“It seems odd to have to say so, but too much religion is a bad thing.  We can’t too much of God, can’t get too much faith and obedience, can’t get too much love and worship.  But religion—the well-intentioned efforts we make to ‘get it all together’ for God—can very well get in the way of what God is doing for us.  The main and central action is everywhere and always what God has done, is doing, and will do for us.  Jesus is the revelation of that action.  Our main and central task is to live in responsive obedience to God’s action revealed in Jesus.  Our part in the action is the act of faith.”  Eugene Peterson, Introduction to Hebrews, The Message Bible

Hebrews 1, The Message

God’s Final Word: His Son

^1-3 Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently he spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature. He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words!

The Son Is Higher than Angels

^3-6 After he finished the sacrifice for sins, the Son took his honored place high in the heavens right alongside God, far higher than any angel in rank and rule. Did God ever say to an angel, “You’re my Son; today I celebrate you” or “I’m his Father, he’s my Son”? When he presents his honored Son to the world, he says, “All angels must worship him.”

⁷ Regarding angels he says,

The messengers are winds,
    the servants are tongues of fire.

^8-9 But he says to the Son,

You’re God, and on the throne for good;
    your rule makes everything right.
You love it when things are right;
    you hate it when things are wrong.
That is why God, your God,
    poured fragrant oil on your head,
Marking you out as king,
    far above your dear companions.

^10-12 And again to the Son,

You, Master, started it all, laid earth’s foundations,
    then crafted the stars in the sky.
Earth and sky will wear out, but not you;
    they become threadbare like an old coat;
You’ll fold them up like a worn-out cloak,
    and lay them away on the shelf.
But you’ll stay the same, year after year;
    you’ll never fade, you’ll never wear out.

¹³ And did he ever say anything like this to an angel?

Sit alongside me here on my throne
Until I make your enemies a stool for your feet.

¹⁴ Isn’t it obvious that all angels are sent to help out with those lined up to receive salvation?

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Jesus, crucified and resurrected, died to save us and set us free.  Jesus defeated death forever for all who would believe and trust that He did what God sent Him to be and do—Savior and now Lord of our lives!  It is God who gave Jesus the Name above all names as King of kings and Lord of lords!  Jesus sits next to God, who is God and is our advocate on the throne.  We take our sins and lay them at His feet.  Jesus forgives and forgets our sins.  We become children of God, joint heirs with Christ.  God’s final word.

“But the more than not we become impatiently self-important along the way and decide to improve matters with our two-cents’ worth.  We add on , we supplement, we embellish.  But instead of improving on the purity and simplicity of Jesus, we dilute the purity, clutter the simplicity.  We become fussily religious, or anxiously religious.  We get in the way.”

“That’s when it’s time to read and pray our way through the letter to the Hebrews again, written for ‘too religious’ Christians, for ‘Jesus-and’ Christians.  In the letter, it is Jesus-and-angels, or Jesus-and-Moses, or Jesus-and-priesthood.  In our time it is more likely to be Jesus-and-politics, or Jesus-and-education, or even Jesus-and-Buddha.  This letter deletes the hyphens, the add-ons.  The focus becomes clear and sharp again:  God’s action in Jesus.  And we are free once more for the act of faith, the one human action in which we don’t get IN the way but ON the Way.” –Eugene Peterson

As we read through Hebrews over the next few days, may we respond in faith— believing in God’s final Word—Jesus!  For it is in His Name we pray believing that He did indeed save us and reconcile us to God!

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen—Yes!