We’re beginning to see how the Book of Hebrews uniquely focuses on both lifting up Jesus and cautioning the saints.

• It is an exposition of Jesus’ identity: God’s divine Son and his chosen High Priest, who, as a man, was tempted and suffered but was obedient and endured to the end.
• It is an exhortation to warn believers who are wavering in their faith and to challenge them to remain faithful in light of Jesus’ identity.

The author declares that Jesus has all authority and power, yet they are subject to another authority—one that is harassing them. Consequently, they are drifting. They are falling away from their faith and faithfulness and risk forsaking such a great salvation.

We are discovering that from beginning to end, Hebrews is one continuously sustained argument for the surpassing greatness of Messiah—God’s Son, our High Priest. This is done with extraordinary rhetorical skill which must have impacted the original audience like it has every reader through the centuries.

We noted it opens with a bang. The author grabs the attention of his audience with seven awe-inspiring declarations.

1. Jesus is God’s Son
2. whom he appointed the heir of all things
3. and through whom he created the world.
4. Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature
5. who sustains the universe by the power of his word
6. and after making purification for sins, sat down at the right hand of God’s throne
7. inheriting a name superior to the angels.

It is a longstanding position, which I believe is a prejudice, that the view of Jesus as divine entered the church in later generations. Some even claim it is a Hellenistic corruption of the gospels. But here is evidence, in an epistle written before the year 70 A.D., of what the early church believed and taught about the extraordinary identity of Yeshua from Nazareth, our risen Lord.

How can a God who is one have a Son? Let me give you a very important perspective on Jewish monotheism in the first century.

Israel’s Hebraic mindset in the Second Temple period was very different from the Western mindset we inherited and saw in the church councils as early as the fourth century. Those early Jewish believers did not think in the same categories that we do. So when it came to the issue of Jesus and his relationship to the Father, the primary question they asked was, who is God?

For the philosophical mind of the Greco-Roman world, the issue became, what is God? What is his substance, his nature, and his essence? How does Jesus relate to that divine substance, nature, and essence?

However, for the early church, the issue was who God was. What is his identity? And they answered that question, not so much with theological explanations as with textual citations. They knew who God was by what God did. And in light of his resurrection, they came to know the Son as they knew the Father—in scriptures revealing his identity (see Luke 24:25-27, 44-49).

If you want to study this further, listen to my seminar, One God & One Lord: The Shema and the Divinity of Jesus. You need to know here that in Jewish thinking, YHWH revealed his character in his words and deeds. Those mighty actions distinguished him from all other deities.

Given that understanding, I want you to see how truly remarkable it is that from the earliest stages of the church, those Jewish believers consistently and insistently included Jesus in the identity unique to YHWH and YHWH alone. Their faith confession is that Jesus entered into that identity. He is not separate from, but he is included within. We see this writ large in this opening chapter of Hebrews.

The first four verses are followed by a highly structured series of seven messianic citations, all showing that Jesus is greater than the angels and, in fact, part of the divine identity.

CITATION 1

For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? (1:5). A reference to Psalm 2:7.

CITATION 2

Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? (1:5). References to 2 Samuel 7:14 and Psalm 89:26-27.

CITATION 3

And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him” (1:6). References to Psalm 97:7 and Deuteronomy 32:43 in the Septuagint.

CITATION 4

Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire” (1:7). A reference to Psalm 104:4.

CITATION 5

But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions” (8-9). A reference to Psalm 45:6 and Isaiah 61:3.

Let me pause and point out that the opening text from Psalm 45, quoted here, is a provocative choice of scripture. It identifies God as speaking to the Son and saying, “Your throne, oh God.” Did you catch that? YHWH is calling his Son God, and the divine throne he inherits everlasting.

The Greek word theos here translates the Hebrew word Elohim with specific reference to YHWH himself. This unique usage of theos applied to Jesus occurs in other significant places in the New Testament, for example, John 1:1 & 1:18, John 20:28, Romans 9:25, Titus 3:4, and 2 Peter 1:1.

It is also worth noting that Psalm 45 is a royal wedding psalm. Here, this love song is applied to a crucified Messiah.

You are the most handsome of the sons of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever (Ps 45:2). A beaten and tortured Messiah was not considered lovely or blessed. What a shocking juxtaposition that is.

CITATION 6

You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end. (10-12). All of this comes from Psalm 102:25-27.

CITATION 7

And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? (1:13). A reference to Psalm 110:1, the most quoted O.T. text in the N.T. This seventh citation is followed up with a rhetorical question from Psalm 104:4: Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? (14)

Remember I said to you that one of the author’s primary purposes is to reveal the identity of Jesus scripturally, based on his resurrection from the dead. Jesus is the Son of the Living God. By linking these key passages, we see what the earliest followers of Jesus believed.

All the key biblical features that were exclusive to YHWH’s identity also belong to Yeshua.

These seven shocking citations from the Hebrew Bible are effective enough on their own. Let me show you how the author has skillfully woven them together, increasing their impact. He has arranged them in what scholars call a chiasm, an intentional pattern. That design may not be obvious initially, but it is exciting when you see the beauty and feel the power of the structure.

The pattern of the seven citations is this:

1

     2

          3

               4

          5

     6

7

In this arrangement, declaration 1 relates to 7, 2 to 6, and 3 to 5. The fourth declaration is the crux, creating one-half of the X shape. That is why it is called a chiasm.

At the same time, a crescendo is building. Every one of these declarations moves towards the glorious climax of Psalm 110. Jesus, the Son, is one with the Father. He rules over creation, the nations, and the angels. And on behalf of those being saved by him, The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever” (Psalm 110:4).