2 Samuel 1:26 I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant have you been to me; your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women.

Ecclesiastes 1:16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.”

2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
2 Corinthians 9:14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you.

2 Corinthians 12:7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

Philippians 3:8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

This word study comes from the definition used yesterday about preeminence. The feelings we have about being passed over just because of the sound of the word surpassing is wrong. Jesus is God and with God in the beginning. He was always first. So why did Jesus come into the story so late in the reading.

Hebrews 1 English Standard Version

The Supremacy of God’s Son

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

The simple answer is that man stopped listening to the prophets, killed the prophets, and created prophets for false gods.

What I hear you will not find in the bible, but it rings true enough for me.

“Since you would not believe my messengers, I will come down there and speak to you myself.”

That is my quote by faith. You may use it but all glory must go to God. I am but a man.

Access by faith into grace.

Here are those three words, access, faith and grace. Here is the first time each of those words occur in the ESV version of the bible.

Zechariah 3:7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here.”

Exodus 21:8 If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her.

Esther 2:17 the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

We should not be surprised to discover these new testament words first appeared in the Old Testament. God’s intentions, and conversations begin there. Now look at what our search engine suggests we read first for each word.

Ephesians 2:18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Hebrews 11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

The reason that these suggestions are made is not because God has changed but rather because of this important truth.

Colossians 1:15 The Preeminence of Christ

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Dictionary

Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more

pre·em·i·nence

noun

• the fact of surpassing all others; superiority.

If we cannot accept this as fact, then we have not been granted access into His grace by the faith we have been granted. “He was in the beginning with God.” Fact not fiction.