The author of the Book of Hebrews starts his book out with a
bang:
“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets
at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us
by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made
the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact
representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After
he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty
in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has
inherited is superior to theirs.” - Hebrews 1:1-4
I was listening to Hebrews again today, and I was really
struck by this passage. The whole first part of the book is all about how Jesus
is so much superior.
In these few sentences, he hits a single topic from a couple
of directions that are worth paying attention to, particularly for people like
you and me.
First, he declares that the revelation of God in the person
of his Son is superior to the revelation of God through the prophets. Since
we’re pretty excited about prophets and prophecy, we probably need to notice
this. Jesus is bigger, better, more important than any prophetic revelation.
He’s not at all saying that God speaking through prophets is bad,
only that God speaking through Jesus is the ridiculously superior revelation.
This has application two ways:
First, it’s clear that he was referencing the Old Testament
prophets. The revelation of God is vastly superior to the revelation of the Old
Testament prophets.
There are a lot of believers whose opinions about who God is
and what God wants are influenced pretty heavily by Jeremiah and Ezekiel and
the rest of the Old Testament. That is a legitimate representation of God, but
it is an inferior representation or revelation of him. The Bible says so (right
here, in this passage)!
But second, I believe the principle applies to modern day
prophets as well (and you know I love the prophetic movement!): the revelation
of God and of his heart from today’s prophets is substantially more complete
than the revelation of ’Miah and ’Zeke, but it’s still vastly inferior to the revelation that is
in Jesus.
This is one of the (several) reasons that I try to discourage
people from asking every prophetic person they know for a prophetic word:
prophecy is good (1Corinthians says it’s the most profitable of the revelatory
gifts), but it’s still an inferior revelation to that which you can get just by
visiting with the Son of God who lives in you!
The second part of this passage carries that a step further:
Jesus is also hugely superior to the angels.
This is a day when God really is unfolding revelation about
angels and inviting us to partner with them. But the Word reminds us (right
here) that the work of the angels, while still valuable, is an inferior work to
the work of the Son of God.
If you continue on in Hebrews, the author will point out
that just as the artist is superior to the work of art he creates, just as the heir of the
estate is of higher stature than the stable boys of the estate (my paraphrase),
so the Son of God also a better revelation of God’s nature than his servants,
either prophet or angel or any other servant.
It doesn’t hurt that this Son also happens to be the
creator of the universe and the “exact representation” of God. I think that
makes his job easier.
I’m left chewing on this: pay attention to the words of the
prophets, but pay more attention to the words that Jesus speaks to you. And
trust the ministry of the angels, but trust the work of Jesus even more.
Yes, it really does all boil down to Jesus, doesn’t it? It really
is all about Him!
--
Come join the conversation at https://www.facebook.com/northwestprophetic.
No comments:
Post a Comment