Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honour at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names. [NLT]
Heb 1:1-4
Here is the way the opening statements are laid out:
Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets.
And now in these final days he has spoken to us through his Son.
The contrast here is the way God has spoken in past times / over long periods with the way God is speaking in these last days. Both the way God has spoken and the past times and these final days are in contrast. There are a number of you who have asked questions about these four opening verses. The first questions to pop up multiple times from you as readers are related to the many times and many ways and these final days. Let’s examine the focus of the writer of the letter. Do you notice what is missing? The match to the middle bit. The sense is that God spoke in the past at many different times, at intermittent periods of time and in many different ways but now he speaks through His Son. In the past God spoke in many ways but now He chooses to speak only through the Son. Oh there is much to this thought. But there are other elements that have puzzled some of you.
- Many Times
- Many Ways
- These Last Days
We will investigate each of these expressions in this Gem before moving on.
[Πολυμερῶς] – Many Times
Πολυμερῶς is a compound word made up of two elements πολύς, πολλός – poly, polos, polus – meaning many portions of time, many times, many phases of time. Much, multiple, often, rarely, frequently, sometimes. μερῶς (merōs) is a noun which means a portion, part or division of the whole, in this case we are talking about time divided up. The concept being many portions or segments of time. Intermittent moments in time. The revelation has been piecemeal and delivered at moments in time as opposed to continuous. The focus is on the many moments of God revealing His message. It was fragmentary, piecemeal, bit by bit and part by part. Don’t forget there was a four hundred year hiatus in the flow of communication from God to people when no words came from the prophets in the period of time between the Old and New Testaments.
[πολυτρόπως] – Many Ways
πολυτρόπως is a compound word made up to two elements πολύς, πολλός – poly, polos, polus – meaning many, much, multiple, great, large number, many different kinds, variations, diverse, τρόπως (tropōs) is a noun which means manner, way, method, kind, mode, means or fashion.
These two words together form a combination which is deep and where one word strengthens the other and adds meaning and significance. Poetically speaking it is a sonorous hendiadys. The combination of polymerōs and polytropōs adds depth to the meaning of what the author is conveying with the combination of the two words. The two words coupled together signify a multifaceted combo with deep meaning.
The sense is diverse ways and methods revealed in fragmentary, piecemeal times, bit by bit with a part here and another part later on. The focus is both on the method of delivery and the broken, intermittent nature of the moments of revelation. God’s unfolding of the plan was divided into separate acts of communication in many different ways of speaking. However, in all of these means of communications the recipients were the prophets. The variation came with the way God spoke to the prophets and the various ways in which He asked the prophets to deliver the message. i.e. acted prophecy, future prediction, past intentions, dramatised for effect.
Do you catch the significance here? By the absence of a match for the middle bit – ‘many times and in many ways’ – now through a Son in these last days, God the Father is communicating in one way through the Son. But also it is not divided into intermittent segments delivered spasmodically. The Son communicates through the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. He is always communicating, revealing, unfolding Truth. The Spirit of God is always communicating. I say often “the Bible is the only book on planet Earth that you can always read with the Author present”. That fact coupled with the realisation that you have the Presence of God indwelling you is a startling, revolutionary discovery. You can follow up these thoughts further by reading the Nugget series I wrote on Hearing God’s Voice.
These Last Days
ἐπ᾿ ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων
in last the days these
Now we come to this curious reference in last the days, these ones. Those who queried this term asked how can God say that when this was written in the First Century AD. We think of the Last Days being those apocalyptic days of drama at the end of time. “Ian, can you shed some light on this term? It always confuses me.”
These Last Days contains a double designation of time. In these last days God chose to speak through a Son. His Son, His one and only unique Son. Not “any old son”, nor the notion that ‘all of us are sons of God and therefore can become gods’ – mixture of Jehovah’s Witness and Mormon thought. No No No. I will further develop the nature and character of THIS SON in the following Gem because that is what the writer to the Hebrews does. But in the meantime catch the significance of what the author is saying. In these last days, God chose to communicate through His Son. That era began with the advent of Christ. When Christ first appeared (the First Coming of Christ) these last days began. Instead of intermittent, piecemeal snippets of communication from God, our collective understanding (viz. human kind) took on a whole new perspective. But it is fair to say, that perspective took a while to dawn on us. Much has been written, over the two millennia since His First Coming, regarding what the significance of the Advent of Christ actually is. But as confused or enlightened as we may be, the truth still remains that we have been living in those last days. When Christ came the old era of God’s communication had ended and the new era in which God spoke through a Son had begun.
But “those last days” correspond to “this present age” following Christ’s First Appearance. In the latter days, the second designation of “these last days” comes into effect with the Second Coming of Christ. When Christ comes for the second time, then the final last days will be upon us. This matches the refrain of the Old Testament “in the latter days”. This term is most often linked to the Coming of Messiah. The complication in all of this is that the expectation associated with Messiah’s Coming by the Jews is that Messiah would come to save them from foreign oppression. So this Messiah would be coming as a Conquering King to save them from their oppressors. However they didn’t expect He would come the first time as the Suffering Servant to save them first from themselves and the power of sin. He would come as Conquering King but that would be ushered in with His Second Coming. Thus we have two Messiahs so to speak. Messiah the Son of Joseph (Ha Meshiach Ben Yosef) and Messiah the Son of David (Ha Meshiach Ben Dawid). When that happens Messiah will usher in the Life of the Age to come that I wrote about in the Running the Race of Life series in Philippians.
However before all that can happen the latter Last Days have to occur which represent the period of the Tribulation. This reference is a difficult one to nail down in terms of time. Oh not because we don’t understand it but because Jewish prophetic statements are not linear but are cyclic and have multiple applications. Thus we humans often think the age we are living in equates with the tribulation of the last days. Hence there are multiple times when it feels like the end of the world is upon us, only for that moment to pass. Mankind will pass through numbers of such times but finally the true Last Days will be upon us and Christ will come for the Second Time. I find it fascinating that I am repeating the series on The Probability of the Messianic Prophecies at this time. I did not plan it to coincide with the current Nugget Series. It just happened. Well I guess Someone had a plan, but it wasn’t me.
Next Gem we will plumb the depths of just Who this Son is.
The Bible is the only book on planet Earth that you can always read with the Author present.
Ian Vail
God enjoys receiving knee-mails.
Ian Vail
God is always speaking, but we are not always paying attention.
Ian Vail
We are grateful to you, God, for not giving us what we really deserve, but instead giving us Jesus.
Ian Vail