Hebrews 1
1 Throughout ancient times God spoke in many fragments and glimpses of prophetic thought to our fathers.
2 Now, the sum total of his conversation with man has finally culminated in a son. He is the official heir of all things. He is, after all, the author of the ages. Jesus is what has been on the tip of the Father’s tongue all along! (The revelation of man’s redeemed sonship, as revealed in Jesus, is the crescendo of God’s conversation with humanity. Throughout the ages he has whispered his name in disguise to be revealed in the fullness of time as the greatest surprise. The exact image of God, his very likeness, the authentic eternal thought, became voice and was made flesh in us. The composer of a concert masterpiece knew that the notes scribbled on a page would finally find its voice in a symphony of instruments.)
3 We have our beginning and our being in him. He is the force of the universe, sustaining everything that exists by his eternal utterance! Jesus is the radiant and flawless expression of the person of God. He makes the glory (doxa, intent) of God visible and exemplifies the character and every attribute of God in human form. (Gen 1:26, 27) This powerful final utterance of God (the incarnation revealing our sonship) is the vehicle that carries the weight of the universe. What he communicates is the central theme of everything that exists. The content of his message celebrates the fact that God took it upon himself to successfully cleanse and acquit humankind. The man Jesus is now his right hand of power, the executive authority seated in the boundless measure of his majesty. He occupies the highest seat of dominion to endorse our innocence! His throne is established upon our innocence. (“Having accomplished purification of sins, he sat down …”)
4 No angel can compete with him in rank or name. This is his rightful portion.
5 God did not address the angels when he said (in Psalm 2), “You are my son, today I have given birth to you! I am to you all that a Father can be to a son, and you are to me all that a son can be to a Father. (The resurrection of Jesus represents the rebirth of the human race.)
6 And when he leads his son in triumphant parade, as his firstborn, before the whole inhabited world, he says, “Let all God’s angels kiss his hand in adoration.” (See Ephesians 4:8, Scripture confirms that he led us as trophies in his triumphant procession on high; he repossessed his gift (likeness) in man. Quote from the Hebrew text, Ps 68:18, lakachta mattanoth baadam, thou hast taken gifts in man, in Adam. The gifts which Jesus Christ distributes to man he has received in man, in and by virtue of his incarnation. — Commentary by Adam Clarke. We were born anew in his resurrection.
[1 Pet 1:3, Hos 6:2] The fact that he ascended confirms his victorious descent into the deepest pits of human despair [Eph 4:9]. See John 3:13 [RSV], “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, even the son of man.” All mankind originate from above; we are anouthen, from above. He now occupies the ultimate rank of authority from the lowest regions, where he stooped down to rescue us to the highest authority in the heavens, having executed his mission to the full. Fallen man is fully restored to the authority of the authentic life of his design. [Eph 4:10])
7 He endorses the fact that the angels are his messengers; he made them to be swift like the wind and to move at the speed of lightning.
8 But when he addresses the son he says, “Your throne, O God, extends beyond the ages. The scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom” (Ps 45:6)
9 “You love righteousness and detest evil. Therefore, O God, your God anointed you with the oil of joy to stand head and shoulders above your associates.” (Ps 45:7)
10 “The earth traces its foundation back to you, the heavens also are your invention; they are all handmade by you.” (Ps 102:25)
11They shall become obsolete but you will remain, they shall show wear like an old garment;
12 and you will eventually roll them up as a mantle; they shall be replaced, but you remain “I am,” and your years will never cease. (Ps 102:26)
13 Neither was it the angels he had in mind when he said, “You are my executive authority (the extension of my right hand), take your position and witness how I make your enemies a place upon which you may rest your feet.” (Mt 22:42-45)
14 What role do the angels play in God’s strategy? They are all employed by God in the apostolic ministry of the Spirit to help administer the inheritance of salvation that belongs to mankind.
by Mirror Bible – mobile app. http://www.mirrorbible.com
Enter His rest….

“In Christ the Sabbath rest is no longer a shadow prefiguring the real, a token holy day in the week, but the celebration of a perfect redemption in which the exact image and likeness of God is revealed and redeemed in human form. Man’s innocence is redeemed. “Having made purification for sins, he sat down…” The executive authority of his throne is established on the fact of our innocence! Sabbath is now a place of God’s unhindered enjoyment of man and man’s unhindered enjoyment of God. Through the torn veil of hia flesh, he has triumphantly opened a new and living way for mankind into the life of their design in the loving embrace of their Maker.”
Francois du Toit Intro to Hebrews, Mirror Word
Hebrews 4:3-4 MW
3 Faith (not our own works) realizes our entrance into God’s rest (into the result of his completed work). Hear the echo of God’s cry though the ages, “Oh! If only they would enter into my rest.” His rest celebrates perfection. His work is complete; the fall of humanity did not flaw its perfection.
(Some translations read, “As I have sworn in my wrath” derived from orge, meaning passionate desire, any strong outburst of emotion. “Oh! If only they would enter into my rest.” First Adam failed to enter into God’s finished work, and then Israel failed to enter into the consequence of their complete redemption out of Egypt, and as a result of their unbelief perished in the wilderness. Now let us not fail in the same manner to see the completed work of the Cross. How God desires for us to see the same perfection; what he saw when he first created man in his image and then again what he saw in the perfect obedience of his Son. God is not “in his rest” because he is exhausted, but because he is satisfied with what he sees and knows concerning us! He now invites us with urgent persuasion to enter into what he sees. His rest was not at risk. “His works were finished from the foundation of the world.” The word, apo, translates as away from, before and katabalo, cast down, the fall of humanity, sometimes translated, foundation [see notes on Eph 1:4 ] “This association goes back to before the fall of the world, his love knew that he would present us again face to face before him in blameless innocence.” The implications of the fall are completely cancelled out.)
4 Scripture records the seventh day to be the prophetic celebration of God’s perfect work. What God saw satisfied his scrutiny.
(Behold, it is very good, and God rested from all his work. [Gen 1:31, 2:2] God saw more than his perfect image in Adam, he also saw the Lamb and his perfect work of redemption! “The Lamb having been slain from the foundation of the world.” [Rev 13:8] “That which has been is now; that which is to be, already has been” [Ecc 3:15])
Enter His rest….
Thought I’d try something different, nope it’s like a sequel, (doh!), Christianity, God,
Stepped in the GPR to chill, read, and contemplate. I’ve been in Romans and thought to myself I’d try something different. Half-heartedly I prayed where to God? I was drawn to Hebrews. I opened up The Mirror Translation and started to read the intro and it smacked me in the head like a five year old with a baseball bat…
There it was again, “the revelation of our restored innocence based on the finished work of the cross… ” I am really liking this recurring theme of the cross and its restorative effect on me. The cross and his resurrection made my/mans original identity possible.
I was on Facebook this week and I saw this post:
” Did Adam and Eve have a closer relationship with God than we do? I say NO. In the Garden there was a visitaton. In us there is a habitation!”
I thought about it and replied:
“Yes no yesInitially, yes. Thet walked and talked in the garden, Adam blew that relationship and brought sin into the equation. Man was tied up with dependence on the law, rules and sacrifice (bummer). Jesus by coming to the earth abd sacrificing himself once and for all restored that original identity and redeemed innocence. We now have that same direct access with access to more.”
My original identity has been hard reset, I am walking in pre-fall factory default hard reset. All the garbage from the fall is essentially reset. The message of the Gospel walked out through Jesus ends that dominance of my earthly senses my spirit man is awakened to the relationship with which God has been courting us humans. “What God spoke to us in sonship (the incarnation), radiates his image and likeness in our redeemed innocence.” du Toit, TMT pg.191.
The Gospel in a nutshell is that the mission of the cross was a success! I no longer have to strive to reach a standard and comply to 10 main rules and over 600 minor laws. It’s not about what I have done wrong but what Jesus has done.
Yesterday I wrote on Romans 1:1, Pauls mandate/mantle that same mandate/mantle we walk in 2000 years later.
WOW! THINK ABOUT THAT!
My prayer:
God each and every day show me what you see and what you feel. Lord I want to walk in the spirit not bound by the flesh. Show me how to walk as a man who is already dead. Dead to the things of this world and totally alive to you.