A Background on Hebrews
HEBREWS 1:1-14
(October 30)
We aren't sure who the writer of Hebrews was, possibly Luke, Barnabas, Apollo, or Priscilla. Experts don't think it was Paul because the writing style is much different, and the writer does not identify himself, which Paul always did. It is believed that the writer was someone close to Paul, who knew his teaching quite well.
Hebrews was written with several themes in mind, the main being that Christ is supreme. This book shows how Christ fulfilled all the promises and prophesies of the Old Testament, and even further exceeded expectations.
He is better than the old Jewish system of thought. While the Jews accepted the Old Testament, most did not believe Jesus was the Messiah.
This letter seems to have been written to the Jewish Christians, converts in which the author feared might be swayed back into their old way of thinking by false teachers, doubt, or persecution.
It reminds me of that age old visual of the good angel on one shoulder and the bad angel on the other. The good angel is giving you all the information you need to make the right decision that will lead you in a righteous direction. But that bad angel is always there, offering his two cents, trying to sway you back to the dark side. He will make you doubt yourself, he will cause fear, he will work in your mind and heart, shattering your feelings of confidence and certainty. He is so crafty at what he does, that it can happen before you realize what is going on.
That is how I envision these false teachers. Craftily cunning their message into the minds and hearts of these new believers of the faith, drawing them back into a state of wrong thinking. The same type of false teacher from those long-ago days is alive and at work in our culture today. We need to seek our wisdom from the word of God and stand strong in our faith in order to defeat that negative presence in our lives.
False teachers in the early churches would teach that angels could approach God on your behalf. Followers of these false teachings began to worship the angels instead of worshipping God. The book of Hebrews sets the record straight on this belief, defining Jesus not as an angel, but as God, who ALONE deserves our worship. Angels are spiritual beings created by God and under his authority and were not created to be worshipped.
God never spoke to any angel the way he spoke to Jesus, claiming him to be his son whose throne will endure forever, who sits at the right hand of his father in a place of honor. being worshipped by the angels. God's own words about who Jesus is clearly falsified the claim that he was just a superior angel.
The book of Hebrews contains a lot of facts and wisdom. It will be an interesting journey through this book. Are you ready?