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.

When I said we need to make Jesus the Lord of our lives someone retorted to me “He always was Lord.” That is true but we didn’t accept Him into our hearts, we did not know until then He was that LORD. God always was and always will be, the Alpha and the Omega.

Since His Word is true, what name did He inherit? In the naming scheme of things some names are not adopted until something worth naming is achieved, sort of like Super Bowl Champ or MVP, or Chess Master, something was done that gave them that name.

Was Jesus always our Savior before His work of the Cross? That work was the defining moment in Christian history when His church was formed and we began to be called Christian.

What is in a name is what it stands for. God has many names and they all identify some aspect of what God does or has done.

What have we done to earn the name of Christian?

John 3:21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

God does the work but we have our part to do what is true. That is obedience of faith.

Romans 14:23c For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Isaiah 64:5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?

Matthew 1:21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

We earned the name Christian when we accepted Jesus into our hearts by faith.

God does the rest.

1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

I have been thinking. My thoughts are not always Godly and God knows that.

As I opened up my bible study app, this is the verse of the day. Interestingly it addresses in part some of my thoughts. Not all of them, but it gives enough clarity to separate some aspects of my thinking that should be avoided.

Our DNA make up is so closely related to other species that they have up to 98.5% of our DNA.

What is the 1.5% DNA that makes us different? No one ever tells us. They focus on the primates that are animals and look to compare them to us in every way they possibly can.

There is one primate in captivity that has the verbal comprehension of a three year old. He is remarkable in his responses to his trainer. It is obvious that he has personality, likes and ways to express joy. What he is not is free. He has never experienced freedom and has never had to deal with the same choices as other members of his species. He was not raised by apes in their natural environment.

We have a cat that only cares about getting its favorite treat. She will do anything to let us know what she wants. She can be affectionate, cuddles, rubs up against us, makes every emotional connection you would expect of a pet, but what she wants more than affection is those treats.

That is a human trait, a natural human trait. The cat isn’t human, but mankind is in every way so similar in behavior that we can see that the natural person is like any other animal. We will manipulate whoever we have to to get what we want.

When we come to Christ He becomes our Lord and we answer to Him. He loves us perfectly but does not treat us like a trained animal, soliciting what He wants from us by offering treats, inticements, or rewards. We are still human and human traits still exist. What we have now that we did not have before is the knowledge of who He is and what matters to Him.

Unlike that trained ape, we are free to choose.

We are free to choose to love our Lord and look to His interests or our own. What separates us from the natural person is the abiding presence of His love in our hearts. To know the love of God is what allows us to make the right choice for the right reason.

We are free to choose.