word
Cleanser of Sin - vs. 3 - making purification for sins
Seated with God - vs. 3 - he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high
Jesus is superior to all the previous ways God has chosen to reveal Himself to His people. These metaphors are making the closest possible identification between Jesus and God. For this author, there is no God apart from Jesus. And it’s this elevated view of Jesus that is explored throughout the rest of the letter. - Tim Mackie
Superior to Angels
Vs. 4 - So he became superior to the angels...
This is the first of the writer’s 13 uses of the word "better" (Gr. kreitton) all of which contrast Jesus Christ and His order with what preceded Him in Judaism. - Thomas Constable
In Jewish tradition, it was taught, based on Deuteronomy 33:2, that the Torah and the word of God were delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai by angels. And so by saying that Jesus is superior to angels, the author is claiming that Jesus and his message of good news are superior to all previous messengers of God's word. - Tim Mackie
The author supports his claim that Jesus is a better messenger of God by quoting multiple passages, mostly from the Psalms, that illustrate Jesus’ superiority over the angels. The passages are presented as powerful descriptors of identity and power attributed to the Messiah and not to angels.
Greater Position
Psalm 2:7 - I will declare the Lord’s decree. He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.
There is no title to this psalm, though Acts 4:25 indicates that the writer was David. The psalm was probably written to celebrate some great national occasion such as the coronation of a king. It was a reminder to the king, the people and the enemy nations that the Israelite king was, in a sense, God’s son, the one through whom God exercised his rule. History shows that David never experienced the triumph and glory he so confidently expressed in this psalm. The words received fuller meaning with the coming of Jesus Christ (Acts 4:25-31; Acts 13:33-34; Hebrews 1:5; Hebrews 5:5). - Don Fleming
Though David penned this coronation psalm as a “son” and “messiah” of God, most commentators, as well as New Testament authors, identify the LORD’s anointed king to ultimately be Jesus Christ, the “Son” and “Messiah” who would experience the full measure of the promises contained in the prophecy.
2 Samuel 7:13-14 (1 Chronicles 17:13) - He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son.
This quotation comes from God’s covenant promises to David. Though these promises were partially fulfilled in Solomon, most scholars agree (based in part on NT allusions like this one) that the Davidic covenant finds ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. The author of Hebrews was surely confident of this.
This statement is a good example of an Old Testament prophecy that had two fulfillments in mind. In a near and imperfect sense, the promise of 2 Samuel 7:14 was fulfilled in David’s son Solomon. In a more distant and perfect sense, it is fulfilled in the Son of David, Jesus Christ. - David Guzik
Greater Majesty
Deuteronomy 32:43 (NLT) - “Rejoice with him, you heavens, and let all of God’s angels worship him.
This quotation was an excerpt of a song of Moses just before his death. His lyrics demonstrate that the angels’ role was to worship rather than to be worshipped.
Greater Authority
Psalm 104:4 - and making the winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants.
Instead of being sovereign, the angels are servants. Even though the angels are as swift as wind and as powerful as fire, they are inferior to the Son. - Thomas Constable
Psalm 45:6-7 - Your throne, God, is forever and ever; the scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy more than your companions.
Psalms 45 is another example of a royal psalm which reflects the historical situation of ancient Israel, but which ultimately applies to Christ in that He is the one through whom the primary aspects of its idealistic portrayal of the Davidic ruler are fully realized. - Chisholm
Greater Permanence
Ps 102:25–27 - Long ago you established the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will endure; all of them will wear out like clothing. You will change them like a garment, and they will pass away. But you are the same, and your years will never end.
While Psalm 102 seems to include no obvious Messianic component, the author of Hebrews applied its description of the eternal and unchanging nature of the creator God to Jesus Christ. Albert Barnes speculates that, in light of the author’s unapologetic description of the Messianic deity of Jesus in the opening verses of this section, it would be only natural that any attribute of God the Father also be assigned to God the Son.
The attribute of permanence in the Creator corresponds to the durability of his throne and serves to reinforce the contrast between the mutability of the angels and the stable, abiding character of the Son. - William Lane
Ps 110:1 - This is the declaration of the Lord to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”
This verse in Psalm 110 is the most quoted Old Testament verse in all of the New Testament. Jesus Himself (Matthew 22:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:40-44) quoted David’s lyrics to demonstrate the mysterious way that, while the Messiah would be a physical descendent of King David, He would also be David’s superior, his Lord. With its quotation, the author of Hebrews rests his case that Jesus was God the Son, the eternal and “exact expression” (3) of the Father, the superior Messenger of the good news of the gospel.
This passage is taken from Psalms 110:1, a Psalm that is repeatedly quoted in this Epistle as referring to the Messiah, and the very passage before is applied by the Saviour to himself, in Matthew 22:43-44, and by Peter it is applied to him in Acts 2:34-35. There can be no doubt, therefore, of its applicability to the Messiah.
The phrase “to make an enemy a footstool,” is borrowed from the custom of ancient warriors who stood on the necks of vanquished kings on the occasion of celebrating a triumph over them as a token of their complete prostration and subjection. The enemies here referred to are the foes of God and of his religion, and the meaning is, that the Messiah is to be exalted until all those foes are subdued. - Albert Barnes
