FLAWLESS AUTHORITY

When the occasion arises that we need to know which way to go, we are wise to ask for direction. When we are lost we must trust the authority of Whom we inquire. Having been wrong before, we are skitterish on our own, and perhaps we delay our first step. Like babes we yearn to be picked up and carried across the great abyss that looms before us. Our Father reminds us of His love, and His care for generations of those who followed His advice. He arranged to have His word, His will and His way recorded in one book that we may learn of His provision for our ancestors, that we may recognize, trust, believe and obey the voice of our Shepherd. Jesus said with flawless authority “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and My sheep know Me— just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father—and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.” (John 10:11-18) God SPOKE and created the heavens and the earth and every thing in it. God is a communicator. Man does not know who penned the book of Hebrews as God’s Final Word: His Son. "In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom also He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So He became as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is superior to theirs." Scholars think that the book of Hebrews came into being in order to pronounce that Jesus is superior to all else. That He sustains all things by His word. The early Jews who were persecuted for their faith in Jesus as the Messiah were falling away. The book of Hebrews is a sermon full of God's flawless authority in Whom we should turn to when our faith is challenged. We are instructed through progressive revelation to only WORSHIP JESUS, not angels, not man, not statues, nor any created thing. While in prison in Patmos, John wrote down what he saw and heard. "Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people, His bride) Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.” At this I (John) fell at his feet to worship him. But he (the angel) said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.” Revelation 19:6-10