At the church where I serve, we are spending the weeks
leading up to Christmas pausing from the growing expectation, anticipation, and
intensity of the countdown to Christmas in order to ask a simple question. And
that question is this: Why Christmas? Why is Christmas so significant? And
specifically, why do followers of Jesus celebrate Christmas?
To answer these questions, we are going to look at five
different sections of five different letters that make up the New Testament of
the Bible. And as we look at these five different sections of five different letters
that are found in the New Testament of the Bible, we are going to discover five
timeless answers to the question “Why Christmas?”
This week, I would like for us to spend our time together
looking at the second of five different passages that are found in the letters
that make up the New Testament of the Bible that provide for us another
timeless answer to the question “Why Christmas?” This second of five different
passages is found in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New
Testament of the Bible called the book of Hebrews. However, before we jump into this section of
this letter, we first need to spend a few minutes talking about the book of
Hebrews.
As the title of the book of Hebrews reveals for us, the
book of Hebrews was written around 65 A.D. to the Hebrews, which were Jewish
Christians who had never heard or seen Jesus in person, but had learned of Him
as the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel had been proclaimed
throughout the known world. However, as the claims of Christ and the message of
the gospel was proclaimed throughout the known world; and as people from
throughout the known world responded to the claims of Christ and the message of
the gospel by believing, trusting and following Jesus, persecution against
followers of Jesus began to increase throughout the known world.
However, while persecution of Christianity increased
throughout the world, those who were involved in Judaism were not experiencing
persecution. And as a result of what was going on at this time in history,
these Jewish people were impacted in two specific ways. First, there were
Jewish followers of Jesus who became stalled and stuck when it came to their
spiritual growth. Some Jewish followers of Jesus became paralyzed by the
persecution that they were experiencing in such a way that they had stopped
growing in their relationship with Jesus.
Second, there were some Jewish people who were exploring
faith and claimed to be following Jesus who were considering bailing on
following Jesus to return to Judaism. After all, Judaism was safe, while
following Jesus was proving to be dangerous. Judaism was accepted by the
culture of the day, while Christianity was opposed by the culture of the day.
And as a result of what the author of the book of Hebrews
saw occurring among these Jewish people who claimed to want to follow Jesus but
who had become either stalled and stuck, or were considering bailing on Jesus,
the writer of the book of Hebrews wrote this letter to communicate a simple but
profound message. And that simple and profound message involved the absolute
supremacy and superiority of Jesus Christ and Christianity over Judaism.
The writer of Hebrews began his letter by proclaiming the
absolute supremacy and superiority of Jesus as the messenger to proclaim God’s
message to humanity. Jesus was a superior messenger as opposed to the prophets
because unlike the prophets, Jesus was the hands of the Creation who was the
exact representation of the nature of God. Jesus was the visible representation
of the invisible God who most fully proclaimed God’s message as a prophet of
God who was also the Creator and King of the universe. In addition, the writer
of Hebrews proclaimed that Jesus was a superior messenger as opposed to the
angels because while angels were servants who ministered and worshipped Jesus
as the King and Creator, Jesus was the object of their worship.
And because of the reality that Jesus had a position of
absolute supremacy and superiority over the prophets and angels when it came to
proclaiming God’s message to humanity, in the second chapter of the book of
Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews encouraged and exhorted the Jewish readers of
his letter to pay attention to the superior message of Jesus. The Jewish
readers of this letter were encouraged to pay attention to the superior message
of the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, because failing to pay
attention would result in greater consequences to those who rejected that message.
And the Jewish readers of this letter were encouraged to
pay attention because of the greatness of the messenger, Jesus Christ, who
proclaimed the message of the gospel. And it is in this context that we jump
into this section of this letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament
of the Bible, called the book of Hebrews, beginning in Hebrews 2:10-13. Let’s
look at it together:
For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are
all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their
salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are
sanctified are all from one Father;
for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, "I WILL
PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN, IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING
YOUR PRAISE." And again, "I WILL PUT MY TRUST IN HIM." And
again, "BEHOLD, I AND THE CHILDREN WHOM GOD HAS GIVEN ME."
Now
to fully understand what the writer of Hebrews is communicating here, we first
need to understand a few things. The first thing that we need to understand is
that the phrase “fitting for Him” conveys the sense of something being
suitable. And what was suitable was for God the Father, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things,
in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation
through sufferings.
Now that
leads us to the second thing that we need to understand, which is what the
writer of Hebrews means when he uses the phrase, bringing many sons to glory.
The word bringing here literally means to lead or guide morally or spiritually.
In addition, the word “sons” refers to those who became followers of Jesus.
When the writer of Hebrews talks about glory, he is referring to entering into
a condition of splendor or radiance. So,
God found it suitable to lead those whom He chose to become His followers into
the splendor and radiance that comes as a result of being adopted as a child of
God.
The writer
of Hebrews then explains that how God chose to lead those whom He chose to
become His followers into the splendor and radiance that comes as a result of
being adopted as a child of God was to perfect the author of their salvation
through sufferings. But what does that mean?
The word
perfect here does not mean to make perfect something that is not perfect.
Instead, the word perfect here, in the language that this letter was originally
written in, literally means to bring something to an end or goal. This word
conveys the sense of demonstrating or providing the proof that something has
accomplished a goal. In addition, the phrase “the author of their salvation”
refers to Jesus as being the One who originated and began the rescue of selfish
and rebellious humanity from their selfishness and rebellion that had separated
them from God.
And how
Jesus originated and began the rescue of selfish and rebellious humanity from
their selfishness and rebellion was through sufferings. The sufferings refer to
the suffering that Jesus endured as He died on the cross for the selfishness
and rebellion of humanity.
The writer
of Hebrews point here is that God the Father, who is the source and Creator of
everything that exists, found it suitable to lead those whom He chose to rescue
from their selfishness and rebellion so that He could adopt them as a part of
the family of God through the suffering that Jesus endured on the cross for
their selfishness and rebellion. And it was the suffering of Jesus on the cross
for the selfishness and rebellion of humanity that proved and demonstrated that
Jesus had accomplished the goal and plan to rescue selfish and rebellious
humanity from their selfishness and rebellion.
When the
writer of Hebrews states that “For both He who sanctifies and those who are
sanctified are all from one Father;” this statement, if communicated in
the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like
this: “For Jesus, who includes a person in the inner circle of what is holy,
and those who are included in the inner circle of what is holy all have one
Father, who is God the Father”. With this phrase, the writer of Hebrews is
revealing for us the reality that when we were outsiders when it came to having
a relationship with God, God the Father brought us into the splendor and
radiance of being adopted as a child of God through the suffering of His One
and Only Son Jesus so that we could be insiders and a part of the family of
God.
And because
of that reality, the writer of Hebrews explains that Jesus is not ashamed to
call those whom He rescued from their selfishness and rebellion through his
suffering brethren. Jesus is not too proud to call us His brothers and sisters.
Jesus does not simply put up with followers of Jesus. Jesus does not simply
hold his nose hoping and looking forward to the future version of you. Instead,
Jesus embraces us and welcomes us as insiders who are His brothers and sisters
in the family of God.
And to
reinforce this reality, the writer of Hebrews quotes from several Old Testament
passages that predicted and proclaimed God’s promise to send a rescuer, a
deliverer, a Messiah, who would bring those who were far from God back to God.
First, the writer of Hebrews quotes from a section of a letter in the Old
Testament of the Bible called the book of Psalms. In Psalm 22:22, King David
predicted and proclaimed the
solidarity that Jesus has with his brothers and sisters in the family of God as
He proclaimed God to His brothers and sisters while here on earth. Jesus was
“one of us” who became a man and proclaimed God to us before dying for us.
The writer of Hebrews then quotes from a section of a letter
in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 8:17-18,
the prophet Isaiah described Jesus entry into humanity and how Jesus placed His
trust in God and proclaimed His
connection and solidarity with His followers as God gave to Jesus the children
whom He chose to bring to Him. With these quotes, the writer of Hebrews is
reinforcing the solidarity and unity that we have with Jesus as a part of the family
of God.
Tomorrow, we will see the writer
of Hebrews then begins to unpack why Jesus, who is God in a bod, would decide
to come to the place where He could have such solidarity and unity with His
followers as part of the family of God…
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