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The book of Hebrews could be called God’s Greatest Commercial. Commercials are designed to tell people that our product is the best. It is better than what you are now using and so switch to what is better. This whole book is saying switch to Jesus, come back to Jesus, or never leave Jesus, for he is superior to all others. He is better than the angels in heaven and the priesthood on earth. He is the best, and so why give yourself to the lesser? Like commercials this book does a lot of comparing of values in order to show that Jesus is better. All products claim they are better than their competitors, and that is what Jesus is, the best of what God has given. He is the final product and the most improved of all God has given to man. Competition is a major issue in life, for there is so much calling for our time and commitment, and we need to be able to choose the best and give it priority in our lives, and that priority goes to Jesus if we listen to this book.
This book is very judgmental in that it says all other persons and values are not as good as Jesus. They may have been okay before Jesus, but now that he has come and finished the work of atonement, there is nothing better. He is the best, and it is time to switch from what you are now exalting to the highest level and put Jesus there. If you think your soap is good, now is the time to use Jesus for he gets all things whiter, for even your soul is cleansed from the stains of sin. There is none better. God gave much good in the Old Testament, but now we have the new and improved offer of forgiveness by a better way.
The commercial often says come now, call now, buy now. There is an urgency about the message, and so it is here, for now is the time of salvation, and we must not wait, or drift from it or neglect it. Someone has put together this outline that shows the whole book is designed to promote that Jesus is better.
A. Jesus - The New And Better Deliverer - Ch. 1-7
1. Jesus the God-Man - better than angels - (Ch. 1-2)
2. Jesus the new Apostle - better than Moses - (Ch. 3)
3. Jesus the new Leader - better than Joshua - (Ch. 4:1-13)
4. Jesus the new Priest - better than Aaron - (Ch. 4:14- 7)
B. Calvary - The New And Better Covenant - Ch. 8 - 10:18)
1. New covenant has better promises - (8:6-13)
2. And it has a better sanctuary- (9:1-14)
3. And it has a better sacrifice - (9:15-18)
4. And it achieves far better results - (10:1-18)
Advertising is an over 100 billion dollar a year industry and affects all of us throughout our lives. We are each exposed to over 2000 ads a day, constituting perhaps the most powerful educational force in society. The average American will spend one and one-half years of his or her life watching television commercials. The ads sell a great deal more than products. They sell values, images, and concepts of success and worth, love and sexuality, popularity and normalcy. They tell us who we are and who we should be. Sometimes they sell addictions. Advertising is the foundation and economic lifeblood of the mass media. The primary purpose of the mass media is to deliver an audience to advertisers, just as the primary purpose of television programs is to deliver an audience for commercials.
Bill Walsh writes about what commercials say about us, and he tells us what we already know, and that is that a good commercial has to capture our attention, and one of the best ways to do that is by using a celebrity. He writes, “Real-life celebrities Michael J. Fox with that Pepsi ad where he was trying to sneak a Pepsi during an opera and wound up on stage, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan trying to out-do each other with trick basketball shots, and even football's Mean Joe Greene, discouraged and limping, tossing his game shirt to some little kid who offers him a Coke, are here also. What they all have in common, I think, is a unique and instantaneously recognizable personality. It's interesting, although it's carefully planned, that we often tend to link commercial products with their spokespeople. It tends to humanize an otherwise inanimate commercial commodity. And it works.”
In this book of Hebrews God is using the most celebrated celebrity of all time to get the attention of Christians who may be tempted to go back to a lesser product, which is the Old Testament system of sacrifice as a basis for forgiveness of sin, and the legalism of the law as the basis for salvation. Jesus is the most universal celebrity. In Italy Garibaldi is a great hero, but other nations do not even know of him. In Germany they can celebrate Bismarck, but in France it will be Napoleon, which England despises. Washington is a great hero in America, but the rest of the world does not give him any attention at all. The only person of universal fame is Jesus. The greatest commercial calls for the greatest celebrity. If you want people to buy golf equipment you use Tiger Woods. You use the best of who is related to your product to associate your product with greatness. This motivates people to want your product so they too might become great. Here are the key characteristics of great commercials.
COMPARE AND SHOW A BETTER PRODUCT, NEW AND IMPROVED.
CONTRAST BY SHOWING HOW THE OLD CANNOT KEEP UP WITH THE NEW.
CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT BY USING WELL KNOWN AND LIKED PEOPLE.
CALL FOR ACTION BY AN URGENCY TO BUY AND TRY NOW.
Each of these are basic components of the book of Hebrews. It compares Jesus with all that God had given in the past and shows that He is superior. He is the new that does away with the old and makes it obsolete. Not only is He exalted as the greatest celebrity, but a host of the great people of God in the past are brought forth in Hebrews 11 to confirm that faith and not law is the essential principle that has always been foremost with God. And all the way through the book we are urged to make Him our priority in all things, and to live a life that pleases God by being as much like Jesus as we can be by His grace. We are urged to turn our eyes on Jesus, who is the author and perfecter of our faith, and to be loyal to Him alone as our Savior and King. This book is truly God’s greatest commercial. If you want people to fall in love with Jesus, and see them fall before Him in worship, then you can do no better than to direct them to this book where He is shown to be the one who is better than everyone and everything. No commercial can say that the product it promotes is the greatest that has ever been, and that will ever be. That would be presumption on the highest level, and so no one does it. But this commercial for Jesus does just that, because the One it promotes is just that-the best ever.
There is no book of the Bible that is more Christ centered than Hebrews. It is designed to show that Jesus is superior to all that has ever been, or will ever be. He is the final Word of God to man. There is no place to go beyond Jesus and so this book settles it once and for all that believers are to be Christ centered in all that they believe and in all that they do. This is the very purpose of life, for that alone fulfills the purpose of God. The only meaning to life that counts forever is the meaning that comes to those who make Jesus the center of all. This is the goal God seeks to reach by means of His greatest commercial.
St. Patrick got the message and responded as God intended. We see this in his fifteen-hundred-year old prayer, part of which goes like this: “Christ be with me, Christ in the front, Christ in the rear, Christ within me, Christ below me, Christ above me, Christ at my right hand, Christ at my left, Christ in the fort, Christ in the Chariot seat, Christ at the helm, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks to me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.” Here is a Christ centered life, and it illustrates where God wants all of His children to be.
Leonardo da Vinci illustrates how we are to be Christ centered in all that we do. He was 43 years old when the Duke of Milan asked him to paint the Last Supper. He worked on it slowly and with meticulous care to detail. He spent much time making the cup that Jesus held as beautiful as possible. After three years he was ready to show it, and he called for a friend to come and see it. He said, “Look at it and give me your opinion.” The friend said, “It is wonderful. The cup is so real I cannot take my eyes off of it!” Immediately Leonardo took a brush and drew it across the sparkling cup! He exclaimed as he did so: “Nothing shall detract from the figure of Christ!” This needs to be the attitude we have in all that we do in life. We need to pray that nothing will detract from Christ, for it is to Him that all eyes are to be fixed, and not to the works of man.
Charles Spurgeon spoke words that echo the conviction of all who love and preach the Gospel of Christ. In his first words he spoke to his congregation when he became the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London he said this: “I would propose that the subject of the ministry of this house, as long as this platform shall stand, and as long as this house shall be frequented by worshipers, shall be the person of Jesus Christ. I am never ashamed to avow myself a Calvinist; I do not hesitate to take the name of Baptist; but if I am asked what is my creed, I reply, "It is Jesus Christ." My venerated predecessor, Dr. Gill, has left a [theological heritage] admirable and excellent in its way. But the [legacy] to which I would pin and bind myself forever, God helping me,...is Jesus Christ, who is the arm and substance of the gospel, who is in Himself all theology, the incarnation of every precious truth.”
Writers are warned not to over use superlatives, for they lose credibility when they overstate their case and try to say too often that this or that is the best and the greatest and the most fabulous. But when it comes to Jesus you cannot overstate the case for His being the best. The first three verses of this book are all that is needed to put Jesus on a level beyond which the mind cannot go. Jesus is exalted here beyond all that the rest of the Bible can do. There is no place to go after this. He is the final Word of God to man, and the heir of all things, and the one through whom he made the universe, and the one who is the radiance of His glory, and the exact representation of His being, and the sustainer of all by His powerful word, and the one who paid the price for all sin, and the one who is seated at the right hand of God in heaven. What human language can find a phrase that can go beyond these and exalt Jesus ever higher? You cannot use language that overstates the case for the superiority and supremacy of Jesus. There is no way to exaggerate his glory, power and position. There is a prayer prayed by monks that uses only superlatives, for it is fitting to so address Jesus. It goes like this:
“Creator of Angels and Lord of Hosts, as of old You opened the ear and tongue of him that was deaf and dumb, so now open my perplexed mind and tongue to praise Your most holy Name, that I may cry to You:
Jesus, most wonderful, Astonishment of Angels.
Jesus, most powerful, Deliverance of Forefathers.
Jesus, most sweet, Exultation of Patriarchs.
Jesus, most glorious, Dominion of kings.
Jesus, most desired, Fulfillment of Prophets.
Jesus, most praised, Steadfastness of Martyrs.
Jesus, most gladsome, Comfort of monastics.
Jesus, most compassionate, Sweetness of presbyters.
Jesus, most merciful, Abstinence of fasters.
Jesus, most tender, Joy of the righteous.
Whatever Jesus is, He is the most, and the best, and the greatest. Jesus never comes in second in any competition. He is always first and number one. You have a number of people who have done such great things that the title great has been added to their name. We have all heard of Alexander the Great, and others like Herod the Great, Catherine the Great, and Peter the Great. But we have never heard of anyone having the title greatest added to their name, but this is what the book of Hebrews does with Jesus. He is Jesus the Greatest, for in every comparison the book makes with other persons Jesus comes out as superior and the greatest. If you were going to give this letter a name other than Hebrews it would be appropriate to call it Jesus the Greatest. When you begin to grasp the truth of this letter, and get grasped by the truth that Jesus is the greatest you will be compelled by the Spirit to pray and praise like the monks have done for decades in this manner:
“Jesus, pre-eternal, Salvation of sinners.
Jesus, my King supremely powerful.
Jesus, my God omnipotent.
Jesus, my Lord immortal.
Jesus, my Creator most glorious.
Jesus, my Guide supreme in goodness.
Jesus, my Shepherd most compassionate.
Jesus, my Master rich in mercy.
Jesus, my Saviour, Friend of man.
Jesus, enlighten my senses, darkened by passions.
Jesus, heal my body, wounded by sins.
Jesus, cleanse my mind from vain thoughts.
Jesus, preserve my heart from evil desires.”
There are not enough titles of glory and greatness to adequately describe all that Jesus is, but someone has put together a marvelous list that shows that the entire Bible is really a commercial for Jesus. Everything in the Bible is directed toward Jesus. He is the center of it all, for He is the center of God’s entire plan of salvation from beginning to end. Many of these names and titles are dealt with in the book of Hebrews. As you read these names you will begin to grasp why Jesus should be the Lord and center of your life, for He is the ultimate, the best, and the greatest of everything, and He should be everything to us. There is no other name so exalted in all of history and in all of the universe. Can language express it any more forcefully than these verses? "God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name" (Philippians 2:9-10). When God raised Jesus from the dead, he "seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet" (Ephesians 1:20-23). Jesus is the combination of all these names and greater ones yet we will only learn in eternity.
Jesus Is the:
Almighty
Alpha and Omega
Amen
Angel of his presence
Anointed
Author and perfecter of our faith
Beloved
Bread of life
Bridegroom
Bright and morning star
Brightness of the Father's glory
Captain of the Lord's army
Captain of salvation
Carpenter
Carpenter's son
Chief Shepherd
Chief corner stone
Chosen of God, Christ
Christ Jesus
Christ of God
Christ the Lord
Christ the power of God
Corner stone
Counselor
Dayspring
Day star
Deliverer
Door
Emmanuel
Ensign
Eternal life
Everlasting Father
Faithful and True
Faithful witness
Faithful and true witness
Finisher of faith
First and last
First begotten
First begotten of the dead
Firstborn
Foundation
Fountain
Forerunner
Friend of sinners
Gift of God
Glory of Israel
God
God manifest in the flesh
God of the whole earth
God our Savior
God's dear Son
God with us
Good Master
Governor
Great shepherd of the sheep
Heir of all things
High priest
Head of the church
Holy one
Holy one of God
Holy one of Israel
Hope
Horn of salvation
I Am
Image of God
Jehovah
Jesus
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ our Savior
Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus, the King of the Jews
Jesus, the Son of God
Jesus, the Son of Joseph
Just one
King
King of saints
King of kings
King of glory
King of Zion
King over all the earth
Lamb
Lamb of God
Lawgiver
Leader
Life
Light
Light, everlasting
Light of the world
Light to the Gentiles
Living bread
Living stone
Lion of the tribe of Judah
Lord
Lord of lords
Lord of all
Lord our righteousness
Lord God Almighty
Lord Christ
Lord Jesus
Lord of glory
Lord of Armies
Lord, mighty in battle
Lord of the dead and living
Lord of the sabbath
Lord over all
Lord, strong and mighty
Lord, your redeemer
Master
Mediator
Messenger of the covenant
Messiah
Messiah the Prince
Mighty God
Mighty one of Israel
Mighty to save
Morning star
Most holy
Most mighty
Nazarene
Outstanding among ten thousand
Only begotten son
Power of God
Physician
Precious corner stone
Priest
Prince
Prince of life
Prince of peace
Prince of the kings of the earth
Prophet
Rabbi
Ransom
Redeemer
Resurrection and life
Redemption
Righteous branch
Righteous judge
Righteous servant
Rose of Sharon
Salvation
Savior
Savior of the world
Seed of the woman
Servant
Shepherd
Shepherd and bishop of souls
Son of the Father
Son of God
Son of Man
Son of the highest
Son of David
Star
Sun of righteousness
Sure foundation
Teacher
True God
True vine
Truth
Way
Which is, which was, which is to come
Wisdom
Wisdom of God
Witness
Wonderful
Word
Word of God
Word of life
As we study the book of Hebrews we will see many of these names used to exalt and glorify the Person of Jesus. Why is this book so persistent in portraying Jesus as the greatest in every way and in every category of comparison? It is because it is a world filled with competition to get your attention, and then your time and your life devoted to some philosophy or value system that determines who you will be. The goal of Hebrews is to get us to “..fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith…” If we do this it will determine our philosophy, our life style, our goals, and our eternity. A good commercial will get your attention, and then drive home a message that gets you to focus on a need you have that can be met by a product that is available, and then motivate you to take action and get that product. We have a need for a Savior and a compassionate intercessor to deal with our sin. We have a need for a Friend in high places who can assure us of a place in God’s final kingdom. We have this and much more in the book of Hebrews, but it is also filled with warnings of the danger of not looking to Jesus and trusting Him as Lord. The bottom line is, we must surrender our lives to Jesus as Lord of all, and the greatest of all, to make it true for us that Hebrews is God’s greatest commercial.
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