 Okay, so the recording has started. Welcome once again everyone. Thank you for being a part of this class. We will study five books in this course. We will pray. I'll give you an overview of how we are going to go about this and then we will get started. Okay, so I want to request one of us to please lead with the word of prayer please. Yeah, how about Prince? Prince, would you like to begin? Sure. Yeah, please go ahead. Yeah, thank you dear Abulipad. Thank you. And this morning lot, you're giving us one more day in our live log. Thank you. We submitted this time in your hand. Lot help us to learn your word. Whatever we'll learn. We use in our daily life lot help us. Holy Spirit will pass. Let us guide us and also I pray for the ma'am and all the students. Those who didn't chat, I pray for them. They will join quickly. Thank you. I submit all the questions in your hand. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Thank you, Prince. And once again, really good to see all of you. This class, each one of you. I am so grateful for your, what can I say, like you have been committed and you've been journeying together through all these semesters. Okay, so truly that is wonderful. Grateful to God for you, for your commitment. And I pray that this final semester, which many of you, especially the online students have taken up that God would give you the grace, the strength and the wisdom to complete it. But it's not just about completing, isn't it? This, whatever we study God's word is for life and beyond life here on earth. So it's truly precious. And may every word, you know, become a part of you. So in this course, we are going to study five books of the Bible. We will touch on the book of Hebrews. Then we will also study first and second Peter. We will study the book of James and then finally the book of Jude. Okay, so quite a few books to complete here. So I might go a little faster than the way I did your previous course. However, you know, we will definitely make sure that we touch on all the key, key truths from these books, right? And there will be three assignments. We will split it as 30, 30 and 40% as far as the percentage of Marx is concerned. So I encourage all of us to attempt all three assessments. Okay, so I mean, you know that when you attempt, you at least end up gaining, you know, some portion of the Marx. It's when you don't take up an assignment that you actually lose more marks. So make sure that you attempt all the three graded assessments in this course. Alright, so the assessments are planned for mid-February, mid-March and mid-April. This will be the same for the e-learning students as well. Okay, the timing and the proportion of the Marx that have been allocated to the three graded assignments. And apart from this, for our study, we have the primary, primary resource as David Guzik's enduring word, which we've been following for all our courses at APCBC. So you could, you know, refer to that and over and above, you can, you're free to touch on any other commentary, learn from any other commentary as well. But primarily, you know, we are using the commentary of David Guzik. Okay, so there is no textbook as such, which has been posted on your stream page or for the e-learning students, the textbook page. You just have to go to the commentary and then study from there. Okay, so that is how we are going to go about it. So the first book that I have chosen to begin with is the book of Hebrews. So let's start off with the book of Hebrews. So the book of Hebrews is very, very rich. Every word there, you know, we could spend hours and are not exaggerating, you know, really you could spend hours trying to understand the meaning of each word given here. But we will attempt to be quick so that we can get the key learning from it and then move on so that we can complete all the five books of the Bible in this particular course. So Hebrews has 13 chapters. When you look at the entire book of Hebrews, primarily the person of Jesus stands out in this book. So we will see that the Lord Jesus is fully God, that he is fully man and not just that. The book of Hebrews keeps talking about the superiority of the Lord Jesus, how he is greater than the greatest prophets of old. Moses is considered as the greatest prophet, but even greater than Moses is the Lord Jesus. So the superiority of Jesus is talked about in this book for us. And then we are shown how the Lord Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises that God made in the Old Covenant. We will see that he is like the high priest, Melchizedek. In fact, we will see in Hebrews chapter 6 how he is the greatest high priest. And then the continuation happens in Hebrews chapter 7, the superiority of Jesus to Melchizedek even. So we will see that and then we will continue to see that the Lord Jesus has become the mediator of the new and the better covenant. And he also has become that sacrifice, a great sacrifice for us who has taken away our sins. So Hebrews paints this wonderful picture about the Lord Jesus as the high priest and also our sin-bearer. And then later on we move on to looking at Jesus as the one who suffered for us, who trusted in the reward of God and overcame challenges in this life. And we begin to see the value of faith. So Hebrews chapter 11, a very famous chapter in this book talks about faith and how through faith we can overcome. The Lord Jesus was one who overcame here in the sufferings that he experienced. So the book of Hebrews has all these themes flowing through it and it's really rich, really rich calling us to fix our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. So primarily these are some truths or concepts if you want to call here in the book of Hebrews. Now the book of Hebrews, we will look at a little bit of background before we look at the chapter 1 and what it contains. So the author of the book of Hebrews, there is some speculation about it because the author does not introduce himself or herself by name. So the historians have many opinions about who could have written the book of Hebrews. Several people and certain prominent historians believe that the writer of the book of Hebrews is Paul himself. He wrote it in Hebrew and then later Luke translated into Greek. That's what they believe. But Paul, if you look at his other writings, he has been very out there to introduce himself. But in the book of Hebrews, you don't find anyone's name. So it's hard to confirm that this is really Paul and also the writing style is slightly different in the book of Hebrews compared to other books. Because Paul has a very systematic way of writing. Here you would see that it kind of begins in a very philosophical way and then it kind of ends up like a letter towards the end. So it's different from the other formats that Paul has followed in the episodes. However, there are a good number of historians that believe that this book was probably written by Paul himself. And then there are others who say that this book was probably written by some other prominent people in the first century church. Maybe Barnabas was the writer of this book or Apollos. If you recall the book of Corinthians, we have an introduction to this person called Apollos, who was a co-worker of Paul and he was an eloquent man. So there is speculation that he could have been the writer of the book of Hebrews. Then again there are people who say that it could have been Priscilla. Again from the book of Hebrews, if you recall there was Akula and Priscilla. Priscilla was very well versed in God's Word. And she is also sometimes looked at the greater teacher among the couple, the husband and wife team. So it could have been Priscilla is what some people say. Now it's really hard to confirm all these, to confirm the authorship. So a lot of people would simply say the writer of the Hebrews. Whenever they talk about the book of Hebrews, they wouldn't say that Paul says they won't use the name of any author. To be on the safer side, they would generally say the writer of the book of Hebrews. So you can subscribe to, if you think this was Paul, then you could probably say Paul. But then generally people stick to the author or the writer of the book of Hebrews. Another thing about the book of Hebrews is that it was likely to have been written to the 1st century church. So you dated back to about 67 to 69 AD. And that was the time where there was a lot of persecution going on. And you would see that as part of the writing there's a lot of encouragement coming to believers who were struggling. What were the struggles of those believers? They were not respected probably in the community. A lot of privileges that other Jewish people had. They were taken away or certain benefits were not provided to these people. And further, if you study the times that these believers lived in, people were being killed for their faith. People were being very seriously persecuted. So it was a tough time. So the writer of the Hebrews brings encouragement. And one of the ways in which he brings encouragement is to call the people to draw their attention to what is important. What is important? Hebrews 12, later on you would find that the writer says fix your eyes on Jesus. There's so much going on around you. How can we overcome? We can overcome when our focus is right. And so the theme, the main theme, one thing, if you want to talk about one thing that comes out strongly in the book of Hebrews, it's the person of the Lord Jesus. The writer is always saying, you know, Jesus is this, this is the revelation about the Lord Jesus. Fix your eyes on Jesus. So as long as we fix our eyes on the Lord Jesus, the storms of this life, the challenges of this life, we are able to overcome. And that is the manner in which the writer has encouraged the believers who are going through a rough patch and a very, very difficult time. This was also considered as a very difficult time for the early church under the persecution of the then government that they were going through. So it is a book of encouragement. It is a book which is calling the believer to rise up and fulfill the purpose that God has for the believer. Okay, so now let's get into the book. I would prefer at least for the first time to read through the entire book, entire chapter, the first chapter. But later on, I don't think we will have the time to read through every chapter. So you will have to follow the chapter, have it open, have your Bible open. We are using the NKJV version primarily for this course. So have it open. And then, you know, I think I will just go with the explanation as all of us look at the chapter in front of us. We will not have time to read every chapter, but chapter one, let's quickly read through it. So I would like to request maybe a couple of us to read this chapter. Okay, so we have, we have 14 verses here. So how about the, yeah, we could do like to begin with, you know, people could do like four, four verses. Right. So, and then whatever's remaining towards the end, the last person could just read those verses. So it might take four of us to read. So can, can any four people please volunteer? In the past, God spoke to our ancestors many times and in many ways, show the prophet. But in these days, he has spoken to us, show his son. He is the one through whom God created the universe, the one whom God has chosen to possess all things at the end. He reflects the brightness of God's glory and is the exact likeness of God's own being. Sustaining the universe with his power words of the achieving forgiveness for the sins of mankind. He said town in heaven at the right hand side of God, the superior, supreme power. The son was made great and the angel just asked the name that God gave. Him is greater than dear, dears. For God never said to any of his angel. Okay. Thank you, Aranya. The next person could read from verse five. For two weeks of the angel state, he ever says, you are my son. Today I have been caught in you and again I will be to with him, father and he shall be me, our son. But when he again brings the first one into the world, he says, let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels, he says, who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a frame of fire. But to the son, he says, you're thrown. Oh God is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. Yeah. Thank you, Kiran. I think the next person can read. Yeah. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. And your Lord in the beginning laid the foundation of earth and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain and they will all grow old like a garment. Like a clock, you will fold them up and they will be changed, but you are the same and your ears will not fail. But to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your foodstool. Are they not all the ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those will inherit the salvation. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Thomas. I think three of you have completed reading through the entire passage. That's good. Now let's go ahead and study what is coming out of these passages. So when you look at it overall, the first chapter of the book of Hebrews, you will see that the deity of Christ is what is being talked about here. The deity means the fact that the Lord Jesus is fully God. Okay. He is definitely God. That is being brought out beautifully in the first chapter of the book of Hebrews. And it's being said in different ways. Firstly, we would see the characteristics of the Lord Jesus and how that reveals to us that he is God. And later on the writer begins to compare the angels and Jesus and he establishes that the Lord Jesus is greater than the angels. And then he describes how the angels are the ones who worshiped the Lord Jesus. And this could also be because during the times when this book was written, the believers probably were touched by some sort of a teaching that said that angels are also gods and that they should be worshipped. So he is demolishing that philosophy in this first chapter. So mainly it tells us that Jesus is God, that Jesus is superior in every way and that the angels are actually subject to the Lord Jesus. And also there is a very beautiful picture of the Trinity that is coming through. You would have studied in Christology and other courses that the very word Trinity, you don't really find it in the Bible. But in the way the description of the three persons of the Trinity comes through and the way here we would see certain quotes from the Old Testament where the father is addressing the son. And this is how we paint the picture of the relationship that the three persons of the Godhead have. So the Trinity is also something that we will understand in the interactions of the persons of the Godhead from the book of Hebrews. And then one more beautiful thing about the book of Hebrews is that there will be a quotations from the Old Testament. Now I told us that the book was written to the believers who were suffering during the first century. Now these believers are aware of the Jewish origin and thereby to convince them. Definitely the writer had to take from the Old Testament from the books that were already available to these Jewish believers because they were familiar with the scriptures. And so he takes many scriptures to explain the person of the Lord Jesus and that's how in a very rich way with a lot of substantiation he proves that the Lord Jesus is the fulfillment of what God has been speaking to us in the Old Testament. So you know that is kind of a summary of the first chapter of the book of Hebrews. So now let's get started. The first verse itself that's really beautiful. He begins by saying God who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets. So the writer is speaking to these Jewish believers and it's somewhat like the Bible and in the Bible we know the canon of scripture. Somehow the way they've arranged it is it begins with Genesis though chronologically that may not be the first book which was written yet in the Bible. You have the book of Genesis which is the first book and in that book you know we have the first verse there which says in the beginning God and it's like establishing the greatness of God. The writer does not even find it necessary to try to explain how God came into existence. He simply emphatically states that God always existed, that God is superior to anyone anything that he is the creator and the writer is unapologetic. He doesn't feel that he owes an explanation to who is this God, how did this God you know create us, how did he come into existence. Nothing, no explanation. He just takes it for granted you need to know there is a God who he is very unapologetic. So the first word of the book of Hebrews is God and the greatness of God no explanation offered. God who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past and he introduces this God as a speaking God, a God who seeks relationship with mankind. A God who chooses to interact and you see that various times, various ways God has made an attempt to communicate because what is important for this God relationship. Why was man created for relationship and this God has communicated. You know as part of a relationship we know the people that we relate to we keep getting to know their nature. We understand them over time and similarly they understand us and we see here that God is also striving for that. He wants us to have a revelation of who he is and that is why you see here God in various ways in various times spoke. So he is giving us a revelation of who he is. He wants us to understand him and that is what worship is, isn't it? He wants us to know him and whenever we know him what happens? We can't but worship. So worship becomes a response to the revelation of God and when God speaks, worship becomes the result of the life of a believer. So even through the book of Hebrews when we study it moment by moment you might find yourself saying wow, is this who God is? Wow, it's amazing you know and adoration comes out of our hearts and we say oh God thank you for who you are and thank you for your goodness, thank you for your greatness. So worship is a result of the revelation of God and we see here the writer of the Hebrews says God wanted to reveal himself. And so he communicated, he spoke how did he speak in times fast to the fathers? Remember it's written to a Jewish audience and we have people in the Old Testament who were considered as the patriarchs. Don't buy the Jews, you had the Abraham and the Jacob and the Isaac and the Moses, all of them known as the fathers. To them God spoke and how did God primarily speak in the Old Covenant? We know that the prophets were the mouthpiece of God but we know now in the New Testament by the Holy Spirit how the prophetic works through every believer but in the Old Testament primarily through the prophets. So God's word came through the prophets but the writer reveals the greatest way in which God has spoken to us and he simply seals it as in these last days he has spoken to us by his son. So looking at the person of the Lord Jesus, one conclusion that we can jump to is that he is God's message. What is God's greatest message? What is God's most precious letter that he ever wrote to us? You can pull it out of the drawer, all the communications from God and then you will pick up this one letter called Jesus. The greatest message that God ever gave us and that's what the writer says. He has spoken to us. What is the last days? Last days refers to the time period after the ascension. In fact, the first century church was waiting during these last days for the second coming of the Lord Jesus and we continue to do that. We are still in the last days. In fact, the last of the last days and how has the Lord spoken to us in these last days through his son Jesus Christ. So we conclude that the Lord Jesus is the greatest message that God has ever given to mankind. So if you look at the ways in which the message came earlier on, many ways, isn't it? Burning bush. You had Moses receiving a message through the burning bush. You had Elijah receiving the message of God in different ways, also a still small voice. The message came in that form. The message came to Isaiah through a heavenly vision. The message came to Hosea through a crisis that he was going through in his personal life to aim us through a prophetic word and a picture like a basket of food. But which is the greatest message in these last days through his son Jesus Christ. So God has spoken to us. So when we look at the person of the Lord Jesus, there is a message from God. And our hearts must keep capturing what God is saying through the Lord Jesus. How would we understand this message? It's good to study about the person of the Lord Jesus from scripture. All of scripture, the central personality of scripture is who? Yes, the Godhead, but the Lord Jesus is being spoken of throughout scripture. Whenever we read the Bible, I've heard preachers say that you can read it over and over and over again, because once you have read through the context, the history, the geography, all of those things, we should really be looking for Jesus in every book of the Bible, every verse of the Bible, every word of the Bible, because ultimately the entire Bible is pointing to the person of the Lord Jesus. So when we study, and especially through the Gospels, who is this Jesus? What did he do? How did he reveal the Father? You get the message that the Father was trying to convey to us. So the greatest message is the person of the Lord Jesus. That's what the book of Hebrews is telling us. Now, the second portion here of verse 2, it says, whom he has appointed heir of all things. Again, you see the description of Jesus is coming through. What is another truth about Jesus here? He is appointed. Meaning, God's power has called him, established him, appointed him. So he is backed up by the Father. He is appointed. You understand that? And then we see here that he is the heir of all things. He is the heir meaning somebody who has been given all the inheritance. That person is the heir. Usually the son or the daughter, the children, they become the heir of the Father. So who is the heir of everything that God has? The Lord Jesus. So when we look at the Lord Jesus, we understand, hey, everything is his. He is the heir of the Father. All things, it says all things, heir of all things. So that is the Lord Jesus for us. He is appointed. He is the heir through whom also he made the worlds. So, see here, we usually refer to the Father as the Creator, but what are we picking up here? The Lord Jesus had a role to play in creation. So the worlds were also made through the Lord Jesus. Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. So the brightness of God's glory simply refers to the best like shining, shining the truth of who God really is. So Jesus has become that best expression of the Father. He is the brightness of his glory. We can pick many things to describe the glory of God, but what is the brightest expression of God's glory? The Lord Jesus. If you want to understand, what is glory? Glory refers to the greatness of the person of God. So the greatness of the person of God is revealed through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus is the one who shines out who God is. So he represents God really well and that is our understanding from what is being said. So if we want to know how great is God, how wonderful is God, how marvelous are his works, how can we find out? Look at Jesus and Jesus is shining the glory of God for us. So he is the brightness of the glory of God and we are also told that the Lord Jesus is the express image of his person. Again, he is the best representation of the Father. So for us to understand, what is this express image of his person? Express image is like the exact replica or it is like when you stamp on envelopes, generally people use a stamp. And that stamp is the image that comes on the envelopes, the exact image which is on the stamp, isn't it? So in the same way, when we look at the Lord, when we consider the Father, who is the exact express image of the Father, the Lord Jesus? So we study the life of Jesus. We study the life of Jesus where we see Jesus was holy. So it shows us that the Father is holy. Jesus is compassionate. He healed people. He delivered people. He did mighty miracles in people's lives. So what is the Father like? He is a compassionate God. So you study the life of Jesus in every characteristic of the Lord Jesus. Jesus was zealous for the house of God. So the Father, you know, he is zealous about the kingdom. You look at the life of Jesus, right? He was one for justice. And so we can say, oh, the Father, he is a God of justice. So when we want to know the Father again, we have to study the person of the Lord Jesus. Because here the writer of the Hebrews is saying, look, Jesus is the express image or the exact image of the person of the Father. And another thing about the person of the Lord Jesus is upholding all things by the word of his power. Now, we have also studied in the book of John that the Lord Jesus is the word. He is the word himself, Logos. Here the writer of the Hebrews, you know, understanding that he says that there is a power in the word of the Lord Jesus. If you remember, many times you find that through, he himself is the word, but also through the spoken word, you know, the Lord Jesus calmed a storm. The Lord Jesus healed the sick. The Lord Jesus cast out demons. One word that he spoke carried that power. But here the writer of the Hebrews says, you know, the word of Jesus, he says word of his power. That word is the word of God's power. And what function does the word of Jesus perform? He says upholding all things. So the word of the Lord Jesus is so powerful. If you look at the way it is written, you know, in the Greek here, you would understand that this is referring to the maintenance of the universe. You know, how is the world, if you will, sustained in its form and the functions of the world continue by the word of God. Everything is set in place. Things are happening. The sun is rising every day. You know, different things that are set as the laws in the world, it's all going on. Because of the word of God. So the word of God is what is holding the world up and sustaining. Or if you want to term it as maintaining the world, that's the understanding that you get from this particular portion of the verse. That God, this whole world is maintained by the word of his power. So for a believer, when we realize, oh wow, the word of God is maintaining the universe, can it not sustain my life? An individual life, of course it can. And God's word is so powerful that whatever you and I are going through, he can work in that through the word of his power. And then, you know, we continue to see that he had by himself purged our sins. So you see here, different aspects of Christ our Savior are being spoken of. Now, the Lord Jesus is being introduced as the one who bore our sins. He purged our sins. Or in other words, he removed our sins. So he has become our eternal Savior. And the writer of the Hebrews wants the believers to see all this about the person of the Lord Jesus. So he purged, he removed our sins. And then he goes on to say he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. So he describes the position where the Lord Jesus is seated right now in his heavenly ministry. And he says he sat down and we have studied about this earlier. Sitting down is to say that one has completed their task. So the earthly ministry that the Lord Jesus had, we know that he represented the Father well in all that he did. He did the works of the Father. He also died on the cross to complete our redeeming work for us. And after completing his earthly ministry, he sat down. So sitting down is to say that there is a completion of the work. So Jesus has completed the responsibility which was given to him in his earthly ministry. And where did he sit? Where we sit says a lot about us. Not every one of us can go and sit in the parliament. Can we? Because there are people in the parliament who have fought the political battle, who have established themselves as leaders. They have been voted in by many, many people. They have been selected, appointed to have their seats in the parliament. So when we say that somebody sits in the parliament, there is an honour attached to it. So they have, at least in our country in the democratic process, they have earned that position by virtue of their works, by virtue of their performance. And so we will see how the Lord Jesus has gained this position. But it is important for us to note that he has a position, a very, very special position, a great position in fact that you find him sitting at the right hand of the majesty on high. You know, everyone doesn't get that seat at the right hand of God and that in itself reveals to us that he is deity. Even the angels cannot sit in the presence of God. They cannot sit at the right hand of God. Some people consider that the angels are truly great, but no, they don't have that position. Nobody has that position. It's only the Lord Jesus because he himself is also majesty. He is the very son of God. He is God. So before going to verse 4, I just want to pause here and check with all of you how you are doing. Are you comfortable? Are you getting something out of this? Are you able to understand what we are talking about? So let me just pause for a moment and also if there are any comments, any questions from you. Okay, so there are no questions, but I hope you got what I was saying. I thought I'm really going through these verses fast and I realized we've run out of time on our first session. So this is the fastest I've ever taught Hebrews, but it's not easy to just go over the words so quickly because there is such great depth and there is revelation about the person of the Lord Jesus that it's almost so wrong to miss it. And you know, we can just sit for hours on every word and it's like drinking from the nectar, like a bee drinking from the nectar of the flower. Slowly just taking the goodness of what is being spoken to us about the person of the Lord Jesus, His greatness, His superiority and the writer establishing that he is indeed deity. Okay, so that is the book of Hebrews for us and that is how it starts out here in the first chapter and I really pray that more than reading and going over this for our course sake and for our life we will study the book of Hebrews and that we will keep coming back to each word in this book time and again for us to have a deeper understanding of who Jesus is and that bringing a response of worship to who our God is. So let's do this because of the limited time we will stop for the first session. Let's take a 10 minute break, we'll come back and continue from verse 4. You don't have to log off the call, just remain muted and after 10 minutes you can come back here and I will start the second session for us. Okay, so alright class let's take a 10 minute break and we'll be back at 10 a.m. Thank you.