Hebrews, Part 1
2And now in these final days, He has spoken to us through His Son, God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son He created the universe. 3The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and He sustains everything by the mighty power of His command. When He had cleansed us from our sins, He sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. 4This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave Him is greater than their names. (Hebrews 1:2-4)
It is a fitting day to start the Book of Hebrews. Yesterday, many in America were intrigued by the recovery mission to bring “stranded” astronauts Buth Wilmore and Suni Williams home after a nine-month hiatus on the International Space Station. Despite what elon musk and trump say, the astronauts, though originally planned to be in space for just eight-days, came back just a month after what was originally scheduled for their flight home. I did some digging, by digging I GOOGLEd “why were Wilmore and Williams in space for nine-months” and went to a reputable website (factcheck.org) and learned that the original spacecraft that took them to the ISS had reported some malfunctions. Due to these malfunctions, the Boeing Starliner, was forced to return to earth empty to avoid a potential catastrophic emergency that might cost the astronauts their lives. Then NASA scheduled Wilmore and Williams return home in late February when Crew-10 arrived to take their place (as well as the place of two more astronauts that had arrived in September on Crew-9). You can read the truth about all that here.
What was remarkable about all this, through all the lies and distortions being put out by trump and his cronies, Astronaut Wilmore offered the greatest truth that America and the world needed to hear when a reporter asked him what sustained him through the extended stay in space. You can hear that by clicking the image below.
I love that Wilmore referenced Hebrews 11 in his response. We will get to Hebrews 11 in the next couple of weeks, but as I promised yesterday, today I will start sharing some of the amazing truth from this letter written to the early Hebrew Christians.
This Letter is written by an unknown author. My bible states that Paul, Luke, Barnabas, Apollos, Silas, Philip, Priscilla, and others have been suggested as possible authors, however, I always think that Paul and Luke should be removed from this list because we have examples of their writings, and this letter is unlike anything either of those two wrote. The letter was written sometime before the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD and was meant for Hebrew Christians, those of Jewish lineage that had converted to Christianity, as a reminder to them of their heritage in the faith, and the importance of Jesus Christ in their heritage. I love the way Hebrews begins, with a strong opening to declare the importance of “the Son” and establish the Son’s authority in Heaven, and on Earth.
As exciting as the rescue mission for the two astronauts was yesterday, from Wilmore’s statements to the scene where dolphins swam around the capsule in the Gulf of Mexico, the greatest rescue mission happened 2,000 years ago, when God sent His Son to earth to rescue all humanity from the grips of sin and death. Astronaut Wilmore gets it. His faith is solid. I used to say you didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know the truth in the Gospels and who Jesus Christ is, which you do not, but if you still think Jesus was just some prophet, or a really nice guy, well, maybe you should listen, again, to the man who achieved one of the greatest accomplishments of humanity by becoming an astronaut. As the author of Hebrews points out in the opening of that letter, Jesus expresses the very character of God, which makes what Jesus said to the people around Him (as recorded in the Gospels and explained throughout the rest of the New Testament) the Living Word of God, and our instruction manual as Christians. So, I will close with this, Jesus said our two greatest commands are to Love God and Love ALL People as we love our selves. The Son who helped the Father create the universe places love as the highest action we should commit to in our lives. Jesus was the first creation, as God created the Son to help create all of existence. Jesus was, is, and will forever be the very first Holy. With such prominence and divinity, I do hope you are living your life to honor the Son. Love God. Love people. Walk humbly. Serve others. Look after the widow and the orphan. Protect the foreigner. Resist the evils of this world. Be Holy, because He is Holy.
Common Sense Reborn 