Hebrews-Who Do You Listen To?

I’m in a whole new phase of life, the empty nester.  Many have debated this term, if it’s the right way to describe what happens when your a parent who no longer have children at home.  I have learned that though the kids aren’t living with you, they need you just as much.  What’s really going on is they are learning to fly, they take off and flap there wings, but in reaching out for advice and money, there presence is still really felt.  In the teen years, they were doing their developmental work of creating their own identity.  As a parent this seems to rip out your heart as you see them experiment with things that you didn’t “raise” them to become.  And, you start to see that this transformation begins when they stop listening to you.  It’s an odd, and deeply rewarding feeling, that even when they don’t live at home, that they still call for advice.  The father away they physically are, the more independent they have to be, the more they realize they need you and have ears that are more inclined to consider your perspective.
Growing in wisdom is your willingness to listen to the right sources.  Both my children certainly have a cacophony of voices available to them in the digital age, and often get caught up in foolishness from media and their friends, but are habitually turning to their parents first.  Like the next stage of maturity my children are growing into, this passage in Hebrews talks about how God speaks to us and helps us to know He is always there.  It invites us to listen to our Father because the source of His words is the pinnacle of wisdom—He speaks most clearly through His Son.  

How did God speak? 
Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were tempted to turn from the message of Christ to go back to what was familiar; men and women who had grown up living by and memorizing the books of the Old Testament.  These books were written to the the descendants of the “fathers” of this people group, the progeny of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.  The Old Testament records the story of God from creation and how God interacted with humanity-His divine revelation through visions, miracles, the Holy Spirt, messages from angels, or even meeting face to face, as when He gave Moses the law.  But now a new age has come, the last days, the time after the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  His visitation to earth and sacrifice given speaks with finality that promised Messiah had come, the rescue of God was complete. The New Testament is the record of the life of Jesus from eye witnesses, letters between His followers as the church grew, and a peek behind the veil of what is happening in the spiritual realm surrounding His return.  

Why is the message of Christ better? 
The message of Christ is better because He is the fulfillment and hero of the message of God in the gospel and in every word that pointed to Him in the Old Testament.  Through His visitation, the promise God gave starting in Genesis 3:15, that He would defeat the enemy that brought death to humanity would be cursed by the woman’s offspring, was fulfilled.  Every promise of God was accomplished in the work of Christ.  He has made every rescue-promise of God come true as He has embodied all that Scripture points to when it speaks for Him. 

   
Who does the Bible say He is? 
He is the heir of all things.  He is the lawful owner of the world.  He has been given the nations (Psalm 2:8).  He holds the deed to the earth and is the only one worthy to open the scroll (Revelation 5:2-5) 
He is the world creator.  Colossians 1:16 describes how all that was made, the physical and spiritual world was His act.  

He is the radiance of the glory of God.  He showcases the divine presence and splendor of the Trinity-Father, Son, Holy Spirit.  In John 1:9, He is called the true light.  Until Christ, God was only seen in nature, a cloud and pillar of fire that lead the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 13:21) and in the dense fog of his glory that filled the tent of meeting (Exodus 40:34-35) and temple built by Solomon to come (2 Chronicles 7:2).  The Holy Spirit fills us in the same way, the fulfillment of the presence of God to His people that will never leave us (Acts 1:8). 

He is the exact imprint of the nature of God. Jesus is the essence of God in human form.  He accurately represents the being of God to us.  He is the invisible God, the ethereal made physical (Colossians 1:15).  When we sit in the mystery of how a Spirit being can commune with us we see the lengths God took, to put on flesh and dwell among men to save them.  

He upholds the universe.  Not only did He create our world, he sustains it, He holds the atoms together.  He will preserve it until the time He comes again to renew the world at His second coming (2 Peter 3:4-7).  His words hold power because he is the logos, the word of God (John 1:1-3) who from the beginning could express ideas and they came to be. 

He made purification for sins. Jesus is the ultimate High Priest who could save people with one sacrifice. Unlike the blood of bulls and goals, who could temporarily turn away the just wrath of God regarding sin, made an eternal offering (Hebrews 9:12).  

He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.  Christ sat down because his work was complete (Hebrews 10:11, 12).  And he sits at the place of power, the right hand of God in the heavenly throne room, the epicenter of power in the universe, where the Father dwells in unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16).  This position of favor and authority is where He waits, interceding on our behalf (Romans 8:34), until the time the Father knows is at hand (Matthew 24:36).  

Who will you listen to? 
There are many voices vying for your attention.  We all know places we can go to affirm what we think and feel.  Social media is built on algorithms that entrench us even deeper in our own point of view.  Jesus deserves to have the last word.  He is speaking truth for our good and His glory.  As we make decisions, seek discernment, and navigate the influences all around us, we need to remember who He is and what He has done so His words become more weighty, the ones we lean on, the ones we follow.  Jesus is a fulfilled promise, that God in power can and will save us, giving us hope for today and eternal rest forever.  

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