Breathingbook

Welcome to my little study on Heb 1:1 from the book of Hebrews. I’m using the line upon line, line upon line method of study with the King James Version of the Bible – mostly because it’s in the public domain and I don’t have to worry about copyright issues. Hope you enjoy the study! Let’s get started!

Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.

God. This is God Almighty; the Father and part of the divine Trinity. The New Testament was originally written in Greek (Gk.), so the Gk. word used here; theos, simply means a deity. In this case, God, the Supreme Divinity.

at sundry times… This sundry times means that God has, at many different times throughout the Old Testament (OT), spoken to His chosen people.

in divers manners. When God speaks to those He has decided to speak to, He’s done so in many different ways. Sometimes He identifies Himself with a Name, other times He’s identified in scripture as revelation or act only God could know or do. Other times, He uses some sort of means to speak, such as through angels, prophets or kings, sometimes in Earthly manifestation such as a mighty wind or a thundering, and sometimes even through an ass (Num 22:21-35). In any case, when God does show up, believers should always take note, because it’s a recorded way testified in the Bible that God uses to speak. In other words, all of the various names, acts, or wisdoms of God represent the multifaceted aspects of His ways (character/personality, likes or dislikes, or loves or hates). And, although God’s ways are past finding out, He does reveal Himself in various ways and that’s all a part of the great mystery of knowing who and how God is – and that will continue to be revealed throughout the rest of eternity.

This is how we come to know God, learning what pleases or displeases Him. As believers, we use this knowledge to make choices in our lives as to how we might live a life that is pleasing to Him. One might use such knowledge with wisdom, remembering, that if God’s already responded to this or that kind of thing in a certain way before, then perhaps it would be wise to think He’ll respond in like manner towards it, again. Always knowing that God does not like us to start thinking we have Him all figured out. That’s disrespectful. God is God Almighty and let’s treat Him as such. There’s really no need to prompt Him into instruction mode, now is there?

Now, Jesus Christ is “God” (Jn 1:1,10) and coming up in Heb 1:3 the writer is about to say, Jesus is the express image of God (Col 1:15-19).

In other words…

When you see, hear, or read about Jesus, you are seeing, hearing, reading about “God.”

Realize this works both ways: if Jesus is the expressed image of God, then God also tells us something about Jesus! Yikes! And, since Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever (Heb 13:8), what is revealed of God in the Old Testament, likewise reveals more of Jesus at the same time! And that would be the “Conquering Messiah” aspect of Jesus Christ the Jews were so expecting and so dejected not to see in Jesus’ day.

In other words, God didn’t suddenly change when Jesus came to die for us. From the time of Adam and Eve to this day and any day throughout the rest of eternity, God has always been willing to die for us: God loves us.

Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

The words yesterday, today and forever represent an unchanging aspect of who God is and what He’s all about. God simply decided it was time to show us His Suffering Servant side. His Covenant offering to mankind changed. The OT Covenant had so many laws that no one could possibly “perfectly” keep – we’re all so human! So God sent the Son of God to be so “perfect” for us, resulting in a NT covenant in Jesus Christ that brought us in closer to God. Now, God writes His laws on each of our hearts and minds, so that we all can know Him from the least to the greatest (Jer 31:33,34; Heb 8:10-12).  Because of Jesus, the Covenant of the Old Testament was fulfilled, making way for a better Covenant through Jesus Christ.

We see Jesus returning again as the Conquering Messiah when we look him as He comes in judgment in the book of Revelations (Rev 19:11-21). He comes with His Heavenly Host of angels, takes vengeance, destroys, and sits in judgment. You see, Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (Isa 43:10-13,25; Mal 3:6; Heb 13:8; Jam 1:17). Jesus is God. He is the Alpha and Omega; the beginning and the end (Rev 1:8). Jesus is the God of both the Old and New Testament. He has not changed. He simply revealed His Conquering side, before He revealed His Suffering Servant side, and in that, God has revealed more of Himself than ever before through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God continues to reveal Himself to us through His ongoing acts and ways: does the sun not rise every morning? Are there not new creations every day? Does not God bless us in every way, known and unknown? Comprehended, yet often misunderstood? But the most important way that we continue to know more about God’s names, acts and ways is through His Holy Word (Jesus is the Word). It reminds us of what He’s done and said to us; promised us, and it tells us where we are going; it helps keep us in check. Whether it’s through actions and interactions, signs and wonders, His Holy angels, those He chooses to use through a small still voice (1 Kgs 19:9-13), or writing with His big ‘ole finger on a wall (Dan 5:5,6), etc., God will continue to surprise and shock us, because that’s who God is. He raises and lays low, giving instruction in many different degrees and measures (Rom 12:3), to different people, each in the manner of His own choosing.

So to paraphrase that would be to say, “God has spoken to man in many ways, forms, and manners, but God had never revealed Himself to mankind the way He did when He came to earth as the Son of Man, Jesus Christ.

Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.

fathers This is speaking of those individuals who God raised up in the OT to be patriarchs and leaders over His chosen people. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would all be considered patriarchs. David, as King and prophet, would be a leader.

prophets This is speaking specifically of prophets from the OT period. Both Moses and King David were known as prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel are considered Major Prophets. There are other Minor Prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. Nathan was considered a prophet to King David (2 Sam 7:2) and Samuel, who anointed both Saul and then David Kings over Israel, was known as a Seer. Seers also, eventually became also known as prophets.

1 Sam 9:9 (Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the Seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.)

Both true prophets and seers always speak revelation that ultimately remains in accordance with God’s established ways. By the time the New Testament came into being, the entire compilation of what is now known as the Old Testament was already established. Knowing the Word of God is imperative so no one will ever be deceived or led astray by anyone claiming to have a word from God. God’s Word is your safety provision. It is also the way, the truth and the life.

Jn 14:6-7 Jesus saith unto Him, I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.7 If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him.

So, God had spoken in many divers manners in the past unto the fathers by the prophets (Heb 1:1) and by other means, but never had He revealed Himself the way He did when Jesus came to us.

Heb 1:2-3 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by Whom also He made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Continue to Heb 1:2