Bible Book Club: Hebrews 1:1-4

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.

–Hebrews 1:1-4

This week’s reading in the Bible Book Club was selected based upon a suggestion from Caleb Allen. Hebrews as a book stands out from the rest of Paul’s letters, mostly in the fact that it is written expressly to Hebrews; not Christians in Phillipi or Corinth or Rome. He was writing to the Hebrews wherever they were ion the world. Because of this fact, he needs to establish right from the start who Jesus is. The Hebrew people believed in God, they were His chosen people, but they didn’t know Jesus in the way He wanted them to know Him. Paul starts off by introducing this man called Jesus to the Hebrews.

He starts by establish the revelation of Jesus as being a new revelation and more powerful and important, more significant than the revelation God spoke through the prophets in the old testament. He introduces Jesus as one greater than the angels, this places Him in a rank above mere men who were made a little lower than the angels. Jesus Christ has inherited a name more excellent than the angels for his is above them.

The Hebrews were not to be taught and exhorted in the same way as the gentile Christians, for one, the Hebrew people rejected the deity of Christ. They scorned and spurned their Savior whereas the gentiles, recognising their need for a savior accepted Him with opened arms. The Hebrew people knew about Jesus, but the gentiles knew Jesus. Paul didn’t have to explain Jesus to them and verify His Godship, he merely reinforced that fact. But, to the Jews, the Hebrews, he had to almost pander his messages, teaching them about how their laws fell short of God’s righteousness and how Christ was the fulfillment of God’s perfect law and their only Salvation. The gospel of Hebrews is one that takes many chapters to fully build up to and is a stark awakening for a nation once righteous to the fact that when Jesus comes, everything changes.

America need the book of  Hebrews. Our souls need the book of Hebrews. We need to be reminded that our once good works and passable Christianity is not enough to make a difference as servants of Christ. As a nation, we need to recognize that righteousness exalts but does not save. Yes we need to correct the moral status of our country, but we need to be saved from our many sins first, else as soon as we clean up one mess we will create another. There is no change without Christ and there is no Christ without change. We need to realize that. It’s time for a change.

As always, thanks for reading.

–the anonymous novelist

Bible Book Club: Proverbs 10

As promised last Thursday, I will be posting a Bible study every Thursday based upon the passage the Bible Book Club chooses for that week. The Bible Book Club, or BBC, is a online forum hosted on Facebook that operates as a real life book club would. Each week we choose a passage or chapter, read it, study it, then convene the next week to discuss and choose another passage. This week it is Proverbs 10, and before I begin I would like to say that you may absolutely share your thoughts on this post as an extension of the Bible Book Club here on WordPress, or you can join the club on Facebook as well.

The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.
The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked. He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.

–Proverbs 10:1-5

Solomon opens this passage with a variety of proverbs speaking to us as children. He offers fatherly advice and wisdom exclusive to the first 5 verses. The rest of the passage contains no mention of the words “father”, “son”, or “mother”, so we can isolate this wisdom to being specifically translated into a metaphor or children to a parent.

“A wise son maketh a glad father:”

A prudent son who applies the knowledge taught to him in his youth, (Proverb 22:6), makes his father proud. That pride is in the satisfaction of his son’s success being contributed to by the father’s guidance and teaching.

“But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.”

Foolishness causes the son to err from what he was taught, it becomes a burden to his mother that he is in and out of trouble. The mother succumbs to worry and frets over the well being of her child, add to this the fact the mother has no one to blame but herself and her husband for this. Disciplining a child when they’re young is the only way to avoid them become fools and falling from the way, (Proverbs 22:15).

“Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.”

What could this mean? This verse speaks of spiritual death, but how can righteousness deliver from eternal death if only by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ are we saved? Well, the word treasure appears other times in the Scriptures: Luke 12:34, For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

If our heart is for wickedness, our treasures are earthly and will pass away: therefore profiting nothing. If our heart is for righteousness our treasures are heavenly and will not pass away, but will deliver us from eternal death: for the treasure of the righteous is Jesus Christ.

“He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.”

Again with the spiritual sense, this time it is reffering to spiritual harvest. The son who seeks after the gain of the father, his employer(God) by gathering the harvest(souls) is wise. But, the son that sleeps, the son who is carnally minded and living for earthly pleasure who ignores the harvest, that son causes a blot and a shame to come upon his reputation and that of His employer(God). Really, this is the story of the prodigal son. Wow! Mind blown! I just saw that right now, it is the prodigal son.

Verses:

1. The wise and foolish sons, one stays, one demands his inheritance and goes off into a far country.
2. The treasure of the fool in pleasure and his heart is full of wickedness. This profits him nothing.
3. The righteous and wise son who stayed was fed by the father and taken care of, but the foolish and wicked son wasted his money and went hungery.
4. The foolish prodigal dealt his money away free-handedly and lost it all while the wise son worked dilligently and earned his wages and his inheritance.
5. The arguement with the dilligent son and the father about the son who left and during the harvest and he had stayed. The righteous son didn’t realize his reward was already given to him by right of his work, but that also, the father’s mercy accepted the wayward son back in spite of his shame.

The foolish son missed the harvest because he fell spiritually asleep and gave himself to fleshly lust and desires. The righteous son was rewarded for his faithfulness, but foolish son suffered the loss of a blessing, the loss of all his possessions, and the shame of the pig-pen. The good news is, Jesus tells this as a story of hope in Luke 15:11-32. There is hope for the prodigals and it’s called grace. The love of the father will never spurn or turn away from a child returning broken and ashamed.

Obviously, that is not remotely all there is to Proverbs 10, and I’m sure there will be millions of other thoughts and comments shared in the Facebook group which you can find here.

As always, thanks for reading.

–the anonymous novelist