when things look shaky

With regard to Hebrews 12:28, F. F. Bruce says

... in a day when everything that can be shaken is being shaken before our eyes and even beneath our feet, let us in our turn give thanks for the unshakable kingdom which we have inherited, which endures forever when everything else to which men and women may pin their hopes disappears and leaves not a wrack behind.

p. 392 of The Epistle to the Hebrews by F. F. Bruce in the NICNT series, published by Eerdmans.

Jesus fully God, fully human - Hebrews 1-2

I worked hard on Hebrews 1-2 over last weekend, and was really been struck by just how strongly trinitarian the author is in the way that he (yes, apparently there is a masculine verb in 11:32 - there go my hopes for a New Testament book written by a woman!) uses the Old Testament.

Take for example this quote from Psalm 45:6-7 which was initially written about God's relationship with the Israelite king. The writer to Hebrews applies it directly to Jesus:

"Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever,
and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
by anointing you with the oil of joy."

God is the one reigning forever, an attribute that is also ascribed to Jesus (Hebrew 13:8). At the same time God sets Jesus above his companions, anointing him as his special king. So Jesus is God, but he's also distinct from God as God's Son.

In another quote from Psalm 102:25-27 the author of Hebrews takes a passage we may think of as referring only to God the Father, and again applies it directly to Jesus:

“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.
You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”

So Jesus is not just redeemer of the world, he is also creator of the world. As the author of Hebrews is at pains to point out, it matters how we treat Jesus - he isn't just some guy, he's the Lord of all creation.

Jesus is the best, chuck out the rest!

Today I met with some Bible study leaders to take a look at the book of Hebrews from the Bible. I asked them to come up with a summary sentence for the book, and one stand out from many helpful summaries was:

Jesus is the best, chuck out the rest!

I thought it was quite apt, though it's worth noting that the writer to the Hebrews isn't necesssarily saying that everything apart from Jesus is rubbish that should be chucked out, but rather...

Jesus is the best, you don't need the rest, because He is the best.

Angels, Moses, high priests, the tabernacle and the law all had their role to play in the story of God's people, but in the end they can't fully represent God to us, nor can they save us from God's anger over our wrongdoing, like Jesus does.

I'll be writing more about Hebrews in coming days and weeks, so if you're keen to read along with me and give feedback and ideas, I'd love to hear from you. You can find a version online here.