Thought for September 8, 2023

•  1504: Michelangelo's "David" unveiled in Florence
• 1565: First permanent European settlement in the U.S. founded at St. Augustine
• 1900: Hurricane kills 6,000 at Galveston TX. Read "Isaac's Storm" for a great account
• 1930: Richard Drew invents Scotch tape
• 1941: Siege of Leningrad begins and lasts 28 months
• 1952: Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea" published
• 1960: Release of "Psycho"
• 1966: "Star Trek" premiers on NBC
• 1974: Gerald Ford pardons Nixon
• 1986: "Oprah Winfrey Show" first broadcast nationally
• 2022: Queen Elizabeth II dies after ruling 70 years
• Born: Richard the Lionheart, Charles Guiteau [shot President Garfield], Peter Sellers, Patsy Cline, Pink, Jimmie Rogers, Sid Caesar, Bernie Sanders
• Died: Richard Strauss, Ann Lee [founded the Shakers], Huey Long, Zero Mostel, Peter Claver [estimated to have baptized 300,000 slaves after they arrived in Cartagena from Africa]

Thought:

I love how the Book of Hebrews begins. Angels were revered by the Jews--their wings covered the ark. In this book, the author starts the text by reminding the reader that Christ is greater than any angel. The writer will continue by saying that Jesus is our High Priest, more important than any earthly priest. Later the writer will say that Jesus is the Great Sacrifice, the author of the New Covenant in His blood. So this book is about the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ. 

This morning I am reading Hebrews 1:1-4. Look at what is written:

• God has always spoken to His people [1:1] Aren't you glad that our Great God chooses to communicate with us. He does not remain distant, unreachable, unknowable. He wants us to know Him. So the writer says that God spoke through the prophets. He sent messengers to proclaim His word. Now the writer could have also said God revealed Himself and spoke to us in His creation as Paul does in Romans. Nature sings of the Creator--His power, majesty, beauty, wisdom. The writer could have reminded us that God spoke directly to those who sought Him--He spoke in dreams and visions. He spoke by sending angelic messengers. He spoke be sending the pre-incarnate Jesus. God has been trying to communicate with man since the beginning. What was the problem--not the Sender, not the message, not the messengers--our hearts were dull, our hearts were hard. How could God get through to us?
• God spoke through His Son [1:2] Jesus even uses this picture in one of His parables. The owner of the vineyard sent his servants to collect some of the produce--the keepers of His vineyard first beat and then killed the messenger servants. Then, as a last resort, the owner sent His only Son--and the keepers killed the Son thinking they would get to keep the vineyard. 
• Who is this Son? [1:3] 
• He comes in all the glory of the Father. Even in His humanity, John wrote--we have beheld His glory, the same glory that the Father possesses. 
• He created the world. He is supreme because He is the One who created everything--and everything was created for Him
• He is the exact personification of the character of the Father. Want to know how God thinks and acts--see Jesus. 
• He holds everything together. He is the glue. Without Him, marriages fall apart, churches split, relationships are broken, families are in chaos, countries and nations fall. 
• He purified His followers at the cross. By His blood our sins are white as snow. 
• He sits at the right hand of God. Everything has been placed under His feet.
• He is the heir of all things. He is by right the sole heir, but in His grace and mercy, we may become joint-heirs.
• He is better than any angel. See 1:5-14]
• His name is above every name. And every knee will bow and tongue confess. 

He is God's indescribable gift to us--we need to tell everyone to accept the gift.

Blessings

Larry