Preface
This is an exposition of the book of Hebrews, the book of "better things."
We are going to go through this glorious book, chapter by chapter, and look at
the realm of Sonship and the true church compared to the orders of the past. In
order to get the most out of this message, get your Bible out now and read this
book of Hebrews, paying special attention to the emphasis on "better things."
If you have an Amplified Bible, or any other translation, read it along, chapter
by chapter, with King James.
In chapter one we find that Sonship is better
than the angels. In chapter two it is a better dominion through a better
gospel. Chapter three speaks of a better builder and a better house.
In chapter four we hear of a better sabbath and a better high priest. It
is in chapter five that we first hear of Melchisedec, a better priesthood.
In chapter six we leave the basic principles and go on to better promises.
Melchisedec again is spoken of in chapter seven, in relation to a better priesthood
and a better testament (vs. 22). In chapter eight we learn of a better tabernacle
and a better covenant. In chapter nine it is better blood, a better sacrifice,
and a better holy of holies. Chapter ten brings out a better day, and a
new and living way through a better veil. It is a better faith in chapter
eleven, and a better promise. Chapter twelve speaks of Sonship being a better
relationship, and coming into a better kingdom. In chapter thirteen we conclude
with a better altar, better sacrifices, and a better city.
This book became
necessary because of the weakness of the Jewish Christians in continuing to go
along with the old temple worship, rites, and ceremonies. They still insisted
on practicing circumcision, making the sacrificial offerings at the temple in
Jerusalem, and trying to Christianize Judaism. But the new wine of
Jesus Christ and His truth and life would not fit into the old order of Moses.
Thirty years after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus we still
find the Jewish Christians following the law of Moses and the ceremonial ritualism
of temple worship. Thirty years after the Holy Spirit fell on the day of
Pentecost, thousands of Spirit-filled priests and Jewish Christians were still
engaged in the offering up of the Passover lamb and other blood sacrifices.
The writer of Hebrews is trying to show them the glory of the reality in Christ
Jesus, and the "better things" in the Gospel.
In Him
Bro.
Bill Britton
Chapter One
The book of Hebrews
is "the book of better things." The central theme of the entire book is
to show how much better the new covenant of Christ is than the old covenant of
Moses. With scriptural proof and strong logic, the writer of Hebrews proves
beyond the shadow of a doubt, even to where the most orthodox scribe or Pharisee
cannot refute it, how much better the Gospel of Grace is than the Jewish Law.
Continually, throughout the book, we are faced with the truth that the
old order is dead and ready for burial. God has replaced it with a new and
living way that takes us, by the blood of Christ, through the veil, into the very
presence of God where the law could never take us. This book was written
because of the problem of Jewish Christians trying to mix the two orders, law
and grace, and some even leaving the new order to go back to Moses' law because
of problems that arose in the early church.
Many scholars believe that
the apostle Paul was the author of Hebrews, due to internal evidence, the style
of writing, the revelation of grace, and the pattern of his logic. Paul,
who was once the most orthodox of Jews, blameless in the matters of the law, has
had a vision of Christ and a revelation of the Gospel of the grace of God.
He now is the strongest opponent of the Law of Moses with its rituals, ceremonies,
and animal sacrifices. He will not succeed in destroying the old order completely,
nor will he be able to convince all the Jews to leave that dead system (it still
has millions of followers today). But he is sounding a clarion call to those
Christians who have tasted the reality of Christ, and want to follow Jesus into
full Sonship. The message is that they will have to turn loose of the past,
and rid themselves of every remaining garment of the Jew's religion. We
have a better way. The shadows are gone, we have arrived at the substance.
How
About Today?
Christians in our day are not very concerned about the controversy
of Paul's day between law and grace. So is this book relevant for us today?
Yes! For today we are faced with an old order that is passing away, and
a new order is coming in, bringing a revelation of Sonship, a higher order.
The revelation of this high calling was given to the apostles in the early church,
and they faithfully wrote it down. But it becomes obvious that the early
church, the earnest or firstfruits of Gods order for His Body, did not fully reach
that maturity and perfection in their generation. They certainly did not
attain during the dark ages, even up to our present time.
But the work
of God is ever progressive, and gaining momentum continually. And today
we see the need for a new understanding of the book of Hebrews. It is the
New Testament book of Sonship, first of all the Sonship of Jesus Christ, and finally
the revelation of the body of Christ, the corporate, many-membered son that inherits
the Melchisedec priesthood order by virtue of being in Him. While the blind
still lead the blind, and the masses still stagger along in a dying system of
churchianity and religion, we see a great company of sons breaking forth into
the glorious light of Gods new day.
So the need, now as then, is that Gods
people might realize that they cannot hold on to the old system of religion, however
well it served them in the past. Too many today, like the Jewish Christians
back then, are trying to hang on to the best of two worlds. It won't work.
The Jewish Christians in the early church were constantly being hammered by the
preachers of the circumcision. They were told that Jesus was their Messiah, and
that the Holy Ghost was for them too, but that they were still obligated to fulfill
the law of Moses. Holy Ghost filled preachers were using the only scriptures the
church had, to prove to them that they had to be circumcised, observe the Sabbath,
keep going to the temple, and keep the law, to be saved. It sounded logical.
If you have Jesus and the law, how could you lose? The argument was that
you had to touch all the bases. Paul's answer was that the old covenant
and it's laws was no longer one of the bases. God had done away with it.
He has now instituted a better thing. And now in our day the Holy Ghost
is being poured out upon all flesh, in many denominations and systems of religion.
And men are still telling Gods people to take the new thing, but stay in the old
sectarian order. This new thing is simply an improvement on the good old
way, they say.
God Speaks in a Son
The book begins with a glorious
declaration as to how God speaks or reveals Himself to us. Once He spoke through
prophets, or those who spoke for Him and in His name. But now He speaks or reveals
Himself in Sonship. Moffatt's and Phillips' translations and the Amplified New
Testament are especially beautiful and revealing in this portion of scripture:
"Many were the forms and fashions in which God spoke of old to our fathers by
the prophets, but in these days at the end He has spoken to us by a son--a Son
whom He has appointed heir of the universe" (Moffatt's). "God, who gave to our
forefathers many different glimpses of the truth in the words of the prophets,
has now, at the end of the present age, given us the truth in the Son" (Phillips).
"In many separate revelations--each of which set forth a portion of the truth--and
in different ways God spoke of old to our forefathers in and by the prophets.
But in the last of these days He has spoken to us in the person of a Son, whom
He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things" (Amplified).
Now dear
friends, if you think that Jesus is keeping all the glory of this Sonship and
heir-ship to Himself, then you just haven't read Romans 8:17 where it tells us
that we are "Heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ". Verse 29 of that chapter
states plainly and emphatically that Jesus Christ is Gods Son, but that He is
the "firstborn among many brethren." Then turn to Revelation 21:7 and read that:
"He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall
be my Son". The unveiling of God in the person of a Son did begin in our Lord
Jesus Christ, for He was the beginning of the creation of God (Revelation 3:14).
But it did not stop there. God ordained that Jesus would be the first, and that
because of Him and through Him, there would be a great harvest of the precious
fruit of the earth. The Sonship of Jesus is complete, "it is finished", but God
is still waiting patiently "for the precious fruit of the earth" (James 5:7).
This harvest of Sons will be joint-heirs with Jesus, "Heir and lawful Owner of
all things".
The Evening Sacrifice
First of all we are talking here
about Jesus Christ, the begotten Son of God. The Bible refers to this entire dispensation
of grace as "the last days". The apostles wrote of their own days being the last
days, and yet we know that today (almost 2,000 years later) we are in the last
days. We read in Mark 15:25 that Jesus was lifted up on the cross as our sacrifice
at the third hour of the day, the time of morning sacrifice. He remained on that
cross unto the ninth hour, the time of the evening sacrifice (Mark 15:33-34).
In other words, the work that He came to do (provide a way of salvation
from sin for mankind), was being done until the time of the evening sacrifice,
when He cried: "it is finished". Now we see another son, a many-membered corporate
son known as "the Church His Body" come into view. Jesus said that because of
what He did for us, that we would do His works, as well as "greater works". So
we see a son coming forth in the morning time of these last days, the dispensation
of grace, and doing a work in the souls of men. And now, in the time of the evening
sacrifice (the closing hours of these last days), we see the begotten Son of God
crying: "it is finished", taken down from the Cross, and pouring Himself (by the
Spirit into a waiting body of sons. What the whole world now shall see is the
ministry of "greater works" that Jesus promised. It is the time of the evening
sacrifice. It is the time for the younger son, the many-membered son, the Church
His Body, to be manifested. It was the first born Son who created this world and
brought life to it. Now it is the younger, many-membered son, who shall (in cooperation
with Christ) restore the creation to divine order. They shall be joint-heirs together.
This is why He is bringing many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10), and why we must
be conformed to the image of Gods Son (Romans 8:29). This is what all creation
is groaning and travailing for with earnest expectation (Romans 8:19-22).
So
at the time of the morning sacrifice, God spoke in a Son, Jesus Christ. He expressed
Himself fully in Jesus. The Son was the express image of the Father, the brightness
of His glory. And now, at the time of the evening sacrifice, God shall again speak
and manifest Himself through a son. This time it is a corporate son, of which
Jesus Himself is the Head.
Father
Old Testament people knew God
as Creator, Lawgiver, and Punisher of sins. He was their strength in battle, and
a Saviour from their enemies. But it was Jesus who came and unveiled Gods true
nature as a Father to His children. It was through a Sons that God could reveal
Himself most perfectly. Colossians 1:15 says that Jesus was the "image of the
invisible God". The Amplified Bible says: "He is the exact likeness of the unseen
God--the visible representations of the invisible." And in Hebrews 1:3 we read
that the Son is the brightness of Gods glory, and the express image of Gods person.
The Amplified is very expressive: "He is the sole expression of the glory of God--the
Light-being, the out-raying of the divine--and He is the perfect imprint and very
image of Gods nature". Moffatt's translation says that the Sons reflects Gods
bright glory and is stamped with Gods own character. For anyone to deny that these
scriptures are speaking of Jesus, the Sons of God, is only to expose their ignorance
of basic truth. But to say that He is the only one who is included in this glory
of Sonship, this unveiling of Deity in this realm of humanity, is to reveal a
lack of understanding in the purpose of God in creation. Jesus has overcome, not
for Himself alone, but for all of us. That we might share His inheritance, sit
with Him on His throne, rule and reign with Him, and become partakers of the divine
nature of God (2 Peter 1:4).
The redemptive work of Christ is unique and
exclusive. Only Jesus, the Lamb of God, can take away the sins of the world by
the shedding of His own blood. But aside from that redemptive works, all the works
that Jesus did are to be done by other sons also. "The works that I do shall ye
do also. (John 14:12)." So please remember that, as we go through this book of
Hebrews, what is said about Christ, the Son of God and the Melchisedec order,
is actually speaking of things that pertain to the Body of Christ, the many-membered
corporate Son. Also remember that all this glory comes through our Lord Jesus.
Better than Angels
Here in this first chapter we are made to know
how much better Sonship is than the angelic realm. "Being made so much better!"
A better nature, a better name, a better authority, a better relationship with
the Father. Verse seven tells us that angels are created beings, and are made
winds (spirits), and His ministers (messengers) a flame of fire. But verse eight
goes on to tell us that the Son has a throne which is forever and ever (to the
ages of the ages. Amplified). This term does not mean that there will come a time
when He does not have a throne. It simply is a way of expressing in the vest way
we can with human language, an eternal situation.
A scepter is a symbol
of kingly authority. And the symbol of His kingly authority is a scepter of righteousness,
of justice and straightforwardness. And only from His does that kind of righteousness
originate and flow. Even the apostle Paul knew that he could not measure up to
Gods standard of righteousness, and whatever he was, he was only by the grace
of God. He admitted that he had a weakness that kept him humble and prevented
him from becoming exalted by the great revelations God gave him. He called it
a "messenger of Satan" that buffeted him. It was something he could not rid himself
of, and he besought the Lord three times to deliver him from it. Gods answer was
simply that His grace was sufficient for the situation. I don't suggest that Paul
had a secret sin. He just says that it was a weakness, and one that kept him humble.
Physical sickness or bad eyes do not guarantee that result. But it was a messenger
from Satan that humiliated him, made him to know how really nothing he was, and
kept him from ever falling into the worse trap of spiritual pride and an exalted
spirit. Jesus was the only man who could walk in perfect righteousness, with heavenly
understanding and revelation of Gods purpose, without the tendency to get proud
about it. He simply knew who He was, where His authority was, and understood His
relationship with the Father. Therefore, He could even accept worship and praise
without a proud and exalted spirit. He had the scepter of the King of Gods Kingdom.
The Oil of Gladness
We have a better happiness in the Sonship realm.
Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, despised and rejected of
men, yet He was the happiest and most joyful human being alive. He set the standard
for true happiness. His joy did not come from drugs, liquids, or favorable circumstances
about Him. It came from within Him, from a fountain of life whose source is not
affected by adverse circumstances, or a flood of problems. "Anointed with the
oil of gladness". How thrilling it is to see a modern day son of God who is conformed
to this image. He does not wear a smile like a mask, but his joy is genuine in
spite of problems, adversities, or tragedies. Anointed with gladness. Verses 10-11-12,
give us a hint as to what is going to happen to the earth and heavens which He
created. "They will perish." They will all become old as a garment, and shall
be changed for the new. The Amplified Bible says: "They will perish, but You remain
and continue permanently; they will all grow old and wear out like a garment.
Like a mantle thrown about one's self, You will roll them up, and they will be
changed, replaced by others. But You remain the same and Your years will never
end nor come to failure."
When it says that the present earth and heavens
will "grow old and wear out," it does not indicate that God will destroy it soon
and suddenly with a great bomb blast. We can see that this earth is wearing out
now, due to over population and modern technology. Due to sun spots caused by
explosions on the sun, scientists now suspect that the sun may be wearing out.
But what is due at this time is a restoration, a setting all things in order.
This is the ministry of Sonship, the word of the Son. We are looking for a new
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. And this is more than
just a new set of trees and mountains.
Heirs of Salvation
The last
two verses of this beautiful chapter on the better realm of Sonship deal again
with the lower state of the angels. We humans would tremble in awe in the presence
of a mighty angel. But it states plainly that they are only servants of God who
render service for the sake of the saints. No promise is given to the angels of
having all enemies put under their feet, nor of sitting on the right hand of God,
nor of being heirs of salvation and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Yet these very
promises are all given to us, after having first been given to the first begotten
Son of God. No angel will ever know what it is to sit in the throne of God. This
is the promise (Revelation 3:21) to him that overcometh, to the saints who are
in Christ Jesus.
Sonship is a relationship to Deity that angels cannot
know. It shows that the firstborn Sons was the creator of heaven and earth, God
Himself became human substance brought into this world of sin. Angels were told
to worship Him. Why? Because He was the very substance of Deity, He was their
Creator. Why did they have to be told to worship Him? Because He was so much in
the likeness of man. Angels would not worship man. They had to be told that this
man was more than man, He was Deity veiled in humanity.
Yes, the realm
of Sonship is far higher than the angels will ever attain to. This is the place
Jesus walked and overcame every enemy. And this is the Holiest Place He opened
to us by the shedding of His blood, by the giving up of His perfect life. This
is His inheritance which He shares with us, His Body. And writing to the Jewish
Christians, the apostle quotes many of their Old Testament scriptures to confirm
these glorious truths. And the Old Testament is full of Sonship scriptures, but
not understood by the scribes because no one had ever walked in this place and
revealed these truths until Jesus came. They rejected the only source of understanding
of the realm of Sonship. And now as we go into chapter two, we find that the better
realm of Sonship brings us into a better government by the Sons, and a better
dominion over all the works of Gods hands.
Bill
Britton Hebrews the book of better things 