Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas Day Service--EPISTLE:Hebrews 1:1-6

Reading:

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,   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;   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;   Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.   For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?   And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

Commentary:

These verses teach beyond all doubt the deity of Jesus of Nazareth, the only-begotten Son of God.  Whereas before in the O.T. God spoke in diverse ways through the prophets (dreams, visions, appearances, etc), so in the N.T. (the Last Days), God spoke directly through His Son Jesus Christ - the express image of His person, the brightness of God's glory.  Jesus is the express image of the divine essence and nature of God.  To Philip Jesus said, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father."  Likewise Jesus said, "All men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father."  Thus the Man Jesus, is to be worshipped as God, for He is God, equal with the Father and the Spirit, above all angels and devils alike.  The angels themselves are commanded to worship Christ (even at His birth) and "Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee".  Jesus was/is eternally begotten of the Father from that "day" of eternity.  Kretzmann writes, "The Son of God however, begotten out of the essence of the Father from eternity, is Himself true and eternal God."

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