Lesson 1 – The Son of God

Read Hebrews 1 - www.bible.com/bible/59/heb.1.esv
The book of Hebrews is one of contrasts, comparing Jesus with other people or even angels to help us understand who He is. So our first lesson is about trying to understand what it means that Jesus is the “Son of God.”

Ancient mythology tells us that the gods came to earth and had sex with human women and so created sons of the gods who were also human. This is not how Jesus became the “Son of God.” In fact it is offensive to even think such about God. Let’s instead look at the first words of this book – God, after He spoke to our fathers and prophets in many ways, has, in these last days spoken to us by His Son. We could just as easily say, “God used to speak to people in Chaldean and Hebrew, but in these last days He has spoken in the language of Son.”


In the first verse of the Gospel of John we read that the “word” was God and was with God in the beginning. God spoke in visions and dreams, and then something wonderful happened in His perfect time – the “Word became flesh” so we could not only see Him, we could touch and hear Him.

How can we even see this in our imagination – our words aren’t powerful enough to come to life. But God’s words are. We can even read this in Genesis – God spoke, and His words were powerful enough to make moons and planets and stars and trees and grass and air between space and earth for a life-sustaining atmosphere.

And when that perfect time for the “Word” to become visible in the form of a human, God stooped down and with His infinite love whispered, “today you are my Son, today I have begotten you.”

But God didn’t stop there, He also said this unique Life would be His own Son and He would be the Father to Him. He also promised His Son that the throne of all creation would be His forever. But God still didn’t stop. He said He would give the final judgment of all things into the hands of this God-man (Matthew 25:31-34, 2 Timothy 4:1-8).

This new God-man was not something unknown or even created, however, because in verse 3 we find Him described as the radiance of God’s glory, the exact imprint of God’s nature, and the one who holds together all the universe in His own power. Again God goes even further in His statement – by this God-man, His Son, everything in the universe holds together. Have you ever wondered what holds an atom together when the protons in the nucleus repel each other? Jesus does – see Colossians 1:17. One day Jesus will open His hand and release all those protons, and, as stated in verses 11 and 12 of our chapter, everything in our universe will end. But Jesus, and those who have accepted His offer of forgiveness and eternal life, will live on forever.