ニューイングランドの母校からアドヴェント 12月22日（月）

Day 23
Donald M. Fairbairn, Jr.
Hebrews 1:1–5

Hebrews 1:1–5 follows a chiastic structure, a literary technique in which the Son of God—described in the middle of the passage— is contrasted with prophets at the beginning and angels at the end. Between these two sets of contrasting figures, the writer describes the Son (vv. 2–3), and even here, the presentation is chiastic. The beginning and end of this part describe the Son’s actions— creation (v. 2), and sustaining all things, making purification for sins, and then sitting down at the right side of God (v. 3b). In v. 3a—the center of a chiasmus within a chiasmus—the writer describes who the Son is—the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.

God is often pleased to work through beings he has created— through people and angels. But for his greatest works—creating us, sustaining us and making purification for our sins, God works not through beings who reflect his glory or are created in his image, but through the one who gives off that glory, who exactly matches his own being—his very own Son. For the task of redeeming us, no one less would have sufficed. Let us worship the Son this Christmas!