Scriptural text: Hebrews 1; Matt. 1:1-17
The Speaking God (Hebrews 1:1-4). The author of Hebrews begins by focusing on God’s methods of communication. God has spoken in many various ways through Israel’s prophets, but things take a radical turn when God communicates through an embodied Word: the Son. The writer’s opening lines encompass the Son’s inheritance at all things and his activity at Creation. The writer would not allow the readers’ imaginations remain impoverished with a Christ who is too small. The writer uses words like “radiance” to evoke a sense of divine light entering human sight. He speaks of “exact imprint,” using a term that could refer to the image on a coin. The imprint made visible the very being of God, which was otherwise invisible.
Then the writer sketches out a journey. He follows Jesus from death to glorious life. He goes from making purification for sins through his suffering and death, and to a place above the angels. For a moment readers are taken out of the ordinariness of their situation, as the follow Christ into the presence of God in worship.
Jesus’ Superiority over the Angels (Hebrews 1:5). Hebrews 1 is about the supremacy of Christ Jesus. It paints a wonderful picture of how He is superior to the angels because of His redemptive work on the cross. Jesus is the exact representation of the Father and was sent to communicate to us the true nature of God. By understanding who Jesus is and what He said, we know the fullness of God’s nature and character.
Who Is Jesus Christ ? (Matthew 1:1-6). Matthews’ opening words-“Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham,” – had special importance to a Jewish audience, which traced its ancestry through the covenants that God made with Israel. The heading with Jesus’ name and His ancestry is packed with prophetic meaning. This book is indeed about Jesus, which is His historical birth name, the name most often used in the narrative of the Gospels. This name, which is a shortened form of the Hebrew name “Joshua,” will come to have profound notions of salvation associated with it throughout Jesus’ life and ministry (Wilkins 56). “Christ” (Christos) is a derived from the Hebrew masiah, which means “anointed.” The term came to be associated with the promise of an “anointed one” who would be the light of hope for the people of Israel. “Son of David” is another important expression in Matthew’s gospel. Matthew uses the name of this great king seventeen times, more than any other book of the New Testament.