My pulpit message notes: The unshakeable destiny of a believer

The Unshakeable Destiny of a Believer

My Pulpit Message Notes are extracted from the sermon preached at the Nairobi Baptist Church (NBC) Ngong Road on Sunday 17th July 2022. Preacher: Rev. Dr. Master Obi Matlahope Scripture: Hebrews 2. Topic: The Unshakeable Destiny of a Believer

Hebrews 2:5-11

5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified:

“What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him? 7 You made them a little[a] lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honour 8 and put everything under their feet.”[b][c] In putting everything under them,[d] God left nothing that is not subject to them.[e] Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them.[f] 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death,so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

Purpose of message:

To encourage / strengthen our faith

The letter of Hebrews invites us to the task of defining the undefined. Some of the undefined is the identity of its writer.

The writer’s conceptual background is undefined, the character and location of the community to which he was addressing is not specifically defined. The circumstances and the date of composition of this letter is also undefined. The nature of the crisis which the writer is addressing are scanty and not exactly defined. This calls us to define the undefined.

We take solace in the fact that like all other historical letters / writings we are often called to reconstruct the history of such literature and have to use historical methodology to bring this together.

The author of Hebrews, the limit of his historical knowledge precludes positive identification i.e. we cannot positively conclude the writer of Hebrews. Some notes especially in Hebrew 13:18 where he identifies his friends and sends greeting allusion to Timothy has led others to say it could be Paul, but other things that this letter is characterised puts that also into question. E.g;

- The Greek deployed by the writer of Hebrews is much superior/classic than what we find in the Pauline letters. - The writers use of imagery is also quite distinctive; ship missing the harbour, the anchor gripping the seabed are also not similar to the imagery found in Paul’s writings. That is why in antiquity names have been circulated as possible writers such as Barnabas, Apollos, Silvanus, Priscilla, Aquila etc. However, that is not the case. The letter of Hebrews is a masterpiece of the New Testament.

Background Summary of Hebrews 2:1-5

- In the introduction the writer projects the superiority of salvation that the believers of the New Testament (NT) have, which has been elaborated in the person of Jesus Christ in Hebrews chapter one. By projecting the superiority of Jesus Christ far above angels, far above any other creature that God has ever created.

- This Jesus Christ has brought salvation which is not through angels, but through the Son. This contrast of the Son and the angels in chapter one have one purpose to show out the quality of the Son compared to angels, prophets, or any other Old Testament (OT) figure and this Son is by Whom God has given us salvation and therefore, the salvation that God has brought us through the Son is far superior, it has not match, it is of highest and he then warned from verse one to pay the most attention to what we have had so that we do not drift away.

- Since the message spoken through angels was binding and violation and disobedience received is just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such great salvation. The salvation which was first announce by the Lord and confirmed by those who heard Him.

- Verse three we find the phrase with implication. The OT folks heard the message of the angel sand when they heard the message of the angels, those who did not obey this message received just recompense and then he moves and says, to those of us who have received the message of the Son, how much more shall we receive a more just recompense.

The Basis of the New Believer

- From verse five going down to verse 11, the writer endeavours now to break down the ground / basis of the new believer. The excesses that we find in the faith of the new believer.

- “ It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking.” Here the writer is definitely thinking of the text in Deuteronomy 32:8 where in the old original translation, the Scripture there says, “When the Most High God gave the nations the inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He established boundaries for the nations according to the number of angels.”

- By implication, when the writer of Hebrews brings this out, he is saying, when God demarcated the nations, as it were, the demarcations were based on the number of angels and those angels which were allocated each nation, were given jurisdiction over those nations. So the nations of the world past, (cause he is about to focus on the world to come) was subjected to angels. Each nation had an angel.

- But the writer is saying in the world to come, God had not subjected it to any of the angels. This world to come He has subjected it only to His Son and this is our ground as believers. That is where we come in and that is the basis of our life.

The Resurrection | The World To Come

- This world to come is subjected to Jesus Christ when He was coronated the Son of God and given authority of rulership. - We believe the coronation of the Son which was pronounced in chapter one came about when He was resurrected and He was given the name above every name and was lifted high above every power and principality. He was crowned the Son of God and made the Ruler of the world to come. - This is the force / power of resurrection. - No wonder, about resurrection, how the NT devotes a good amount of its part to the resurrection. Acts 1:3, the Bible says, He showed Himself with indisputable proofs after His resurrection to many withnesses. 1 Corinthians 15, gives us the people whom He showed Himself, to His disciples, the inner circle, then to five hundred, then Paul says lastly to myself just to emphasise and underscore resurrection.

- Therefore resurrection of Jesus Christ is consequential, it is a mantra, it is the basis of the NT believer because it inaugurated the world to come. Resurrection gave birth to the world to come. Resurrection gave birth to the new beginning. Resurrection gave birth to a new platform of a believer.

- When you hear the gospel you receive the power of resurrection in you. The Spirit that enters you and occupies and lives inside of you is the Spirit of resurrection. He becomes resident in you. By extension, you then become a citizen of the world to come. You become part of that world to come as a new believer. This is critical for our identity as believers for us knowing ourselves.

The Believer’s Identity

- It is important as believers to know who we are, know where we stand, know the implication of our faith.

- The best weapon the enemy can use against a new testament believer is your limitation of understanding who you are. But if you know who you are and where you belong, the writer of Hebrews had quoted Psalm 8:4-8 where the Bible makes reference of man, “What is man that you are so mindful of him. You made him a little lower than angels and you subjected everything under him.

- In Psalm 8 he emancipates the things that were put under man. The writer of Hebrews used the same text of Psalm 8 and here we see a locution because he gives Psalm 8 new nuances. In Psalm 8 it seems the text refers to humanity in general and now he quotes the same text in Hebrews and here he gives it a new nuance, a Christological meaning. He associates Christ with Psalm 8:4-8. That Psalm becomes Christological in Hebrews.

- The reason it is a locution is because in Psalm it refers to humanity in general, but in Hebrews it refers to Christ.

- This is not a contradiction because the writer of Hebrews by giving Psalm 8 Christological meaning he is to associate Christ with humanity. Was Christ human? Yes. Is He therefore part of Psalm 8? Yes He qualifies.

- Jesus is associated with humanity. Jesus like all humanity was made a little lower than angels, but the other differentiation that we see in Hebrews, is that he now inserts a temporariness in that Psalm 8.

- In Hebrews 2, the writer says, ‘He was made a little lower than angels just for a time.’ So he gives it a new nuance, qualifying Jesus as part of humanity, but now giving Psalm 8 an extended meaning, and the implication that comes by that extended meaning. ‘He was made a little lower than angels. He was made part of humanity and that way He became part of you and me. A human being, a little lower than angels, but for a time.

- When was that time? When He became flesh, and when between His flesh and death on the cross. And then He rose from the dead, now inaugurating the world to come, by which the author of Hebrews is talking about.

- To us who believe in Him, He is not afraid to call us His brothers and sisters. He identifies with us.

- In identifying with us, we are one with Him. We are a family and He calls us brothers and sisters.

- He did this through His blood, cleansing us from our sins and giving us the His Spirit so that we are in solidarity with Him. Cleansed from all defilement which is tantamount to sanctification. We get cleansed for the service of our God.

- We are therefore then, in solidarity with the transcendent Son of God, Christ and our solidarity with Him is established.

- He who sanctifies and them that are sanctified are one. Only He alone is able to sanctify us completely to a point where we can become His brothers and sisters.

- When He cleanses you, you are clean, unlike the OT folks. It is for this that He doesn’t hesitate to call us His brothers and sisters.

- I submit to you that you are in the world to come by your faith in Christ Jesus.

- You are a citizen of the world to come. The end has begun from the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

- The end is a process which has begun. His resurrection began the end times and when you step in by faith, you step in as an end time personality. You belong now to the world that is anew, part of the new creation and by implication you are not under the authority of any angel whether it is territorial, or arch demonic angel, you are not under that angel by your faith and your identity with Christ.

- What does this mean? It takes away every fear from the forces and the powers of darkness and it enforces your authority as a NT believer in the now, who you are and how you relate to such forces because, the end has begun, but it has not ended, we are in the process.

- We are participants of the end times benefits which has eternal values and consequences to us as NT believers.

Encouragement

As you walk your walk of faith, know that without any variation you are one with Christ. You are part of the end-time world of which was not delegated to any angel. The only authority which is over you and superintends you is the authority of Christ and Him alone has the final authority in your life. You have the right to stand and declare your stand as far as any other thing is concerned. Know your identity and your authority.