God is Speaking

God continues to speak to His people, but often we look for His voice in the wrong places. Perhaps in the hidden meaning of a Hebrew letter or number, a dream, or the next lunar cycle? The New Testament is explicit. God reveals Himself in Jesus. In him, all God’s “mysteries” are unveiled. We ignore the “word of the Son” at our peril. If we desire to know our “destiny,” we must look to Jesus, the “Author and Finisher of our faith.”

The Letter to the Hebrews calls us not to abandon Jesus when difficult times arise. It emphasizes the superiority of what God has accomplished in His “Son” over the earlier revelations provided “in the prophets.” It does this by comparing the old Levitical system with its inadequate sacrifices to the “better” priesthood and “once for all” sacrifice of the “Son.”

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The Letter demonstrates the superiority of the Son’s ministry, priesthood, and one-time sacrifice over the priestly services and repeated animal sacrifices of the now obsolete Aaronic priesthood and the rituals of the “former covenant.” It does not denigrate God’s past revelations, but it shows by comparison how much the “Word in a Son” surpasses the incomplete “words” given “in the prophets.”

Hebrews is addressed to a congregation that was experiencing pressure from outsiders. Consequently, some members considered returning to the local synagogue to avoid persecution and other difficulties.

• (Hebrews 1:1-4) - “In many parts and in many ways of old, God spoke to the fathers in the prophets; upon the last of these days - He spoke to us in a Son, Whom he appointed heir of all things, Through whom also he made the ages, Who, being an eradiated brightness of his glory and an exact impress of his being, also, bearing up all things by the utterance of his power, having achieved purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High, By so much becoming better than the angels, by as much as, going beyond them, He inherited a more distinguished name.”

God spoke partially in the past, “of old” to the “fathers in the prophets.” However, He now speaks definitively “upon these last days to us in a Son.”

Returning to the synagogue would mean conforming to some, at least, of the rituals detailed in the Book of Leviticus. It would also mean betraying and dishonoring the “Son” through whom God speaks. Hence, the severe warnings against apostasy threaded throughout the Letter - (Hebrews 2:1-3, 2:15, 6:1-12, 10:25-39).

“Upon these last days,” the superior “Word of God” has been spoken in one who is a “Son.” The word God now speaks in Jesus marks the end of one era and the commencement of another vastly superior age.

PAST VERSUS PRESENT

The Greek sentence begins with two adverbs - polumerōs and polutropōs – both formed with the adjective polus or “much, many.” Polumerōs is formed with meros or “part,” and polutropōs with tropos or “manner.” The terms stress aspects of the past revelation “spoken in the prophets.”

The “words” spoken “in the prophets” were parts of a larger but incomplete whole (“in many parts”). Each prophetic word was revealed in a different “way.” This would include prophecies, visions, dreams, and other forms of inspired communication. God did speak before, but He only disclosed “glimpses and shadows” of His coming “good things.”

Three contrasts are presented to prove the superiority of this final “word.” First, God spoke “of old,” but now, “upon these last days.” Secondly, He spoke to “the fathers,” but now, “to us,” the followers of Jesus. And thirdly, He spoke “in the prophets,” but now, He speaks to His people in one who is “a Son.”

The previous revelations were promissory but incomplete. Therefore, a more complete disclosure was required. As the Letter argues, the priestly services and sacrifices of the Aaronic priesthood could not achieve the “purification of sins” so desperately needed by all men. The Levitical system was never God’s final answer to humanity’s plight.

The term, “these last days,” provides the time element for this new “word” and the era it inaugurated. It began with the Death and Resurrection of Jesus who then “sat down” in God’s presence where he began interceding for his people as their “High Priest forever.” Whatever the Letter means by the term “last days,” that period began with the exaltation of the “Son” to God’s “right hand” following his Resurrection- (Acts 2:17, Galatians 4:4, Ephesians 1:10).

There is no definite article or “the” before the word “son” in the Greek sentence. The omission stresses the class or status of the one who is called “son,” not his identity. The “word” that God now speaks is through ONE WHO IS A SON.

A son is in the closest relationship with his father. That familial closeness emphasizes his elevated status. As the “Son,” he is superior even to Moses, the greatest of the “prophets.” Therefore, his “word” is superior to all others by its nature and content. It is not just one among many inspired words, but one with absolute authority. Ignoring or refusing this word would be the gravest of errors.

God appointed His Son as the “heir of all things.” This alludes to the Second Psalm. Yahweh promised to give His Son the “nations as an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the Earth.” But the Letter shortens and clarifies the original promise so that now he is the heir “of ALL THINGS.” There is no higher authority than Jesus since he has inherited all things from His Father - (Psalm 2:7-8).

The “Son” reflects the brightness of God’s glory and is the “exact impress” of His essence. Jesus our High Priest shows us the glory and nature of God. This points to the surpassing greatness of the position he now holds. Only in God’s “Son” can the Divine nature and splendor be seen and understood.

Thus, this “word” God now speaks to us in Jesus is superior to all past revelations. This is especially so in two distinct ways. First, it is the last word in a long series of prophetic revelations. Second, the “Son” is the means and contents of this communication and the consummation of those past “words.” They are fulfilled in him. What preceded him was preparatory, promissory, and never intended to be final.

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