Keep sharing good news without ads.
No description available
Well, this July I'll be in California and I'll make my way to the Master's Seminary where I have the privilege of teaching a doctoral class for a day in July for expository preaching. And I'm excited about that.
But I can tell you this, if the students don't preach about Christ Jesus and make much of Him, they are going to fail. To make much of the errors of legalism, to make much of the errors of fundamentalism, to make much of all kinds of other things isn't going to hack it.
To make much of the Lord Jesus Christ. Did not Paul say, I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified? Did not Paul say, we proclaim not ourselves but Jesus Christ as what?
Lord. I wonder if we looked at the book of Hebrews, does the author of Hebrews make the grade when it comes to making much of Jesus? Why don't we turn there and find out? I think you already know the answer.
Speaking well of Jesus, the high priest. Why does the author of Hebrews make so much about Jesus? So much talk about Jesus. Well, on every level it's important, especially at the baseline level. We are great sinners.
We are awful sinners. We act in ungodly ways, perverse ways, iniquitous ways. And so, because of that, don't we need a high priest? Don't we need a high priest that's greater than our sins? If our sins are great, don't we need a greater savior?
And the answer is, of course, yes, we do. And the book of Hebrews starts off like a sermon. It's called an exhortation. It's really an expository sermon using the Old Testament to say, Jesus is greater in every way, shape, and form.
He is the ultimate high priest. And then it ends in kind of a letter-like fashion. And from the very get-go, setting the tone for the book of Hebrews is even in chapter 1, verse 3. Do you remember there, tucked in the very middle?
After making purification for sins, He sat down. Right from the very beginning, the supremacy, the finality, the excellency of Christ's perfect atonement, using language that we don't hear much today, but the Hebrews would be very, very cognizant of the fact, making purification.
People that are dirty, people that are stained, people that are not clean need to be cleansed. And who can wash away our sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And you can almost feel and sense the day of atonement language seeping into the book of Hebrews, but not just the day of atonement, but the day of atonement.
That is, Jesus dying on Calvary's tree, not for His own sins, but for the sins of all those who would ever believe. And only Jesus' blood can take defiled and make it holy, can take something that's stained and kind of unstain it, if you will.
It just came through my mind about when I was a kid and I had two kinds of jeans. You probably did too. We had school jeans and we had play jeans. And boy, if you got your school jeans grass-stained on the knees, you were in big trouble because Mom had a hard time getting that stain out.
How can you get rid of your sins? You can't do it on your own. You can't self-cleanse. Auto-salvation, you can't do that. So the whole book of Hebrews is front-loaded with, it starts with, it's got a prism at the very beginning that everything else in the book of Hebrews that you see is through the prism of Christ's superior sacrifice, how He makes purification for sins and sits down at the right hand of the Father.
And if you miss that prism, you can't really read the rest of the book. And this prism demands attention. It commands attention. And the Christians that would read this book and listen to it being read and some that weren't Christians but were thinking about it and others that were far away from believing, they would all begin to listen and hear about the superiority of Christ Jesus.
O 'Brien said, and by the way, if you want one commentary on the book of Hebrews, just one to have in your library, and that is pillar commentary, Peter O 'Brien. You all need to get that. Just think, for every book of the Bible, you have one key commentary, Peter O 'Brien.
And he said, So central is Hebrews' presentation of Christ's person and work that many other themes in the author's exposition and exhortation are organically related to it. And so at the very beginning, you'll see Christ's work talked about.
And then we come to verses 5 and following to the end of the chapter where the Father is talking about the Son. And in every one of these passages, He's going to extol the Son. He's going to say something great about the Son.
He's going to use an Old Testament passage. The Father preaching from the Old Testament about Jesus. And when you begin to just sit back and think for a second, what would the Father say about the Son?
That should make you want to listen. That should make you want to say, Do you know what? I should agree with the Father. Whatever the Father says about the Son, I should believe. It's almost like we're in heaven.
The Son has purged sins. He's seated at the right hand of the Father. And now the Father says, Excellent job. Let me tell you angels about the Son. And we're eavesdropping on the Father in front of the angels speaking well of His Son.
How would you like to be in heaven listening to the Father talk about the Son for all creatures to hear, including the angels? And the answer is, if you'd like to do that, you get to do that because chapter 1, verses 5 through 14 have these seven Old Testament passages where the Son is extolled by the Father.
He starts off in verse 5. For to which of the angels did God ever say? What did the Father ever say to an angel that was similar to this, close to this, that even approached this? You are my Son, today I have begotten you.
He would never say that, and you know where that's coming from. Psalm 2, that great coronation language of Jesus as King. Certainly Jesus is prophet and priest, but Psalm 2 talks about Jesus as the great King.
The Father never talks to angels like that. He gives another passage where God the Father is talking to the Son and we get to eavesdrop, and the angels get to hear this so they know their place. From 2 Samuel chapter 7, the Davidic covenant, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to me a Son.
This is language where Jesus dies, He's raised from the dead, He's coronated as King, He's enthroned to the right hand of the Father, and now the Father says, You're my Son, and I am your Father. And to no angel does God ever say that.
We come this morning now to verse 6, Hebrews 1 .6, the third megaphone-like declaration that the Father says of the Son so that the writer can convey this fact. Listener, no matter what you're going through, Jesus is good enough, He's great enough, He's excellent enough to be worshipped, to be trusted, to be believed in.
Passage 3, the Father says of the Son, and again when He brings the firstborn into the world, He says, Let all God's angels worship Him. How can Jesus be so great? How can we listen? Why should we listen to Jesus?
In the old days, God spoke to us in prophets, in the fathers, but in these last days, He's spoken to us in Son, in the person and work of His Son. How was Jesus so great? Why is He so great? And the Old Testament bears witness to the fact that Jesus is so great, He should be worshipped by the angels.
Sometimes I have an outline, sometimes I don't. I have one this morning. Let me give you several lessons that just serve as, I don't know, kind of stakes. When I was a kid, we didn't really have much of a gym in Nebraska, but now these new fangled gyms, don't they have those climbing walls where it seems like there's a bunch of pockmarked holes, and you have a couple of sticks, and you can put those sticks in the side of the climbing wall and climb your way up to the top of the building.
Is that true? What do they call that? Pockmarks and sticks. It's a new game. But you know what I'm talking about. How can you scale the superiority of Christ? Well, there's a few things to hang yourself with.
No, hang yourself upon. Lesson 1. Point 1. Created beings, that is angels, are told by the Father to worship Jesus Christ. You say, that's simple. I know, but we're going to make what is implicit explicit.
The Father is saying that angels should worship the Son. Now, why am I going to make a big deal about this? Because, just let it settle in for a second. God gives His glory to no one. Soli Deo Gloria.
To God alone be the glory. This is the Jehovah's Witnesses, Arian's worst nightmare. This section right here. Because God is not going to give any created being glory, because that would be wrong, that would be incorrect.
But here God says, you glorify the Son. Well, because the backdrop is going to be Jesus as God. He has the same essence, the same nature. He is a Son to the Father. So you worship Him all that you want.
You're commanded to worship Him. Angels, you worship Him. The Father says to angels, worship the Son. It has been said in the Old Testament Psalm, Isaiah 48, My glory I will not give to another. And yet right here, the Father says of the Son, Worship, glorify, laud the Son.
Fascinatingly, that word worship, do you see it in the text? Let all the angels worship Him. It means to kiss toward someone. Pros is before or toward. Kneo means to kiss, to adore. It talks about awe, respect, honor, reverence, worship.
Now back in the day, if someone in the Persian Empire, for instance, was your equal, you would kiss them on the lips. You can get a little flavor of that in the New Testament where we greet one another with a holy what?
Kiss, we're equal. If you had a little bit higher rank, there was a superior and an inferior, but not really of a high level. You'd kiss each other on the cheek. But when you were really inferior, when you were much lower, your body would do what the position would demand, and that is get down on your knees, get down on your face.
You go down, prostrate yourself, bow down, and that's that word here, proskuneo. And it's a command. Angels do this now, do it effectively, do it fully. Get down low, as it were. We're not saying that spirit beings have bodies and they have knees and they can bend down.
That's not the point. This is very Near Eastern and is very much full of adoration, reverence, and worship. To fall on your knees and worship. The root word may have something to do with a Greek word that could picture a dog licking his master's hand.
I know my dog, when she's in trouble, she might want to try to make amends by coming up and licking my hand. I think this is exactly what Paul referred to for the universal galactic adoration of Jesus.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.
That's the idea. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Who gets the glory? To the glory of God the Father. But I thought, God, you wouldn't give your glory to another. But this is the second person of the Trinity, the Son, receiving glory from the first person of the Trinity.
Like the Son on earth, gives glory and praise and honor to the first person of the Trinity, the Father. And like now in the church where the Holy Spirit, as it were, hides himself from being on display and points to the Son, give glory to the Son, worship the Son.
Show me a church that points to Jesus often and regularly and consistently and I will show you a Holy Spirit driven church. Angels worship Jesus. And did you know, the Old Testament, when it was written in Greek, called the what? Septuagint.
You'll see it in journals and commentaries. LXX 70. This word worship was only used for God. Why? Because only God would receive the worship. And the herald proclaimed aloud, Daniel chapter 3. You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to what?
Fall down and worship. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be immediately cast into a burning, fiery furnace. A side note here, when it comes to worship wars and types of music, usually when it comes to worship, litmus tests for worship, we deal with music.
Might I say that in light of Hebrews chapter 1, real worship wars should deal with awe, humility, reverence, adoration. Do you remember Isaiah 6? Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
And one called out antiphony to another. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. Those seraphim knew to do exactly what the writer of Hebrews was talking about.
Worship the Son. Awe, emotions. Yes, emotions are there, but that's not all about worship. Jesus shares the Father's glory. Jesus is God. Same nature, same essence. Jesus is God. This is Trinitarian worship.
I've got a question for you. If Jesus isn't God and he begins to take on honor and reverence and people bow before Jesus, they worship Jesus on the earth. Are even now angels in heaven worshiping Jesus?
If Jesus isn't God, what does God the Father do to Jesus for impugning on his great character? You know what I think? I think the Father, if the Son doesn't really have the same essence and nature and deity of the Father, then the Father gives the Son what I call the Nebuchadnezzar treatment.
Remember Nebuchadnezzar? He thought he did everything. He thought he made everything. He thought he was the world power. He thought he subdued every nation. He thought he was God. Daniel 4, They shall drive you from men.
Your dwelling place shall be with the beast of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen. They shall wet you with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over you till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he chooses.
Nebuchadnezzar, you think you did it all? You did nothing. You were the recipient of God's sovereign working. And I think if the Son begins to say, I'll take some of this glory and I'm just a created being.
I'm not really God. I'm a good person. I was an angel, but now I'm better. Whatever it is, anything less than God, then the Father strikes him and smites him and gives him the Nebuchadnezzar treatment.
Jehovah's Witness translation of Hebrews 1 .6, But when he again brings his firstborn into the inhabited earth, he says, and let all of God's angels do obeisance to him. Trying to minimize it. Trying to say, well, let's not go back to the old word, obeisance, because it talks about obey.
Let's make it more like, you know what, when you see Jesus, just curtsy to him. Just maybe bow down a little bit. Half bow. Show a little deferential respect. But God instead, the Father says of the Son, you can see God's words, the Father's words to the Son.
Or of the Son, angels, you worship him. Lesson 2. Do not neglect your study of the Old Testament. If I put it positively, I might say with a smile, enjoy your Bibles. Enjoy your Old Testament. There's no way you can love the book of Hebrews without saying this is just talk full of the Old Testament.
Now between us, pastor congregation, you think I'm only going through a half a verse a time, right? But that's not true. Because every one of these sections, we go to Psalm 2, and we go through all of the Psalm.
I've taught you all of Psalm 2. We go to 2 Samuel 7. We go through all of 2 Samuel. Today we're going to go into Deuteronomy 32. You're going to learn the Old Testament. As you study the book of Hebrews, you're going to say, this is amazing.
This is like Psalm 119. Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. Now from where does the writer of Hebrews pull this quote? From what Old Testament passage?
Let all God's angels worship him. Now there are two possibilities. Either one substantiates the truth. Some people think it's both. Let's go to the first one, Psalm 97, and then we'll end up where I think it's really from, is Deuteronomy 32.
The father quoting Old Testament passages recorded by the author of Hebrews to make much of Jesus. And as we're going through this, I'm wondering if you too have the same view of the Son that the Father does.
You say, well, I don't really believe in the Trinity. You're not thinking about Jesus properly. You're an idolater. Because the Father is the one that reveals how to think about Him, and there is one God, Deuteronomy 6, and that one God subsists of three persons.
The Father, He receives glory. The Son, He receives glory. And the Holy Spirit, He receives glory. And the Father isn't the Son, and the Son isn't the Spirit, and the Spirit isn't the Father. That's a triune God.
This is the way God must be worshipped. You say, well, I don't like that. I don't want to do that. That's why your response, if you don't think about God in a Trinitarian fashion, is one and only one, and that is repentance.
Now, some of your Bibles might say Psalm 97 is where the quote comes from. Let all God's angels worship Him. The first thing I want to say before I read the verse in Psalm 97, remember that Hebrews is quoting from the Greek version of the Old Testament.
And so there are a few differences here and there, and you're going to see that very obviously as we read the ESV. Psalm 97 verse 7. All worshippers of images are to be put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols.
And the ESV says, Worship Him, all you gods. Worship Him, all you gods. But interestingly, the Septuagint, the Greek, says, Worship Him, all you His angels. And of course, the writer of Hebrews is using the Greek version of the Old Testament.
Our ESV is using the Hebrew version. That's why there's a difference. Either way, the angels are told to worship God, the Son, because He is, in fact, God. But let's go to Deuteronomy 32. I think it matches up with the original language better.
So do most scholars think that. Peter O 'Brien does, for instance. And now we have something from the Song of Moses. The Father is speaking well of the Son. He wants the angels to worship the Son. Jesus isn't an angel.
He isn't equal with the angel. He was a little while lower than the angels in the sense of His incarnation. But now that He's back at the right hand of the Father, He is the one to receive worship. And Deuteronomy 32 is most likely the exaltation passage that is quoted from the Song of Moses, verse 43.
Again, English. ESV is going to be translated from the Hebrew version of the Old Testament. But the Greek is different. Rejoice with Him, Deuteronomy 32, 43, O heavens. The Hebrew-based English says, Bow down to Him, all gods, for He avenges the blood of His children and takes vengeance on His adversaries.
He repays those who hate Him and cleanses His people's land. Bow down to Him, all gods. And just like Psalm 97, so too does Deuteronomy 32 in the Greek Septuagint says, Let all the angels of God worship Him.
Either way you look at it, the Father is saying of the Son, Worship Him, you angels. Number three. Point three. Stay there in Deuteronomy. Don't go back to Hebrews yet. Number three. I've been waiting all week to talk about this.
Point three. Recognize that the author of Hebrews recognized what he recognizes. When the Old Testament speaks of God, that is Yahweh, the author of Hebrews automatically thinks Jesus or Trinity. Let me repeat that.
When the Old Testament is read by the author of Hebrews and he sees the word Yahweh, he sees the word God, he, the writer of Hebrews, thinks Trinitarianly. True or false? Jesus is Lord. True. True or false?
Jesus is God. True. True or false? Jesus is Yahweh. True. When you read Lord in the Old Testament, should you be thinking Unitarianly or Trinitarianly? I hope you're not thinking Unitarianly because there's no Unitarians in heaven.
Why? Because they're all worshiping the Son, Jesus, the Lamb. God doesn't change. God is immutable. And when God created the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1 .1, was He Trinitarian? I hope you say yes.
The writer of Hebrews, of course, because of progressive revelation and understanding more about the unfolding character of God's nature, including one God subsisting in three persons, he goes back now to the Old Testament and Deuteronomy and when God's talked about, he thinks Jesus.
Why? Because Jesus is God. And when the ESV Study Bible first came out, I didn't think I was going to like its notes. But it has some great notes in it. Here's what the ESV Study Bible says. The author of Hebrews, like other New Testament authors, is willing to apply Old Testament text about Yahweh to Jesus.
These authors were not saying that the Old Testament texts were directly Messianic, but they were certainly recognizing that if Jesus was in fact the God of Israel in human flesh, then these texts apply to Him.
And that's exactly what Hebrews 1 .6 does. When it talks about angels worshiping God, the writer of Hebrews says, think Jesus. Now let's take a look at Deuteronomy 32 and let's see if we can do that. Let's do that together.
The author of Hebrews reads Deuteronomy 32 and thinks of Jesus. Why? Because Jesus is God. And every time you see the word God and Lord in the Old Testament, you should be thinking Jesus, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
You should not think less than Jesus. Now sometimes, specifically, the Father is addressing people in the Old Testament. Sometimes you'll see the angel of the Lord, second person of the Trinity. Sometimes you'll see the Holy Spirit addressed in the Old Testament.
But when God is spoken of generically, generally, Yahweh, when you see the word Yahweh, you ought to say to yourself, Trinity. The writer of Hebrews 1 .6 is saying, I read Deuteronomy 32 that talks about God.
I think of Jesus. Reading the Old Testament, thinking about Jesus when you see the word God. Fair enough. Can I say it one other different way? I think I've said it four different ways. But it's important.
The writer of Hebrews does it. Let all the angels worship Him. He's talking about Jesus. But when you look at the Old Testament, we're not talking about Father, Son, and Spirit in our mind, but He is meaning Father, Son, and Spirit.
Because you can't think of God in any way that excludes Jesus as the second member of the Trinity. Now, Deuteronomy 31, go back just a hair for the context. So while you think we're only going to get through one verse today, in Hebrews 1, that's true.
We're going to do all of Deuteronomy 32. So we're teaching you lots of the Old Testament. I don't know if I'll read through all of Deuteronomy 32, but let's set the table in Deuteronomy 31. Remember the context.
Let's go to chapter 31, verse 14. Maybe that'll be a good place to pick it up. Before I read this, how do you make much of Jesus reading the Old Testament? Well, every time you see the word LORD, L-O-R-D, all caps, and you think Trinitarianly, that's one way to do it, I'll tell you that.
That's the writer of Hebrews. That's his style. Deuteronomy 31, 14. And Yahweh said to Moses, Behold, the days approach when you must die. Call Joshua, present yourself in the tent of meeting, that I may commission him.
Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. And the LORD, Yahweh, appeared in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent. And the LORD said to Moses, Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers.
Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering. And they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them. Verse 19. So what do you do in light of that?
Moses, now therefore write this song, and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel. For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant.
It says down in verse 22,. So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel. And we're going to work through quickly Deuteronomy 32. And when you read about God, if you're the author of Hebrews, you think Jesus.
So I would say to you, if the writer of Hebrews does that, and I think he's inspired of God to do it, when you read about God in the Old Testament, you should say these texts apply to Jesus. Give ear, O heavens, Deuteronomy 32.
And I will speak and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. I'd like to have some witnesses. Who are my witnesses? Earth, heaven. This is reminiscent of how Isaiah would talk and Micah would talk. May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb.
I wonder if I read this next verse, do you think like the author of Hebrews or don't you? For I will proclaim the name of Yahweh, ascribe greatness to our God. Now our passage that's quoted in Hebrews 1 isn't for a while.
But when I read the word Yahweh, I think Father, Son, Spirit. The Father, the Son, the Spirit. When you see an Old Testament passage that is talking about God, you can't apply that to Jesus. Jesus is God.
I will proclaim the name of the Lord, ascribe greatness to our God. Verse 4, the rock, stable, not fickle. The people were fickle. God is in His work as perfect. All His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness, unlike Israel.
And without iniquity, unlike Israel. Just unlike Israel. And upright is He, unlike Israel. When I tell you the word rock from Deuteronomy 32, what comes into your mind? Well, there's the stability, there's the stableness of God's nature.
But I hope you think Jesus. I hope you don't think less than Jesus. Well, it's just the Father. This is a triune God that we serve. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And true or false, Jesus is called rock in the New Testament.
And they all, 1 Corinthians 10, drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Verse 5, they've dealt corruptly with Him. They're no longer His children because they're blemished.
They're a crooked and twisted generation. But look at how God cares for Israel. Do you thus repay the Lord? Yahweh's Trinitarian, by the way. You foolish and senseless people. Is He not your Father who created you?
Father in the sense of progenitor and originator? Who made you and established you? Look at the inheritance He's given you. Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask your Father, He will show you.
Your elders and they will tell you when the Most High, the Sovereign One, the One who has authority over all, when the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He divided mankind, He fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
When you read Most High, do you think Trinitarianly? The author of Hebrews does. When you read Rock, do you think Trinitarianly? The author of Hebrews does. And without going through the rest, verse 12, the Lord alone guided them.
Do not think less than Trinitarian when you read the word Lord. Verse 15, the Rock of His salvation. Do not think less than Trinitarian when you think about the Rock. Verse 18, the Rock. Verse 19, the Lord.
Verse 27, it was not the Lord who did all this. Verse 30, and the Lord had given them up. Verse 31, for their rock is not as our rock by themselves. Verse 36, for the Lord will vindicate His people. Verse 39, see now that I, even I, am He.
There is no God beside Me. If you're thinking like the writer of Hebrews, you think Trinitarianly, and then you get down to verse 43, which is quoted in Hebrews 1 .6, Rejoice with Him, O heavens, bow down to Him, all gods.
And he applies it to Jesus. When you read the Old Testament, and God is spoken of, think no less than Trinitarianly, unless the person of the Trinity is isolated in their work. I could make it very, very practical.
When I go to the passage, that's probably the most beloved passage in all the Bible for people when they need strength, guidance, they bury their dad, they bury their mom, something's going on, they're in a trial.
How do you read this? Do you read this less than Trinitarianly, or do you read it thinking about the way the writer of Hebrews writes it? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. And even our Lord Jesus, did He not in John chapter 10 say that He is the what? He's the good shepherd.
Think Jesus when you read about God in the Old Testament. Number four. Number four. The coronation of Jesus occupies a prominent place in the mind of the author. The coronation of Jesus occupies a prominent place in the mind of the writer of Hebrews.
Let's go back please to Hebrews 1 .6. What are the prominent things about Christ Jesus and His work? His virgin conception? Yes. His perfect obedience to the Father on earth? Yes. His perfect obedience to His stepfather and mother on earth?
Yes. His baptism? Yes. His commission into ministry? Yes. His act of obedience? Yes. His death, passive obedience? Yes. His work as prophet, priest, and king? Yes, yes, yes. His death? Yes. His burial, 1 Corinthians chapter 15?
Yes. His resurrection? Yes. His ascension? Yes. But interestingly, and hardly any other book in the New Testament does this, the exaltation of Jesus, His reception in heaven after He raises Himself from the dead is highlighted in this book.
You can't run from this enthronement. Think about it for a second. After Jesus was sent to do what the Father sent Him to do, a plan from all eternity, slain from the foundation of the world because it's just all planned and decreed before Genesis 1 .1.
In eternity past, it's all planned out. And that the Son was going to rescue the bride for the Father because the Father loved sinners, the Son loved sinners, the Spirit of God loved, and they all three love sinners.
Go on this rescue mission. It's going to cost you everything, though. It's going to cost you your own life. It's going to cost you, the Father might say to the Son, fellowship with Me. I'm going to have to turn My back on you, as it were, and I'm going to open up the gates of My wrath and pour it out on you.
I know you didn't deserve it, but I want you to assuage My wrath so I cannot compromise because I have love and justice and they cannot be compromised. And the only thing that can make salvation effectual is Jesus, your death on the cross.
Love and law won't be compromised. And then you're going to die. It's a gruesome death, but the wrath is worse. You're going to be put in a grave and then you're going to be raised from the dead. And then when He gets to heaven, what do you think heaven is going to do?
When He said to the thief on the cross, today you'll be with Me, where? In paradise. When Jesus, after mission is accomplished, finally gets to heaven, what do you think all the creatures will do? All the angels?
Don't you think that's a big event? When He's in eternity past the right hand of the Father. He's extolled. He's the eternal Son. All three members of the Trinity enjoying fellowship one with another.
Loving one another. Having deep fellowship with one another. And finally the Son says, I'll go and cloaks Himself with humanity. Lives on this earth in the likeness of sinful man. He wasn't sinful, but He lived on this earth with us as sinful people.
And then He does everything and gets to heaven. Don't you think it would be standing ovation? Don't you think people would be going, yes, enthronement! He's back! And this is what Hebrews 1 talks about.
Jesus did His work. He's back. He's coronated. Everybody celebrate. Now, if I was teaching a high school group or maybe junior high, you know how those early Star Wars shows would always have the very end?
They were always kind of the same cheesy end? Two minutes ago some of you weren't paying attention, but now you're all looking at me. The magic of Star Wars. Don't they have this big coronation? Don't they have this big celebration?
It's like a triumph back in the Roman days where everybody's lined up, everybody's at attention, everybody's celebrating Han Solo. I mean, it's so stupid. Now Jesus does His work. Death important. Life important.
Burial important. Death, yes, of course, important. Resurrection important. Ascension important. And now what the writer of Hebrews says, don't forget the coronation. When He gets back, everybody's going to celebrate, worship, praise, and you praise Jesus.
Does the Father get praise when you're praising Jesus? Yes, He receives glory because He sent Him. Does the Spirit of God receive glory when you're praising Jesus? Yes, because the Spirit of God had to empower Jesus for everything Jesus did from temptation of Satan to raising people from the dead.
The triune God gets glory when the Son comes back, comes to heaven, and says, I've done it. And everybody praises Him. That's called the coronation. This is after purification, after resurrection, after ascension.
And it says right there, let all the angels worship Him. Coronation language in chapter 1, verse 5. Coronation language here. Coronation language in chapter 1, verse 3, set down at the right hand of the Father.
And here, let all the angels worship Him. When though? Well, it says it earlier in the verse. And again, when He brings the firstborn into the world, He says. Now there's two options. And again. If you think that's a temporal thing, a temporal modifier, and again.
Jesus came to earth, incarnation, and He's coming back again. If you think it's temporal, you're going to think this is second coming language. But it's not second coming language. Jesus comes with the angels.
That's second coming language. What kind of language is it where the angels worship Jesus? Well, instead of a temporal modifier, He brings the second time, not as an incarnation or a second coming. But if you just think, this is a list of a bunch of Old Testament verses that say, and again, meaning, and another thing, and another verse.
That's the right thinking. This is, and again, introducing a series of quotations. It's just a connective link. Chapter 2, verse 13, and again. Chapter 4, verse 5, and again. Hebrews 10, 30, and again.
This is when Jesus goes to heaven, following His ascension after His sacrificial death. Going back to the divine realm. So if you look at the verse, and again, here's another verse, when He brings the firstborn into the world.
You think, well, world is just the planet. No, heavenly realm, that's a fine way to be able to translate it. Just like in chapter 2, verse 5, Jesus receives worship by the angels, because it is only fitting when He returns to glory for that to happen.
And by the way, no angels better disobey. Let all angels worship Him. And then finally, we must end. Number 5, I think we should finish this because we need to get to verse 7 next week. Point 5, never fall into the trap that thinking every Greek word is exactly translated into English.
Never fall for the trap that every Greek word is translated exactly into English. And here's what I mean. The word firstborn, true or false, Hebrews chapter 1, verse 2 and following, says Jesus created everything, created the world.
The answer is yes. So what do the cults like to do? They like to go to this word firstborn and say it just means born first. It could mean born first. But the language of sonship that's here demands that this is firstborn thinking like a Greek.
Honor, supremacy, priority in rank. True or false, Jesus was firstborn from the dead, Revelation chapter 1. We have to say yes because I just said Revelation chapter 1. Wasn't Lazarus raised from the dead before Jesus?
Who was first? Who's on first? Lazarus is on first. How can Jesus be called firstborn from the dead? Because of all the people ever born, Jesus is the top. Priority, the special blessing, preeminence, sonship.
So just because you read the word foreknowledge and go, that's to know ahead of time, you are going to read the Bible wrongly. If you read the word firstborn and think, you know what? Jesus is created.
He's the firstborn of all creation. He didn't exist. Now He does. If you think that way instead of, He always existed and then in the manger He cloaked Himself with humanity. That was a result of it. Of course, it was in Mary's womb.
You'll be thinking rightly. This has nothing to do in this passage with temporal. It has to do with positional. Firstborn, the greatest, protodikos. Last time I checked, Solomon wasn't born first. I think he was born tenth.
And he was considered the firstborn. So what's the story? What's the take home? What's the outcome? Sometimes there needs to be no outcome. Sometimes there needs to be no takeaway. Sometimes it's just this.
God, thank You for giving me Your Word. I get to eavesdrop. What was it like? You ever think to yourself that question? If you could go any place in the history of time and you go back in time in a porthole or something like that, and go, I'd like to just be there for that event.
I mean, you want to hear a Churchill speech? You want to be a rough rider with Teddy Roosevelt? You want to go back to where Jesus healed people? If you could go anywhere at any time and just relive something, I wouldn't pick anything on earth.
I'd like to be in heaven the day that Jesus came back after finishing His atoning work. Wouldn't you? So we just get to be in on it, and we do get to know one thing. The Father looks at the Son. I'm Your Father.
You're My Son. Everybody else worship. Father in heaven, I thank You for this passage. I thank You for Your Son. I thank You how Hebrews makes much of Jesus. And I would pray for Bethlehem Bible Church that in our lives we would make much of Him as well.
Evangelism, godly living, praise, thankfulness. And I pray that You'd help us to read the Old Testament like Trinitarians. Father, we need Your strength. And Father, for those that are here that have not bowed their knee and basically have said the opposite of what You have said about Jesus' work, and they have said, I don't believe it.
It matters not to me. I don't care. I pray that You'd give them a new heart because they are deluded, foolish, sinful, enslaved. And yet if You can save people like us who are thinking that way, You can save them too.
And I pray that You would open hearts and minds today that people would say the same thing of Jesus that You, the Father, say. In His name we pray. Amen.