slt111954

When we close our minds and our hearts to the gospel of Christ, we tend to drift away from what God intended for us through Christ. We tend to "listen" but not to "hear" what is meant for us to hear--we hear what we want to hear. To keep frm drifting, we must pay close attention to what is being said by and about Christ; we have got to learn to apply the teachings of Christ to our daily lives. We've got to learn to stand on the promises of salvation and eternal life made by God through Christ. HEAR THE WORD AND DO SOMETHING WITH IT! Don't just hear the Word and go about our daily lives as though we haven't learned anything from the Word of God. Jesus' description of the sower (farmer) in Matthew 13:3-9 says of drifting: "The hard path where some of the seeds fell represents the heart of a person who hears the Good News about the Kingdom and doesn't uderstand it; then Satan comes and snatches way the seeds from his heart. The shallow, rocky soil represents the heart of a man who hears the message and receives it with real joy but he doesn't have much depth in his life and the seeds don't root very deeply, and after a while when trouble comes, or persecution begins bcause of his beliefs, his enthusiasm fades, and he drops out. The ground covered with thistles represents a man who hears the message, but the cares of this life and his longing for money choke out God's Word, and he does less and less for God. The good ground represents the heart of a man who listens to the message and understands it and goes out and brings thirty, sixty, or even a hundred others into the Kngdom." (Matthew 13:18-23 TLB) This passage tells us to hear the Word and let the Word enter into our hearts and our lives--use the Word to bring others to Christ.

Jesus is devine because He is God in human form! "The Son is the radianceof God's glory . . ."--or reflection of . . . JESUS is the reflection of God (mirror image). ". . . I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols." (Isaiah 42:8). God said that He didn't give His glory or praise to others; however, he freely gives it to Jesus. Being the exact representation of God's being, Jesus and God are exactly alike; who better to represent the qualities and character of God in human form than God Himself? The Son's role is to preserve ALL THINGS--this He does at Calvary.

I think the author is telling us that Jesus is God's biological son; Although God used prophets to give instructions to let the Israelites know when He was pleased or displeased with them--Jesus, as His Son is above His companions (angels? men?)--God also (it appears) acknowledges the presence of Jesus at the creation of the earth--it seems that as the Son of God, having been at God's side from the beginning, Jesus would know firsthand the character and ways of God--he woud, therefore, be more authoritative when He speaks of God than the prophets were even though they spoke with God.