Chapter One
I. Bridging the Distance, 1:1-2a
“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son,”
A. To understand the message of verses 1-3 it is essential that we first understand something of the nature of reality itself. The Hebrew writer presents God as the one who connects two incommensurable worlds. Reality exists in three parts. The first part is the world of the unseen. This is the spiritual realm which accommodates God and exists outside the field of human observation. The second part is the natural world. This is the world of man which accommodates man and is accessible to human empirical observation. The third part is the linkage between the two. In this triadic structure of reality someone must always stand to connect the two worlds into a single reality. Man is powerless to transverse the barrier that separates these two worlds. There is no way for man, by his own power to look into God's world. The two worlds exist in a state of incommensurability (cannot be measured on the same plain). In other words, man cannot look at the surrounding universe and explain the invisible world. Man cannot measure or quantify that which he can neither see nor experience. Since man is unable to experience this dimension through the sensorium he has no point of reference from which to explain it or understand it. Therefore, whatever man knows about the unseen world must be raveled to him from the invisible side or reality. In order to understand how the two worlds are connected it is essential that we learn to link the revelation of God which we receive from the unseen world to our own world of experience. Man can only properly understand his material world in light of what God has revealed about it. Anything else is a deception.
B. The source of revelation is God. God has spoken, 1.
1. Since revelation comes only from God, this establishes the credentials of what is spoken. What the fathers received via the prophets was not the product of human intelligence or human reasoning about life, the universe or about his own relationship with God or the material world. What was received by the fathers through the prophets did not originate with the prophets themselves. This was raveled intelligence.
2. The material world is a dependent world and its existence and subsistence are dependent upon that which comes from the mouth of God. What the writer reveals to us is a divine interest in the world of man. This would suggest that nothing in the material world is ordered by itself. Scripture is a raveled account of how God operates in human history to bring about his will. Human history does not just happen. God is active in the affairs of man. He intervenes, he contravenes, he manipulates, overturns, and overrules in order to shape events for his own eternal purposes. When we look at all of the Old Testament exemplars, we see that when God spoke to those people, lives were always changed and human history was always ordered.
C. Communication and the voice of God in history
Language, as an extended property of God, originates with God. It exists as a conduit for relaying the abstract. Since ideas cannot be seen, they are expressed through the avenue of linguistics. What we see in all of the Old Testament examples of God’s revelation is never arbitrary. The purpose of communication is always to impart knowledge. Thus, according to verse one, revelation becomes an epistemological foundation for those of the Old Testament period. Through revelation man learned:
1. Who God is
2. How man is to understand his place in the universe
3. How man is to properly represent the world in which he lives
4. How man is to properly represent his experiences
5. How man is to develop a proper understanding of applied ethics. How must man conduct his life?
D. Time modality:
There are two groups of recipients of revelation separated by time. This Involves a chronology of events and the finality of an era.
1. “Long ago...” This defines the period of human history from creation to the time of John who marked the end of the Old Testament prophets. That period of history did not just happen. Every time God spoke to the fathers it was a revelation of what He was doing in the world of man. This message is cut off. There exists a distinction between the message and the time modality. That was an historical message given in time but not bound by time. There is a great cleavage between revelation and interpretation. Revelation is never time contingent. It will however, always stand to interpret time. Time never interprets revelation. Time and modality are then functions of revelation. Revelation is a function of God and functions in and through time, history and certain modalities. Time, history, and modality are functions of revelation, consequently time, history, and modality are functions of God. If we fail to get this right, God becomes a function of man. This is what happened in Israel. Because Israel never understood this, for them, God and revelation became a function of Judaism.
2. “Spoke to the fathers through the prophets.” This represents the complete aggregate of Jewish ancestry. The Hebrew writer will quote from such prophets as David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, Moses, Zephaniah, Amos, Solomon, Haggai, and Joshua as he binds the fulfillment for those of Israel and Judah concerning Messiah.
3. “In many portions.” No one prophet was ever given the full message of the mystery. It was received in bits and pieces to different men, Isaiah 28:9-11. “Order upon order, line upon line, here a little and there a little.” This protects the integrity of the message. Revelation is not the product of any form of human organizational skills. The time modality makes this impossible. These men were not only separated by centuries of time but also geographically. There was no way humanly possible to coordinate such a task that would produce the Old Testament.
4. “In many ways.” In dreams, visions, and dark sayings, Numbers 12:6-8.
E. Jesus, the Final Spokesman of Deity, 2.
1. The writer uses the phrase “in these last days” to present a contrast. This is a defining time of change marked by the introduction of the Son into human history. The source of knowledge is still the same God; but the mode of communication is different. “The Last Days” represents the close of an era involving three things, the close of the Jewish economy, the fulfillment of the prophets’ message, and the beginning of the reign of Messiah.
a. The close of the Jewish economy.
The last days brought the fulfillment of the Law of Moses. Everything the Jews held dear is now changed.
* All of their sacrifices are now rendered null and void. They have seen their realization in the sacrifice of Jesus, 9:11-15.
* The earthly tabernacle with its altar and sanctuary is now empty of the presence of God, 8:1-2.
* The Law of Moses was fulfilled and taken out of the way, 8:6.
* The priesthood which served as the mediator between God and man is now obsolete, superseded by the High Priest of a new order, 9:11,15.
b. The end of the prophetic era
The message spoken through the prophets has now become reality. Now, there is a new spokesman.
c. The beginning of the reign of Messiah
The scepter of the kingdom has now passed to the true King of kings, 1:8. This is the beginning of the reign of Messiah. As a nation, Israel and Judah had been divided for about 950 years since the reign of Rehoboam and Jeroboam. Now, under Messiah, these two nations find unity again as one nation under a new King.
2. “Has spoken” - λαλήσας
a. This is point action. God has spoken to us in a specific point in time in the past. The action is complete and God is finished speaking. The full revelation of God has been given through this new Spokesman and no other revelation will be given. This represents finality and fulfillment. That which was spoken stands as having been spoken and cannot be altered or overturned.
b. This marks the division of the two eras. The readers of this letter were witnesses to the close of the time of the prophets and the beginning of a more direct avenue of revelation.
*The first era of revelation was governed by what had been received through the prophets. This is important yet insufficient/incomplete/limited in time, it needs something else. This meant:
- Limited information. Isaiah 28:9-11, Numbers 12:6-8.
- Limited outreach – To the fathers
- Different mode – Through the prophets
* The second era of revelation is spoken through the Son. “Has spoken to us in Son.” This message to us is continuous, sufficient, and will need nothing else. This means:
- Full revelation. Ephesians 3:3-9.
- Privileged access. We are shown what the fathers were not privileged to see.
- Unlimited outreach. It is for all men, Acts 2:39, Rev.5:9.
3. “To us.” God is the author of both covenants. The same God who spoke to the fathers through the prophets has now spoken to us through the Son.
4. “In Son” – ἐν Υἱῷ – There is a vastly different relationship that exists between God and the Spokesman of these last days than could be seen in the prophets. While the prophets were exclusively men and nothing more, this Spokesman is himself God. This lays stress to the greater importance of the new message to which the Hebrew writer will admonish us in chapter two verses 2-3 to “give the more earnest heed.” (We will spend more time discussing the concept of Jesus' sonship in another study).
