The Final Word

A series on the book of Hebrews:
Christ is greater than the prophets and angels
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Hebrews 1-2:18 

[When you first start to follow Christ, often it’s done with great excitement. It’s like falling in love when all you can think about is the other person, and you want to tell everyone you know. But then life settles in and can push out those feelings. The day-to-day pressures of living can dull your enthusiasm. In this series, we will look at how the author of Hebrews tried to counteract falling out of love with Jesus.]

  

Caitlin Clark has been in the news constantly during the current WNBA season. In case you’re unaware, she’s a 2^nd year phenom basketball player who seemingly is being targeted by other players for hard and flagrant fouls. What makes it worse is that the refs aren’t calling them.

 

The referees are the authority in every game. They have a whistle and a striped shirt. They have access to replay monitors. They’ve been trained and are certified by the WNBA. They have the final word on what gets called… or not called.

 

Jesus, the Son of God, was the final word from God. In the past, God spoke to the nation of Israel through the prophets and his nurturing angels. But now he spoke through his Son who has the authority that goes far beyond a striped shirt.

 

³ The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.          NLT

 

The letter to the Hebrews was written during the first century to Jewish Christians who were struggling possibly because of being persecuted. They had come to a crossroads in their faith where they were considering whether it would be better to return to their old religion of Judaism, or continue to follow Christ.

 

¹ Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.           ESV

 

And what was it that they had heard? Based on the Law and the sacrificial system that God instructed Moses to set up, the High Priest was the only person who could enter into the presence of God in the Temple. He did so to offer sacrifices for the sins of Israel.

 

However, what they had heard was that Jesus changed everything. He was the fulfillment of that ritual. He was the High Priest in the New Covenant. He made the sacrifice for sins so that no further sacrifices were needed.

 

¹⁷ Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.           NLT

 

Jesus did this not just for the Jewish Christians in the first century, but for all of us. It was the only way to provide forgiveness of sins once and for all. Jesus had the final word.

 

¹⁴ Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. ¹⁵ Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.         NLT

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

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