Come Follow Me LDS- Hebrews 1-6 Part 1, New Testament

'The Condescension of God'
- Christ starts near the top of the hierarchy
- He lowers Himself to the bottom of the hierarchy
- Descending or Suffering is Charity or 'Grace'
- 'Make thine enemies a footstool'
- Christ was tempted in mortality
- The 'Promised Land' is the 'Rest' of God, or the Holy of Holies

 

 

Come Follow Me

LDS Mormon New Testament Hebrews Bible

 

in this episode we talk about the

condescension of God here we go alright

so in this Cwic media episode we're

going to cover Hebrews one two and three

Hebrews is outside of the Gospels my

favorite book in the New Testament and

the reason is because it is just so

packed with so much great doctrine this

is really a very Mormon doctrine book

and we get something here similar to

what we find in the Book of Mormon in

Alma 13 about Melchizedek and the

Melchizedek Priesthood this is something

that doesn't show up anywhere why do we

in the modern church have an ironic

priesthood and a Melchizedek Priesthood

where does that show up in ancient times

where does that show up in the Book of

Mormon where does it show up in the Old

Testament where does it show up in the

New Testament well the answer is it's

very sparse for I think obvious reasons

of apostasy because the Melchizedek

Priesthood is the priesthood after the

order of the son or the son of God and

again that is the Nehor principle so

when you dilute the doctrine of Christ

and you start to say well we're looking

for a political Messiah instead of a

godly divine Messiah then you have the

coupling of Jesus Christ or Jehovah as

the Messiah and his priesthood right

it's after the order of the son

they are wiped out and you can even see

if you look closely what looks to be a

rivalry between what would be a neurotic

priesthood which is given by lineage and

in in the tribe of Levi and as priests

under the sons of Aaron and with the

Melchizedek Priesthood which is what the

prophets would have held and so sound

strange to us today but it seems to me

that you have this rivalry between the

old the Aaronic priesthood and the

Melchizedek Priesthood and that's why

they stood one of the reasons they

stolen the prophets right because they

are prophesying about the Messiah who is

going to be Jesus who is Jehovah and

they have a real problem with this also

of course as we know today the

Melchizedek Priesthood is ultimately the

priesthood of the temple and here you

have the priests under the law of Moses

running many things within the temple

now we have very little information

about what type of ordinances may have

been going on beyond that which the

Levitical priesthood the Aaronic

priesthood what it would have been

covering in the temple but it's pretty

obvious I think based on the makeup of

Solomon's Temple that you end up in a

Holy of Holies and outside of just the

Day of Atonement ritual that the high

priest implemented once a year we don't

get much information about ordinances

that would bring someone into the Holy

of Holies and going through the veil and

yet there are so many allusions in the

Old Testament and non canonical writings

about what we would look at as something

similar to an endowment ceremony and an

anointing of several people and a prayer

circle and many things that we are

familiar with in

Church so here in the New Testament we

get this talk about Melchizedek and it's

just juicy it is just packed here with

meat so this is going to be a little bit

different than what I've done in several

of the episodes because what I'll end up

doing here is digging in even more into

the scriptures and in and dissecting

those a little bit more because it's

just so packed with information first of

all this is unlikely an epistle so it

says here I'm sitting here looking at my

computer screen and it says here in the

King James Version the LDS version of

the New Testament it says the Epistle of

Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews there's

two things that are likely wrong with

that first is it's probably not an

epistle think about Jesus when he

announced himself in the synagogue right

and he brings up Isaiah and he says and

this is a messianic passage in Isaiah

and he says you know hey basically this

is me right this would have been

something that he would have gone up and

maybe given a discourse over and maybe

several other passages of scripture and

then he would have given some time to

open that up and have a discussion over

this I wish we I wish we did this today

yeah a little bit more and you know it's

kind of like our Sunday school but I

wish we had something a little bit more

juicy than that but this is probably

what is happening here in Hebrews if we

go all the way to chapter 13 verse 22 we

get this little saying that says that

this is a discourse as the word of

exhortation and then also in 1315 it's

it's basically inviting a discourse over

what's being talked about so this is

more than likely a meeting right you've

got several people here to discuss these

things and what are they discussing

they're discussing several passages from

the Old Testament of course there is no

new test

this time but many of them are the

Psalms

now the Psalms are very messianic and

they are very temple centered which is

where you would find you would thank

several milk ascetic priesthood and

Melchizedek references and in fact we

find one of the biggest ones in all of

Scripture here in Psalms 110 which is a

psalm that has definitely been garbled

up right and I what I mean by that is

it's the Hebrew in it from the Masoretic

text that we have is it almost is so

confusing it practically doesn't make

any sense but that's what this is that's

what the book of Hebrews is so let's

start in verse one here and we get to

set up for this discussion and it is God

who at sundry times and divers manners

spake in times past unto the father's by

the prophets right so this is being set

up and he's there's gonna be a lot of

allusions to these times that the

fathers and the prophets have spoken

about what the book of Hebrews here is

about to go through the other thing by

the way I think I forgot is that it's

probably not Paul that wrote this it's

unlikely Paul it could be I'm not saying

it's not but it's unlikely Paul that is

giving this this is probably written

later than Paul's period and then in

verse 2 the contrast we get hath in

these last days spoken unto us by his

son Jesus Christ whom he hath appointed

heir of all things by whom also he made

the world's so we have here

we've been spoken to many times in the

times past and then we're going to get

this follow through throughout the book

of Hebrews about these Messianic and

Melchizedek linked texts and the

important word here that we get here in

verse 2 is we've been spoken in these

last days unto us by his son again the

Melchizedek Priesthood is after the

order of

the Sun and this is something that we

get in the Gospels as well and

throughout some of Paul's writings where

again it's in this title is crucial the

son or the son of God is at a crucial

title of doctrine that lets us know that

this was God this is the this is Jehovah

that was born to Mary descended above

descended below everyone and took on the

sins of the world so this is crucial and

the core part of the doctrine of Christ

and it's the core part of the

Melchizedek Priesthood and then like

Paul does in many of his epistles here

the author of Hebrews starts to put in a

hierarchy right this is very common in

these writings he says here in verse 4

talking about Jesus Christ being made so

much better than the Angels as he hath

by inheritance obtained a more excellent

name than they so he they're gonna want

to show how Jesus Christ as Jehovah

descended below going all the way down

this hierarchy below man by taking on

the sins of the world by being born into

mortality taking on the sins of the

world descending down and then being

exalted above everybody in that

hierarchy as well but he starts off

above the Angels that's also temple

imagery if you pay attention then he

says in verse 5 for under which of the

Angels said he at any time thou art my

son this day have I begotten thee right

he's singling out Jesus Christ this is

his title and only his title here and

again I will be to him a father so we

have the father and the son and he shall

be to me a son also in verse 5 we get a

pattern that we see throughout the book

of Hebrews we see here it says and again

I will be to him a father and he shall

be to me a son this is typically where a

new scripture passage is being

introduced

to review and that will be discussed in

this meeting this study group in in a

synagogue perhaps and in verse 8 again

but unto the son he saith thy throne O

God is for ever and ever it's important

when we understand eternity z' and

something that is eternal so for ever

and ever

this is an important distinction between

the Levitical priesthood and the

Melchizedek priesthood things that come

from God are eternal things they are

spiritual things there is no beginning

and there is no end whereas things that

are of the ironic or Levitical

priesthood they have a beginning and an

end

they are temporal they are carnal they

come from us who are temporal and carnal

unless we change ourselves into

something fully eternal that's what the

Melchizedek Priesthood is and then

following up in verse 8 a scepter of

righteousness is the scepter of thy

kingdom a little bit more temple imagery

there if you're looking for it then in

verse 9 we get something else that is

associated with milk acidic and the

Melchizedek Priesthood in the temple and

that is that he has been anointed with

the oil of gladness above thy fellows so

the anointing oil is also tied to the

milk is attic priesthood and to the Son

of God remember what Christ or Messiah

actually means it means The Anointed One

and the Anointed One is the one who's

been anointed to be both the king and

the one who is anointed to be the high

priest and Christ is the high priest the

Melchizedek high priest and the book of

Hebrews here is going to outline that

very well for us and then verses 10

through 12 are basically an allusion to

Psalm 102 primarily verse 26 so again

they're going back to one of the Psalms

here to pontificate on it to expound on

it and set up this discussion but again

we get some temple imagery here right in

verse 10

and thou Lord in the beginning hast laid

the foundation of the earth and the

heavens are the works of thine hands we

have the separation there right the

higher law and the lower law the

foundation of the earth down here and

that the heavens are the work of his

hands that's important because the

temple is all about the meeting and we

hear that word a lot or that phrase a lot

the meeting of heaven and earth but it's

not really just the meeting right it's

really the bringing together it's

not just that they've met it's the place

where these two things are and they meet

it's the process of bringing them

together I think that's an important

distinction to understand it's not where

heaven and earth meet it's where we try

and the Lord has done the efforts of

bringing heaven and earth together

that's covenant that's atonement at one

mint thirteen but to which of the Angels

said he at any time sit on my right hand

until I make thine enemies thy footstool

so we can even think of Psalms 23 right

where David goes through and says the

Lord is my shepherd

right there he also is saying you know

save me from my enemies help me to

conquer mine enemies it's the same idea

here that is temple imagery

what is the footstool well the footstool

was laid down at the throne of God so

the throne of God and the Temple of

Solomon God would be sitting on there

imagine that God is sitting up on the

throne of God the footstool is the earth

right where he would put his feet on and

they actually turned the Ark of the

Covenant into the footstool and cut

into the rock of the Mount the Temple

Mount and laid down the Ark of the

Covenant down into the rocks a little

bit so the throne of God is heaven and

and the footstool is earth and if we're

able to overcome all of our adversaries

the adversary all of our obstacles and

we also can say

the throne of God in the plan of

salvation we can sit on the throne of

God and put our feet on the foot stools

because we've overcome all of the

opposition the Holy of Holies were that

thrown in footstool

are is the end of the process of being

able to put our feet on the footstool

that's also a part of the Melchizedek

text of Psalm 110 it's also part of the

Garden of Eden story right when we think

about putting our feet on the footstool

where else would we put our heels or our

feet on top of and it would be the

serpent has the power to bruise our heel

think of it striking the heel but we

have the power to put our feet down

right and to stop down on the serpent to

crush its head same idea and then in

chapter 2 the author here says look

we've had these in times past we've had

the fathers and the prophets give us the

gospel and now we've had the Son of God

who's actually given this to us and

there are those that hurt him firsthand

in this it sounds like this author did

not hear first hand from Jesus Christ at

least in his mortality but he says look

I mean how much more do we need to pay

attention to the word that was given

directly by Jesus Christ the Son of God

himself and he plays this back into the

hierarchy you know what where does the

word come from how high up the hierarchy

is that word well obviously this is

higher and so we're we've paid attention

to the prophets we darn well better pay

attention to the words of Christ and

that even though we haven't heard of

that word directly we can have the Holy

Ghost sent to us to confirm that his

words are true and that we all have

these spiritual gifts in Greek its

distributions that are parsed out that

allow us to hold on to these words and

to know that they are true

and then in verse six he goes back to

this hierarchy and he says but one in a

certain place testified saying what is

man that thou art mindful of him or the

Son of man that thou visitest him so in

other words okay

why are we important to you and where do

we fit in this hierarchy and again this

is a reference going back to psalm 8:4

why are we important to you well again

he's bringing this up because he needs

to show the love of God number one and

number two where man fits in this

hierarchy and he says here in verse 7

the madest him talking about man a

little lower than the Angels thou

proudest him with glory and honor and

did set him over the works of thy hands

so where do we get this again well we

hear this in the story of the Garden of

Eden right where Adam actually names all

of the animals a lot of symbolism in

that temple imagery and gives him

dominion over everything on the earth

which could be a reference to the ironic

priesthood there in the second part of

that that verse and the first part is

they'll crowded him with glory and honor

which could be a Melchizedek Priesthood

of reference and then we get an answer

to what is man who is man that would

concern you and he says here in verse 9

showing how the hierarchy works

this is all about the doctrine of Christ

here and the Melchizedek law or the

higher law but we see Jesus who has made

a little lower than the Angels so wait a

minute he was just above the Angels now

he says he was made a little below the

Angels for the suffering of death

because the Angels don't suffer that

crowned with glory and honor it's a

reference from the previous scripture

that he by the grace of God that is the

mercy the love the charity the gift of

God should taste death for every man so

here he is he is being lowered down

there

part of what that doctrine is this is

what is always rejected up until the

time of Christ by everybody that Jehovah

himself is going to be the Messiah and

that he would ever lower himself

think about the doctrine that is there

and what that means for us number one

about what our God and number two about

who we are if were to follow his example

and that we need to lower ourselves

also below in that hierarchy to reach

down for others just like he did so in

other words he was made mortal and was

able to die

unlike the Angels and this goes along

with the whole concept here of the title

that we've been going through in Hebrews

and that we go through oftentimes in

thee in all the books of the New

Testament that is the son of God that's

what that means

the son of God means that he lowered

himself it's as we here in Nephi and his

vision it is the condescension of God

which is all about charity and love and

we get that right here in the Greek of

nine here where it says he by the grace

of God that is charity Theo

which is the root word for charity so

charity and grace should be looked at

pretty much the same and then we get an

interesting concept here that goes along

with this condescension of God in verse

10 for it became him now this is the

father for whom are all things right all

the glory go to God glory to the Father

even Christ would say that and by whom

are all things in bringing many sons

unto glory to make the captain of their

salvation perfect through sufferings so

in other words Christ's perfection even

though he had no sin comes through the

ability to bear other's burdens it's

charity that is perfection and we think

about the plan of salvation and moving

and progressing through that

salvation it's done ultimately through

charity he just as we're told that you

can have faith and you can have hope but

if you don't have charity you can't get

to exaltation right because that's

that's what moves you there it's the

sufferings that Christ Himself went

through and in that sense it's the

sufferings that we need to go through

not to beat us down but somehow

understand opposition for us to be able

to understand charity real charity for

others and by the way in bringing many

sons unto glory that should be

understood as in bringing many children

is what that would mean

many children under glory so sons and

daughters and to make the captain of

their salvation perfect through

sufferings that's the same word Palios

that we've discussed several times

throughout this series in the New

Testament it means complete it's going

through the temple and ending up at the

throne of God or the solution or it's

going through the plan of salvation

making the right decisions

going through sufferings burying other's

burdens developing and efforting charity

love is a verb first and then a feeling

and that brings us through to the Holy

of Holies and here's how he goes over

there just like Paul has gone over

throughout all of the apes' epistles

what we see is that that bringing

together right we're all different we

need to be different it's jus and it's

Gentile it's male and it's female

it's believer and non-believer it's the

lost tribes of Israel and the Jews it's

the stick of Judah and the stick of

Ephraim or the stick of Joseph that need

to be brought together

it's covenant and this is how it happens

here he follows up with that in verse 11

he says for both he that sanctifieth

and they who are sanctified he that

sanctify then would be the one who

suffers or bears other's burdens and

makes things holy and they who are

sanctified by burying those burdens

are all of one right so we create

atonement we create at one mint we

create covenant through charity and

lifting others up and bringing them back

at one where would they need to be or we

need to be lifted up and pulled up just

as much right and then back into the

doctrine of Christ here part of that is

the resurrection right the victory over

death he says for as much then as the

children are partakers of flesh and

blood that's mortality a body he also

himself likewise took part of the same

that through death he might destroy him

that had the power of death that is the

devil so in other words again he's

descending below man by taking on flesh

and blood and then taking on the sins of

all mankind and by that by descending

down the hierarchy all the way he is

able to conquer all of it it's through

that love right so the love we can

sometimes I think look at love and

charity as exactly that it is descending

down it's the willingness to descend

otherwise there's elitism there's pride

love means you are descending down

that's your sanctifying that you are

bearing others burdens and lowering

yourself for someone else putting

yourself under that weight and in some

ways putting yourself under them by

bearing a burden maybe even forgiving

somebody else so death for Christ by

going through death and mortality he's

able to conquer death and mortality and

just as he through love and charity

descended down below us not just through

death but through taking on our sins and

putting that burden on top of him being

below it he also was able to overcome

all sin if we choose it and in verse 16

he gives an example of this he says for

verily he took not on him the nature of

angels

coming down to the level of the Angels

just one but he took on him the seed of

Abraham right so that would be mankind

that would choose the seed of Abraham

would be those that choose the Melchizedek

priesthood functions the ordinances

living the life of trying to follow the

example of Christ

that's what Abraham represents along

with Melchizedek is the new and

everlasting covenant the Melchizedek

Priesthood the higher law and in 17 we

start getting this talk now about the

priesthood of Jesus and of his office so

he says here in 17 wherefore in all

things it behooves him to be made like

unto his brethren to lower himself that

he might be a merciful and faithful high

priest in things pertaining to God which

would be the spiritual things the

Melchizedek Priesthood to make

reconciliation for the sins of the

people that one man to reconcile to

rejoin those things so the true Messiah

is a high priest as well and even the

Jews believe that they look at a

political Messiah but they also look to

someone that would build the new temple

they still do then in 18 we get an

explanation of one of the results of him

lowering himself down this hierarchy

through charity says for in that he

himself have suffered being tempted

because he was tempted there were are I

have oftentimes been movements of

doctrine where they want to say well

Christ was too pure to ever be tempted

well that doesn't make any sense if he

never faced any opposition then where is

his love and where is his charity if he

didn't actually suffer while he was in

Gethsemane and on the cross how is there

a requirement for love and that's what

we're getting here in chapter 2 the

sufferings that he went through had to

do with that's how you make things holy

that is how he sanctifies us is through

charity dissension and because of that

he is able to succor

that are tempted then we get a little

bit more about Jesus as the high priest

here in chapter 3 and remember we've

talked about this little rivalry that is

a part of Jewish tradition where you

have Abraham on one end and we're gonna

couple together here Abraham and

Melchizedek both Melchizedek Priesthood

icons with Moses and even though Moses

had the Melchizedek Priesthood to the

Jews

Moses is kind of the guy the King but he

represents the law which is a neurotic

priesthood function says here in verse 1

wherefore holy brethren partakers of the

heavenly calling consider the Apostle

and high priest of our profession Christ

Jesus so here Jesus has called both an

apostle one who is sent forth and he was

certainly sent forth to teach just as

the apostles were meant to do and that's

what apostle means but he was also of

course sent forth for a very specific

calling that nobody else has that his

sacrifice and he says that in verse 2

that Jesus was faithful to him that

appointed him as also Moses was faithful

in all his house so we have Christ

Melchizedek Priesthood and Moses Aaronic

priesthood and he makes it very clear

here about who Jesus is as compared to

Moses in verse 3 for this man was

counted worthy of more glory than Moses

that there would be blasphemous to the

Jews in as much as he who hath buildeth

the house hath more honor than the house

so the house of Israel is built by

Jehovah is built by Jesus Christ so

clear distinction there and then he

takes Jesus and Moses has comparison to

their leadership and what they created

what they did so Moses is the law of

Moses and it's the Exodus getting to the

promised land

remember promise is what comes with the

higher law right the oath

and Covenant the oath is the promise and

that comes from God and he talks about

look Moses

helped the house of Israel wander

through the desert but those that

rejected what they rejected at Sinai

remember so my focus on a lot they

rejected the first set of tablets that

Moses brought down that was the melodic

priesthood and logistic law the higher

law that would have made the

entire nation priests and priestesses

and because of that they were given the

law of Moses in the lower ironic law and

also because of that they wandered in

the desert for forty years and that

generation was wiped out right and he

talks about here in verse 17 but with

whom was he grieved forty years was it

not with them that had sinned those who

rejected the higher law whose carcasses

fell in the wilderness and to whom swear

he that they should not enter into his

rest that's the promised land but to

them that believed not need to look at

belief here as faith the word here

believed and also in the following verse

here in nineteen actually comes from the

same term that is used for faith in the

New Testament which is pistis and that

is faith in the atonement that's faith

in Jesus Christ

so it's not as weak as belief it is

leaning on the atonement and those that

rejected Christ in essence and went for

the lower law never made it to the

promised land

and entered into his rest in fact Moses

did not go along with them either

it was Joshua that took them in to the

promised land and crossed the Jordan and

then in nineteen it says so we see that

they could not enter in because of

unbelief or really it should say they

could not enter in because of their lack

of faith in I would argue Christ that's

my interpretation and so

Moses was to bring them through kind of

like going through the temple and ending

up in the Holy of Holies but with Christ

if we do have that faith that belief

which should be faith in Him then we are

able to enter into his rest were able to

go through the progression all the way

to the celestial room or all the way to

the Holy of Holies

but key here and we're going to see in

part two is seeing Jesus as a

Melchizedek icon as a Melchizedek figure

he is the new Melchizedek and in

contrast to Moses who is an erotic

figure Christ if we can have faith in

him brings us all the way in to the

promised land and his rest I'll talk to

you next time